Inhabitants: 519.562 (2021)
Household size: 2.5 people/household (2021)
Religions: Roman Catholic (90%)
Big cities: Valletta
Form of government: parliamentary republic
Head of State: President George Vella (since 2019)
Head of the government: Prime Minister Robert Abela (since 2020)
EU-member since: 2004
Unemployment rate: 3,6% (2021); 6,4% (2013)
State indebtedness: 57.4% of GDP (2021)
Gross domestic product: USD 17.2 billion (2021)

Digital advertising spending: 39.49 million euros (2021)
Television viewing time per inhabitant: 141 minutes per day (2021)
Large media and communication companies: PBS, One Productions, Media.link Communications, MediaToday, Eden Leisure Group
Broadcasting fees: no

History and Profile

In contrast to the Anglo-American tradition, characterized by supposed objectivity, Maltese journalism is characterized by the strength of its opinions. Due to its history of foreign rule, its low population density, and its cultural proximity to Italy, Malta has a media system with Mediterranean characteristics. In a country where clientelism and kinship traditionally dominate the political system, a strong domestic media sector has developed. Although the emergence of modern communication technologies has globalized Malta's media landscape to some extent, the island state still exhibits certain peculiarities compared to other European countries. These include, in particular, the interlocking of the media with political parties and the Catholic Church.

The British telecommunications company Rediffusion launched the first radio station in Malta in 1935, which almost exclusively repeated BBC content. The aim was to counter the fascist propaganda of Italian radio stations reaching the island. Starting in 1957, when the Italian broadcaster RAI installed signal amplifiers in Sicily, Maltese people were also able to watch Italian television broadcasts. Rediffusion also launched the first domestic broadcaster, Malta Television, in 1953. The ruling Labour Party nationalized Malta TV in the mid-1970s after Rediffusion employees rebelled and seized control of several stations. For the next 15 years, almost all media outlets were under direct state control. This only changed when the ruling Nationalist Party in the early 1990s committed itself, first by means of a White Paper and later as part of the Broadcasting Act of 1991, to establishing an independent public broadcaster called Public Broadcasting Services Ltd (PBS).

When Malta began deregulating the broadcasting sector, political parties and churches were the first to seize the licenses. Today, Malta is arguably the only EU member state whose television stations align their reporting so clearly along party-political and religious lines. 13 nationwide and 25 community radio stations, as well as five Maltese TV stations, testify to a remarkable media density in Malta: there is one radio station for every 10,000 inhabitants and one TV station for every 51,000 inhabitants.

media companies and corporations

PBS
The public broadcasting service, the Public Broadcasting Service, operates Television Malta, the most widely read television station in Malta with a market share of almost 33 percent (see Fig. I). The predominantly Maltese and English-language programming is financed through government subsidies and advertising revenue. The news program "L-Ahbarijiet TVM" ("The News"), broadcast daily at 8:00 p.m., enjoys a special status in the country as it is de facto the only news medium not formally influenced by a political party, trade union, or church. Another channel, TVM 2, was launched in autumn 2012 and primarily broadcasts documentaries and sports content.

One Productions
One Productions is a private radio and television company closely associated with the social democratic Labor Party. Initially known as Rainbow Productions, the company was one of the first to receive a license from the Broadcasting Authority to operate a private radio station (ONE Radio) in 1989. In 1993, it added ONE TV, the second most popular station behind TVM, with a market share of approximately 18 percent. Through its subsidiary redtouch, One Productions also operates as a mobile phone discounter and a broadcasting academy.

Media.link Communications
Media.link, which is closely associated with the Christian-conservative Partit Nazzjonalista, has operated NET TV, the third-largest Maltese television station, since 1998, and Radio 101, one of the most popular 24-hour radio stations. Media.link is also active in the print media sector, publishing the daily newspaper "IN-NAZZJON" (founded in 1970) and the weekly newspaper "Il-Mument" (since 1972), and operates a book publishing company (Pin Publication).

Allied Newspapers
Allied Newspapers publishes "The Times," the country's oldest and most prestigious daily newspaper. The Times was founded in 1935 as a party publication for the Partit Nazionale, but shed its strict partisan stance in the 1960s. The journalist and first editor-in-chief, Mabel Strickland, daughter of the Prime Minister of the same name who ruled Malta from 1927 to 1932, played a key role in the newspaper's development. Although officially a non-partisan newspaper, The Times and the Allied Newspapers group (which also publishes The Sunday Times) remain closely associated with the Strickland Foundation and therefore remain indirectly close to the Christian Conservative Party.

