The winner of the 2024 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize of Journalism is Lost in Europe, a cross-border journalism project investigating the disappearance of over 50,000 unaccompanied child migrants. In her address, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that the European Parliament will keep supporting investigative journalism and highlighting the essential work of journalism.
Dear laureates and finalists of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, Dear Matthew, Dear colleagues,
This Prize ceremony is a moment in our annual calendar that means a great deal to the European Parliament as an institution and to me personally. I am so proud that we have started and sustained this moment. It matters to this House and to every journalist under threat or under attack in Europe and around the world.
I wish that the circumstances were different: we could name this Prize something else and that Daphne Caruana Galizia could be here with us as a finalist in her own right.
It has been seven long years since that fateful day in Malta that changed everything. When we realised that we were facing a threat to all we held dear. A threat that Daphne had warned us about but that was dismissed too easily. A threat that should have been evident in how she was treated, de-humanised and attacked. How she was scapegoated instead of protected.
Daphne’s assassination was not a lone act of murder - it was the culmination of years of targeting that left her isolated. That’s a lesson that we tried to address in our small way with this prize. It is our way of supporting investigative journalism. Of putting a spotlight on journalists and what they face every day. Of highlighting their essential work. Of remembering those being killed in Ukraine, in Gaza and in conflicts around the world. Of ensuring no journalist is left alone again.
Forbidden Stories, launched in 2017, ran a campaign saying: ‘Killing the journalist won’t kill the story.’
I don’t think that there is a better example of this than the impact Daphne Caruana Galizia has had in the last seven years. And she still has today.
Daphne’s voice lives on. It does so because of journalists who refuse to let it rest. Because of civil society who refuse to give in to threats. Because of her family - her boys - who have inherited every ounce of her bravery, tenacity and wit.
The last seven years have proven that her ‘pen is truly mightier than the sword’.
And this saying is also embodied by the Italian journalist Stefania Battistini, whom I met today and whose bravery I want to recognise here as well.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This is the fourth edition of The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. It is our reminder of Parliament’s commitment to media freedom, independence and pluralism as fundamental pillars of democracy. It is for all those journalists who risk their lives and livelihoods on a daily basis to uncover the truth, regardless of where it lies or whom it upsets. For all those killed and those whose lives are threatened in the course of their work.
I want to take the opportunity to thank Vice-President Pina Picierno for her work on this initiative and to my compatriot MEP David Casa who fought for it for a long time, and for Daphne. And a special thanks to our staff and services, who I know have worked so hard on this event as they do every year.
I also want to thank and congratulate today’s laureates, finalists and jury. Know that this House will continue to stand alongside you in building a Europe where journalists are able to work free from fear, from harassment, from violence - even murder.
We see this House’s commitment within our legislative work - in the Media Freedom Act, and in the Anti-SLAPP Directive or ‘Daphne’s Law’ as we call it. This legislation was pioneered by this Parliament, and we are now working hard to ensure it is implemented across Europe to bring real and lasting change.
But the fight for journalistic freedom does not end with the passing of legislation. It is a constant battle that requires continued efforts from all of us.
That is why today’s award, celebrating the brave and courageous actions of journalists in pursuit of the truth, is so crucial. Because when journalists are threatened, and the truth is stifled in just one place, all of Europe loses out.
So, dear finalists, thank you for all that you do.
I now give the floor to Ms. Juliane Hielscher as the representative of the Prize jury.
Thank you.