Digital Media Observatory in Malta

Media professionals, researchers, and the public gathered at the University of Malta on Thursday for the relaunch of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) — an EU-funded initiative tackling disinformation and promoting media literacy across Malta, Greece, and Cyprus.

Photo Megan Mallia. University of Malta

The event, hosted by the University’s Department of Media and Communications, marked the start of MedDMO’s second phase and brought together representatives from the project’s partners, including Times of Malta and Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Participants explored how journalists, academics, and technologists can better collaborate to counter false information online. AFP Deputy Chief Editor Joyce Zablit highlighted the need for creative approaches:

We need to adapt fact checking to be more attractive… even reaching children as young as eight through video formats.

Discussions also touched on online harassment of journalists, the late Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case being cited as a stark example, and the urgent need for stronger media literacy in schools. Times of Malta Editor-in-Chief Herman Grech stressed the importance of rebuilding trust:

Media literacy is so important — we should go back to the basics and explain why people need to trust the media.”

MedDMO forms part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) network and will continue its work for at least another three years.