MEP David Casa files media freedom report over attacks on journalists

MEP David Casa reported Prime Minister Robert Abela, the Labour Party and government official Jason Micallef to the Mapping Media Freedom platform, which monitors threats against journalists.

Casa referred to the press conference held by Prime Minister Robert Abela on 6 May, where he demonstrated hostility to various journalists who were doing their duty by asking questions concerning the Vitals scandal.

Abela infamously accused journalists of being part of “the establishment“– an all-encompassing fiction intended to target critics by labelling them enemies of the state.

“The deteriorating treatment of journalists is completely intolerable and must be reined in immediately,” said the PN Head of Delegation in the European Parliament. “The Prime Minister’s behaviour during the press conference was absolutely shameful”.

“But the conduct of government official Jason Micallef, revealing that a journalist was spied on and then brandishing photos of the journalist and her devices, surpassed any level of decency,” Casa said.

“Malta’s Labour Party already carries the weight of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and has no room for manoeuvre on this issue. Stop immediately,” Casa insisted.