Malta rises up press freedom index – but there’s a catch
Malta climbed 11 places on the World Press Freedom Index in 2024 – largely because the situation in other countries deteriorated.
The index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and published yesterday, ranked Malta in 73rd place – up from 84th place out of 180 countries.
When comparing how EU member states fared on the index, Malta scored second to last.
Greece was the only European country that ranked worse than Malta, in 88th place, while Hungary – which the report singled out as a place where politicians are actively trying to shrink the media landscape for independent journalism – scored the third worst among the member states in 67th place.
“Given the insignificant improvement of its score, [Malta’s] progress by 11 places in the World Press Freedom Index can be attributed mainly to the deterioration of the situation in other countries,” Pavol Szalai, head of the EUBalkans Desk at RSF, said.
“The recommendations resulting from the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia have not been implemented while full justice has still
not been served in this key case for the fight against impunity in Europe.”
Szalai added that the Maltese government also failed to resolve issues related to the independence and sustainability of the media, provide more robust access to freedom of information or adequately protect journalists from SLAPP suits.
“The media landscape continues to be deeply polarised. However, the recently adopted European Media Freedom Act brings hope for improvement even in Malta,” he concluded.
According to the RSF ranking, press freedom in Malta was found to be in a “problematic” situation, sitting in the middle of the scale that runs from a “good” situation to a “very serious” situation.
From the 180 countries ranked by the index, only eight countries were found to currently have a “good situation” for press freedom.
Norway retained its top spot on the list, followed by Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Ireland, which last year was ranked the second-best country for press freedom, slipped six places and was ranked eight on this year’s list.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, the report found that Eritrea was the worst place in the world at maintaining a free press within its borders, followed by Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea.