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14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 MAY 2022 NEWS EUROPE These articles are part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. These articles reflect only the authors' view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. EU's media freedom act is next weapon in arsenal for journalists SEBASTIAN VASSALLO THE European Parliament's ple- nary in Strasbourg convened to celebrate World Press Freedom Day with renewed commitment to help journalists in the face of new technology and warfare and the insidious creep of corporate and or political interests. European Parliament pres- ident Roberta Metsola an- nounced the second edition of the Daphne Caruana Galizia prize in journalism, the EP trib- ute to the slain Maltese journal- ist killed by a car bomb on 16 October, 2017. "Journalists should never have to choose between uncovering the truth and staying alive or spending years and thousands in court fighting vexatious law- suits," Metsola said, adding that the EU would support those who defend and promote core European values in memory of the slain journalist. Věra Jourová, Commission Vice President responsible for values and transparency also paid tribute to the journalists covering the war in Ukraine, praising their bravery and the ultimate sacrifices they were in some cases making to get the truth out. Jourová detailed the Commis- sion's work to help safeguard journalists, with €6 million for emergency support to journal- ists in Ukraine. Citing the Commission's re- cent work on a proposal to counter SLAPs – the vexatious lawsuits intended to silence journalists by saddling them with a barrage of complex and costly legal proceedings, Jourová described them as "Da- vid and Goliath" fights, usual- ly entailing a very wealthy and powerful plaintiff suing a much less wealthy and powerful de- fendant. "Journalists speak in the pub- lic interest, they keep power in check, and this is why we need to protect them. I call this Daphne's law in honour of Daphne Caruana Galizia and her family who have fought so much for it." Jourová said that the Com- mission, together with internal market commission Thierry Breton, was working to devel- op a media freedom act (MFA) that she says "will enshrine for the first time in EU law com- mon safeguards to protect me- dia pluralism and independence of the media." Alongside the MFA, Jourová recalled the €8 million funding project for cross-border jour- nalism partnerships as well as the protective and fairness en- hancing role the Digital Servic- es and Digital Markets acts will have. MEP Vladimír Bilčík (EPP) de- scribed the job of journalists as a brave one, especially those re- porting on Russian war crimes. "All of you provide your citizens with information that literally saves lives, you're heroes who might come under fire even if you wear the press sign, you might be abducted or killed." Bilčík described the different region-specific threats faced by journalists across the EU and called for redress, saying that quality journalism was about a constant search for facts and the truth. Tiemo Wölken (S&D) said that Daphne Caruana Galizia's case exemplified the need for anti-SLAPP regulation. "We owe journalists our protection and support; it's not only under a hail of bullets that the media is destroyed, it's a slow and insidi- ous process." Ramona Strugariu (Renew) de- scribed the soon to be released MFA as a "surgical tool to tackle the main threats to the freedom of the press while avoiding min- istries of truth or tearing apart functioning models where jour- nalism thrives." Daniel Freund of the Greens took his speaking time to re- mind the chamber that threats to journalists and the "play- book" autocrats used to silence them with murder, was not ex- clusive to Russia, China or other autocratic regimes. "Corruption is the reason Jan Kuciak was murdered, corruption is the rea- son that Daphne Caruana Gali- zia was murdered, corruption is the reason Hungarian journalist are spied upon by Pegasus." Nicolaus Fest from the far- right ID naturally did not share the optimism held by other MEPs over the EU's initiatives. "Legislation coming from this House is amongst the list of threats," he said. While he agreed that free me- dia were of chief importance to a healthy democracy, Fest held misgivings over the EU's at- tempts to classify "hate speech" or fund journalism, saying this could lead to censorship and prejudice the independence of the media. EP president Roberta Metsola and Commissioner Věra Jourová in debate on threats to safety of journalists on World Press Freedom Day European Commissioner Vera Jourová