Authors: Prof. Marilyn Clark (Department of Psychology, University of Malta) and Mr William Horsley, Centre for Freedom of the Media (University of Sheffield)
In 2017, the Council of Europe published the study Journalists under Pressure: Unwanted Interference, Fear and Self-Censorship in Europe (co-authored by Marilyn Clark and Anna Grech).
The study analysed nearly 1000 questionnaires from journalists from 47 Council of Europe member states and Belarus and revealed worrying statistics concerning the risks faced by media actors over the last years.
To better interpret the results of this study and identify specific means to address these risks, the Council of Europe commissioned a follow-up qualitative research, whose aim is to analyse how journalists respond to pressures exerted on them and what strategies they bring to play to overcome fear and continue being able to fulfil their public watchdog mission.
The findings of this research are discussed in the book A Mission to Inform: Journalists at Risk Speak Out (co-authored by Marilyn Clark and William Horsley). The book is based on first-hand in-depth interviews with 20 journalists from 18 member states. Among those interviews is also the last interview given by Daphne Caruana Galizia. Ten days after testifying for this research about the dangers of her profession.
The book is available from the Council of Europe bookstore.