MedDMO emerged as one of the top winners at the 32nd edition of Malta’s journalism awards, with two MedDMO and Times of Malta fact-checks taking home the top prize in their respective field during an awards ceremony held on Saturday 30 November.
The two stories, written by Times of Malta fact-checker Neville Borg, won awards for the best planning and environment story and the best sports story.
The awards, organised by the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM), celebrate journalistic excellence across 19 different categories, including print, online and broadcast media. They were presided over by the President of Malta, Myriam Spiteri Debono. Journalists and broadcasters from all Malta’s top media houses participate in the annual event.
Fact-checks win top planning story and best sports story
A fact-check which debunked a claim that a planning application to build an apartment block just 150 metres from the site of Gozo’s world-famous Ġgantija temples was not within a UNESCO-set buffer zone was named as the best planning and environment story.
With the developers claiming that the project lay outside the buffer zone, Malta’s planning authorities initially approved the permit. But this decision was short-lived and the permit revoked, after the fact-check showed that the site actually lay within a protected buffer zone.
Meanwhile, another fact-check exploring the role played by naturalised athletes in Malta’s performance at the Small Nations Games held in Malta in in 2023 won the award for best sports story.
The story came in reaction to a series of claims that Malta’s victory at the games was entirely down to athletes handed a Maltese passport to join Malta’s contingent.
But the fact-check showed that only seven of the 214-strong Maltese contingent were handed a passport and that Malta would have topped the games’ table even without their victories.
The awards were dominated by Times of Malta, which took home 10 of the 19 prizes on offer.
Misinformation has become ‘pervasive’: IGM president
In the award ceremony’s opening speech, IGM president Matthew Xuereb lauded the work of journalists in the face of an increasingly tumultuous information landscape and overcrowded digital landscape.
“Misinformation, sensationalism and clickbait have become pervasive,” he said. “It’s harder than ever to separate fact from fiction”.
Photo credits: Ian Noel Pace/Institute for Maltese Journalists
