In October 2017, the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia dealt a devastating blow to the Maltese media. She had made a name for herself exposing political and economic corruption and was also well-known outside the country.
Malta: Investigative journalists fear for their lives
However, major flaws in the investigation into the contract killing still draw criticism today. Two brothers were sentenced to 40 years in prison for the journalist’s murder in October 2022, but the people who orchestrated the crime have yet to be brought to justice.
Reporters Without Borders has criticised the government for being too slow to implement the reforms recommended by a commission of enquiry in 2021 to strengthen press freedom. The appointment of a media experts committee tasked with analysing the Maltese media sector, identifying weaknesses and submitting proposals for legislative changes was announced in January 2022.
At the time of Caruana Galizia’s murder no less than 42 defamation lawsuits were pending against her – a measure of how aggressively Malta’s politicians and business leaders deal with critics.
Maltese society is deeply polarised, and this is reflected in heated debates and media coverage of topics such as migration and abortion. Journalists have frequently complained about facing hostility and threats when they investigate topics related to corruption and crime.
Each interest group has its own outlet
Yet relative to its population, Malta has a highly diverse media landscape, with dozens of daily and weekly newspapers, television channels, radio stations and websites. While the English-language publications are commercially oriented, the country's two main political parties subsidise their own Maltese-language newspapers, which are less focused on profit than on media presence.
A number of media outlets are subject to institutional influence: the Labour Party, which has been in power since 2013, owns a weekly magazine, a television station and a radio station. The opposition Nationalist Party publishes a daily newspaper. The Church has its own radio station and a news website, and the GWU trade union also has a daily and a weekly newspaper, as well as its own news platform. This shows the extent to which interest groups use Malta's media sector as a mouthpiece.
Between 1814 and 1964 Malta was under British rule, and English is still an official language alongside Maltese. Malta’s colonial legacy is also reflected in its media: half of the print media are published in English. The daily with the largest circulation is the English-language Times of Malta, which was founded in 1935 and is considered a newspaper of record. All Malta's print media are seeing their circulations decline while online media services are growing rapidly. Malta's social media usage rate per capita is far higher than the EU average.
World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders): Rank 84 (2023)
Last updated: April 2023
