Updated at 9.25pm with PN statement

The new media law will not require websites to be registered, while the protection of sources will extend to all journalists, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici announced yesterday in the wake of an outcry over the proposed clauses.

Under the draft law, the editors of websites failing to submit their names to a media registrar would have been fined. Furthermore, the protection of sources was only to apply to registered media and to full or part-time journalists.

This raised fears of a “chilling effect” on legitimate journalism.

The government has now rowed back on these clauses, with details unveiled by Dr Bonnici and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo during a Q&A session with journalists yesterday. Journalists were also invited to give their views at committee stage in Parliament.

The registration of traditional media will become voluntary rather than obligatory, as it stands now.

It is also being proposed that courts be given the power to lower the damages for libel – standing at a maximum of €20,000 under the draft law – when there might be a disproportionate effect on the journalist involved.

The minister would also have to seek parliamentary approval to scrutinise legal notices before they come into force.

Institute of Maltese Journalists welcomes changes

The amendments were welcomed by the Institute of Maltese Journalists, which said its proposals had been taken on board.

It appealed to the government for an agreement to be reached to reduce the fine in case of libel when an apology was issued. This was because the proposed maximum fines were too high when one considered the financial situation of the media.

It also said that all reference to the minister's role should be removed from the law. The institute welcomed Mr Bartolo's declaration that the government would be inviting journalists’ representatives to be present in Parliament and participate during the debate of the law in committee stage.

The institute said that anyone who had more proposals on the law should email igm.mediamalta@gmail.com.

U-turn shows incompetence - PN

The Nationalist Party said the government had carried out a U-turn, showing its incompetence and that it had lost all sense of direction.

The Bill as had been presented did not make sense because it limited freedom of expression with the obligation to register websites only found in dictatorial countries.

Clarification: It is traditional media, and not websites, that can be registered on a voluntary basis, contrary to what had been reported earlier.

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