It’s only Malta, so the government can be aggressive with journalists

Finland’s prime minister has been accused of trying to censor that country’s public broadcaster after he became involved in a hostile email exchange with a reporter working for that station. The reporter had been investigating a contract given by a state-run mine to a company owned by relatives of the prime minister.

The Maltese prime minister and his aides are doing far, far worse to journalists in Malta, but because it’s regarded as the toenail of the Mediterranean rather than a proper EU member state, nobody cares what’s happening here.

Censor? Email row? The government of Malta actually runs and controls Malta’s public broadcaster, and it’s seen as normal.