The acquittal of Yorgen Fenech, who was on trial in Malta for involvement in the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, is a devastating blow for justice and press freedom. Nine years after her car was blown up, it seems increasingly unlikely that anyone will be held to account for ordering and paying for her death. Mr Fenech’s admissions that he knew about the murder before it happened, and gave money to the middle-man who paid the killers, make it hard to understand why he was found not guilty on the lesser charge of association.
All killings of journalists are wrong. The bomb placed in Caruana Galizia’s car was especially shocking, as such brazen violence is usually associated with war zones or states overrun by organised crime. The fact that this acquittal came two months after those of three men accused of murdering another journalist, Lyra McKee, in Northern Ireland, adds to a grim impression of impunity for killers. While McKee is not thought to have been targeted in the way that Caruana Galizia was, the inability of police and prosecutors to secure convictions in either case points to wider problems.
Joseph Muscat resigned as Malta’s prime minister in 2019. But his party, Labour, remains in power, raising questions as to whether the corrupt networks alleged to have been behind the plot have been broken up. The EU and countries including the UK – which has close ties with Malta – must apply pressure. This is all the more urgent given the global context of intensifying attacks on the press, including in Donald Trump’s US. Reporters Without Borders recently warned that political hostility combined with financial pressures could lead to journalism “being asphyxiated”.
Physical safety should be regarded as a bare minimum. As well as addressing threats of violence, politicians and others should stand up for press freedom – even when they don’t approve of every outlet or editorial choice. In the UK, a private member’s bill currently seems the most likely route to outlawing strategic lawsuits against public participation (known as Slapps), which are used – by those who can afford them – to block media investigations and silence whistleblowers.
But while Labour’s record in office on this issue is weak, recent actions by Reform UK are an anti-democratic disgrace. Nigel Farage’s party kicked off party conference season by refusing to give the Guardian’s city editor, Anna Isaac, and two other journalists passes. While it refused to give an explanation for barring Ms Isaac, the obvious one is that the party wants to punish her. Ms Isaac broke the story that Mr Farage accepted an undeclared £5m gift from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire. She also found out that donations to Reform UK caused bankers to report potential money-laundering concerns to the National Crime Agency.
There is a clear public interest in news about the way that political parties are funded. But as in Nottinghamshire, where Reform UK banned its councillors from speaking to the Nottingham Post, the party has shown its oft-trumpeted commitment to free speech to be a sham. Singling out journalists for bans is not the same as threatening them. But it is part of a populist strategy that combines hollow rhetoric about liberty with an authoritarian approach to people and institutions that place obstacles on the path to power. Pluralism must be defended at home and abroad – and this includes journalists.
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