(Reuters. Published by La Repubblica)
A small part of the extensive legacy left by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s exemplary but unbearably painful experience, in life as much as in the way it ended, is worldwide awareness of the fate of journalists of her calibre, motivation and dogged determination in Europe and what must and can be done to change that.
This article in the specialist Columbia Journalism Review analysis initiatives taken in various institutions raising awareness about libel tourism and vexatious libel action intended to bury a story in spite of its truth.
The analysis refers to the campaign in the European Parliament led by MEP David Casa that led to legislative initiatives that will have a significant positive impact on the protection of journalists and therefore on the quality of European Democracy.
From the analysis: “We don’t want to ban politicians from filing lawsuits, but we need to find ways to discourage politicians and powerful corporations from filing vexatious lawsuits against journalists and the media,” Flutura Kusari, a legal advisor with ECPMF, says. “We also want to make judges across the European Union and beyond aware of the basic phenomenon of SLAPPs.”