(Strasbourg) To coincide with the World Press Freedom Day, the European Parliament, convened in Strasbourg for its plenary session, is holding a debate about press freedom, with a focus on information in times of war. Several speeches place emphasis on the problem of the media operators’ safety. Actually, today the European Parliament is also posting the call to apply for the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism.
“The Prize is a yearly acknowledgement of excellent journalism and defends the fundamental principles and values of the European Union, such as human dignity, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights”, a notice issued in Strasbourg explains. The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said: “The message of the European Parliament is clear: Europe is on the side of those who seek the truth. Daphne’s pen has been silenced because she was discovering the truth: we should never let journalists become targets or victims. With this Prize, the European Parliament will keep defending freedom of speech, media pluralism and quality journalism, and will help hand such values down to the future generations”.
Journalists or teams of journalists of any nationality can take part in the Prize by submitting in-depth enquiries published or broadcast by mass media located in one of the 27 member states of the European Union. The winner will be selected by an independent panel of media professionals, members of civil society of the 27 EU countries and members of the main European press associations. The awards ceremony will take place, as usual, approximately on October 16th, the anniversary of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The Prize and the 20 thousand euros given to the winner “show the support of the European Parliament to investigative journalism and the importance of a free press”. In the last few years, the European Parliament ”has reported several attempts at undermining media pluralism inside and outside of the EU. The MPs reported attacks on journalists, especially by politicians, and asked the EU Commission to issue a bill of law against abusive lawsuits. On April 27th, the EU Commission submitted a proposal to combat legal proceedings filed against journalists and activists”.
Journalists can submit their articles on this website:https://daphnejournalismprize.eu/ by July 31st 2022 at 11.59pm.