Will Fitzgibbon | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
When anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing in Malta last year, the investigations she was working on came to a sudden halt.
Starting today, a team of 45 journalists from 15 countries will continue her work, determined that her voice will not be silenced.
“The idea is to ensure the survival of stories,” wrote French journalist Laurent Richard in The Guardian about the project.
The journalists, including reporters from International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ partners The Times of Malta and The Guardian, spent five months examining a trove of documents that deepen Caruana Galizia’s investigations into corruption and money laundering.
Caruana Galizia was murdered on Oct. 16, 2017. While Maltese authorities have arrested three men on suspicion of the killing, protesters continue to accuse Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his party of allowing corruption to flourish.
Caruana Galizia followed up on the 2016 Panama Papers with her own reporting that revealed further details on Maltese politicians involved in the leak.
Having fearlessly challenged politicians, business leaders and mobsters alike, she had many enemies and critics.
Caruana Galizia was the mother of ICIJ data journalist and developer Matthew Caruana Galizia.
The project to build upon her legacy was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, an investigative nonprofit organization devoted to completing the work of jailed and murdered journalists.
“Daphne’s death wasn’t just a tragedy for journalism and press freedom – at ICIJ we saw a colleague lose his mother, a family lose their loved one,” ICIJ’s deputy director Marina Walker Guevara said.
“By continuing her work, reporters are making sure Daphne’s investigations will not go unfinished, that her important stories will still be told. Daphne’s voice will not be silenced. Journalists around the world must stand together, to protect each other and to safeguard the truth.”
Stories released today by media partners explore the the assassination. Other stories will follow in coming days.
The stories released by the group today reveal:
- Details of the murder inquiry.
- A recording of Caruana Galizia made six days before she died, where she explains the arson attacks on her home, the freezing of her bank accounts, libel suits brought to her by ministers and business people, and online attacks.
- Interviews with her sons.
At least 46 journalists – from Afghanistan to Somalia and the Philippines – were killed on the job last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.