Maltese Newspapers And Political Party Media Houses Team Up To Lobby For Funding
Four Maltese newspapers have teamed up with ONE and NET to form a new lobby group that will, among other goals, seek to raise funding.
The “Association of Media Owners” was formed by the following six companies:
1. Allied Newspapers – owned by the Strickland Foundation, runs the Times of Malta and the Sunday Times of Malta
2. MediaToday – owned by Saviour Balzan and Roger Degiorgio, runs MaltaToday and Illum
3. Standard Publications – owned by several businesspeople, runs The Malta Independent
4. Union Print – owned by the General Workers’ Union, runs It-Torċa, L-Orizzont and talk.mt
5. Media.Link, owned by the Nationalist Party, runs NET TV, NET FM, and netnews.com.mt
6. Sound Vision, owned by the Labour Party, runs ONE TV, ONE Radio and one.com.mt
The media houses intend to lobby the government for funding
In a statement, the Association of Media Owners said their goals include “protecting the economic structure of print and digital media owners” and their “moral and material rights” to ensure the progress of “good quality journalism”.
This will include lobbying for funding and other forms of financial assistance and reaching agreements of cooperation with governments, institutions, business organisations, international agencies and accredited experts.
They also intend to scrutinise legislation and regulations to ensure they don’t “endanger the prosperity or impair the welfare of its members”.
The AMO said it is open to print and digital media organisations that run a full-time newsroom and who employ at least seven journalists and three media workers.
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