Muscat and Facebook: in The Guardian today

In Malta, it is considered normal for politicians to take punitive or repressive action against journalists. We have got to remember that in the rest of the civilised world, it is not.

No, it is not normal for prime ministers and members of the cabinet, for prime ministers’ chiefs of staff, to sue journalists for libel damages. What is normal is to issue a statement of correction, if corrections are to be made, and leave it at that.

I’ve noticed that Maltese people in general tend to be confused about this. The thinking goes that the journalist writes or reports, the politician sues for libel, then it’s up to the courts to decide. This thinking completely ignores that the act of suing is a form of harassment in itself and places often intolerable burdens on journalists, which burdens are used as a form of retribution by politicians. When a politician sues a journalist, that is a message of repression, and it is read that way by people living in more democracies that are far better developed than ours here in Malta.

Worse than a politician suing a journalist is a politician – still more a prime minister – who goes after a journalist with various retributive measures. That kind of thing is simply not tolerated elsewhere. Look at all the flak Donald Trump is getting internationally.

The link to this article in The Guardian, published today, is here.