Critical journalists and activists continue to be the target of personal attacks from political leaders they expose or criticise. The public broadcaster acts as if it is the government’s public relations office. TV stations owned by a political party are exploited as a tool for persecution and intimidation of critics, with citizens exposed to political lynching as a retributive consequence of having the temerity to protest within the limits of the law. Social media trolling remains systematic, centrally coordinated, as vile as ever and almost never prosecuted.
Although some corrupt politicians lost their political jobs, any criminal consequence remains highly unlikely and they – and others who aspire to replace them – appear reasonably confident in their continued impunity.
Journalists remain exposed to the risks that led to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Providing journalists and activists with security would, as the government sees it, lend them credibility, which the government will not countenance.
The fundamental difference between the reality on the eve of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the present moment is that civil society has started to find its voice and some journalists and activists have stepped up to continue her work, thereby reducing the isolation to which any journalist acting alone risks being made a victim.