MediaToday
MediaToday's portfolio includes three newspapers: the English-language "Malta Today," founded in 1999 and published twice a week; the Maltese-language weekly "illum," and the business paper "Business Today." Since its launch, "Malta Today" has been considered a liberal alternative to the press landscape previously dominated by conservatives and social democrats. During the debate on EU accession, which dominated the country in 2002-2003, the newspaper published editorials that clearly supported joining Europe. A key figure in MediaToday is managing director and owner Saviour Balzan, one of the founders of the green party Alternattiva Demokratika.

Eden Leisure Group
With Bay Radio, founded in 1991, Eden controls Malta's most popular radio station. The group has no other media holdings, but operates cinemas, bowling alleys, and fitness clubs.

Internet

Malta has a high internet usage rate compared to other European countries, with 87.5 percent of internet users in 2021. As in other European countries, the number of internet users has increased dramatically since the turn of the millennium. In 2000, the share of users was 13.1 percent, but by 2010, it had already risen to 63 percent.

The most popular websites in Malta are predominantly dominated by US media corporations (see Table I). Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms, in particular, are strongly represented here, with YouTube (ranked 1), Google (ranked 2), and Facebook (ranked 3), as well as Instagram (ranked 9). In addition, there is the Wikipedia encyclopedia from the Wikimedia Foundation, also based in the US, (ranked 6). There are also several websites that specialize in news from Malta. These include Timesofmalta.com from Allied Newspaper Ltd (ranked 4) and Maltatoday from MediaToday Co. Ltd (ranked 7).

Table I: The most popular websites in Malta, March 2023

Rank	Webpage:	Description	Parent company
1.	YouTube.com	Video portal	Alphabet Inc.
2.	Google.com	Search engine	Alphabet Inc.
3.	Facebook.com	Social network	Meta Platforms
4.	Timesofmalta.com	News	Allied Newspapers Ltd
5.	Newsofturkiye.com	News	Newsofturkiye
6.	Wikipedia.org	Encyclopedia	Wikimedia Foundation
7.	Maltatoday.com.mt	News	MediaToday Co. Ltd
8.	Taroads.com	advertising network	TaroAds LLC
9.	Instagram.com	Social network	Meta Platforms
10.	Airmalta.com	Airline web portal	Air Malta plc.

Source: Semrush.com

Regulations

The most important body in Maltese media policy is the Broadcasting Authority, established in 1961 under Articles 118 and 119 of the Constitution. The authority regulates and monitors all radio and television stations in the country, particularly with regard to whether politicians from different parties receive equal speaking time. In a politically dominated media landscape, the Broadcasting Authority thus plays a key role. Viewers can submit program complaints to the authority, which must be responded to in writing within a certain period of time. The authority is composed of a chairman and four other members elected by the President of Malta. The President must obtain prior approval from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their appointments – a mechanism intended to guarantee a committee composition that both major parties can live with.

Critics complain about the lack of civil society influence on the authority: in 2014, the Maltese think tank "The Today Public Policy Institute" called for the institution to be merged with the country's second major communications authority, the Malta Communications Authority, to form an overarching "Media Authority." This new body would have both media and communications policy competencies, and its committees would be staffed with members from the private media industry, telecommunications companies, the government, journalists, and media experts.

In recent years, the independence and transparency of media regulation in Malta have been repeatedly questioned. A central point of criticism here is the allegation of political influence on the media, which is due to the close ties between media organizations and political actors.

In 2017, the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who exposed corruption and money laundering in Malta, sparked a widespread debate about media freedom and the independence of media regulation in Malta. It was argued that journalists and media organizations in Malta generally face intimidation and threats that hinder their work and undermine press freedom. Galizia had filed multiple criminal complaints regarding death threats, most recently two weeks before her death.

In 2018, a new media regulation law was passed in Malta, providing for the establishment of an independent media regulator to strengthen the independence and transparency of media regulation. The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) was granted expanded powers to oversee the media landscape and ensure that media organizations adhere to media standards. However, there were also concerns about the implementation and effectiveness of these new regulations. Some critics argued that the MCA lacked sufficient independence and remained subject to political influence.

Sources/Literature

• Carmen Sammut, Media and Maltese Society. Plymouth: Lexington Books (2007)
• Filmneweurope: TV Audiences on the Rise in Malta, 2020.
• Joseph Borg, “Countering the Challenges of Media Liberalization in a Small Island State.” In: Indrajit Banerjee & Kalinga Seneviratne (eds.), Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Globalization, Singapore: AMIC (2006), 244-261.
• Semrush: The most visited websites in Malta, March 2023.