MEP Casa nominated as Co-Chair of the EP’s Media Working Group

“My work will continue to focus on the protection of journalists to be able to reveal the truth”

Member of the European Parliament David Casa has been nominated as the Co-Chairperson of the European Parliament’s Media Working Group, a group made up of a number of Members from different political groups focusing on pushing issues related to the protection of journalists. MEP Casa is the only Maltese Member who forms part of this group.

Reacting to this new appointment, MEP Casa said: “The European Parliament has a crucial role in ensuring that journalists across Europe are not only protected, but also given the necessary tools to be able to investigate and expose wrongdoing. This is the role of journalists in a democractic country, and they should be protected to do so. The Media Working Group will continue to propose legislation and exert pressure to ensure that what happened to Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak will not happen again.”

Since Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in October 2017, MEP Casa has been at the forefront in pushing forward calls to introduce new legislation which protect journalists in their work, including an anti-SLAPP legislation. Another proposal which MEP Casa is working on is that of the News Media Fund - a permanent dedicated support mechanism for journalists and media houses, something which is now even more crucial, due to the financial challenges faced by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

During the past months, through his role as a Quaestor within the European Parliament’s Bureau, MEP Casa has been working on the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, which will be awarded each year. Currently, MEP Casa is liaising with other Members of Parliament’s administration to finalise the details of this Prize. 

The other Members of the Media Working Group are MEP Ramona Strugariu (Renew) who will co-chair the Working Group together with MEP Casa, as well as MEP Alice Kuhnke (Greens), MEP Dace Melbārde (ECR), MEP Irena Joveva (Renew), MEP Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová (ECR), MEP Magdalena Adamowicz (EPP), MEP Massimiliano Smeriglio (S&D), MEP Stelios Kouloglou (GUE/NGL), and MEP Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens).