Real Journalism Gets You Killed - The Murder of Panama Papers Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

in journalism •  7 years ago  (edited)

Murder in Malta




The Guardian is reporting:

The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.

Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the vehicle into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field.

The Guardian

The BBC:

Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, was reportedly killed when the car she was driving exploded shortly after she left her home in Bidnija, near Mosta.

Local media say one of her sons heard the blast and rushed outside.

In recent weeks, Galazia had been receiving death threats.

At the time of posting, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.


Daphne Caruana Galizia aka The "One-Woman Wikileaks"




Daphne is credited with taking the lead in the Panama Papers investigation in Malta that exposed a nefarious web of money laundering and shell companies that extended across the globe and implicated high ranking politicians, businessmen, law firms, and corporations.

The Panama Papers caused an international stir as the off shoring, money laundering and tax evasion practices of the rich and powerful from a wide range of countries were exposed to the general public.



https://panamapapers.icij.org/


The International Consortium of Independent Journalists (ICIJ) won a Pulitzer Prize for their work in releasing and investigating the Panama Papers and the Offshore Leaks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=fiu-vWLTqWs

The leaks by the ICIJ showed how many in the political class who publicly positioned themselves as crusaders as reformers against and as harsh critics of offshore tax havens were, in fact, themselves implicated in the very same activities. Chinese president Xi Jingping, British PM David Cameron, Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are just a few examples.

ICIJ searchable database


Daphne Galizia's son, Matthew, also works for the ICIJ as a data-journalist and engineer.

M. Caruana Galizia   mcaruanagalizia    Twitter.png

M. Caruana Galizia on Twitter   Impunity is a Maltese problem. https   t.co ZkPHdnEWcr .png


Daphne's Blog - https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/


Daphne is described by The Guardian as a tour de force as an investigative blogger:

A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country’s newspapers, Caruana Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a “one-woman WikiLeaks”. Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe’s smallest member state.

Galizia is said to of had no political affiliations and has been a harsh critic of political and financial corruption involving the Maltese political establishment, the banking sector, individuals and corporations hiding wealth in offshore accounts and even her country's gaming industry.

The blogger's latest work focused largely on the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, and several member of his inner circle. Galazia had tied Muscat and his aides to offshore companies, payments from the Azerbajani government and the purchase of Maltese passports.


img / BBC

Prime Minister Muscat has roundly condemned the brutal murder stating:

“Everyone knows Ms Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally, but nobody can justify this barbaric act in any way”


Reaction to the Targeted Killing


bombing.jpg.size.custom.crop.1086x650.jpg

img / Toronto Star


Followers of Galazia's work have reacted with outrage and indignation of the deplorable killing of the respected journalist, blogger and citizen. Her murder shows all the signs of being politically motivated as her investigative work as garnered a significant amount of enemies and detractors.

Yanis Varoufakis on Twitter   21st century Europe  Execution in Malta of activist exposing tax cheats. Racism triumphing in Austria. And political arrests in Catalonia. .png

Across the internet people have already begun to speculate as to who may be behind the brutal attack. The names of prominent figures such as the Clintons, Vladimir Putin, the PM of Malta and slew of individuals implicated in the Panama Papers have already started to circulate.

Rachel C. Abrams on Twitter   Someone planted a car bomb to kill this  one woman wikileaks   The Guardian reports...https   t.co rm58ecGtqM (2).png

Rachel C. Abrams on Twitter   Someone planted a car bomb to kill this  one woman wikileaks   The Guardian reports...https   t.co rm58ecGtqM .png


Wikileaks


Julian Assange 🔹 on Twitter   Outraged to hear that Maltese investigative journalist blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has been murdered this afternoon not far from her home… https   t.co OBrzFhNZPh .png

Wikileaks Chief Editor, Julian Assange, has posted a 20, 000 Euro reward for information related to the political assassination.

The murder occurred not long after Assange hinted at a new release. In the last 24 hours, Julian Assange uncharacteristically tweeted several personal opinions in regards to failed US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Assange described Clinton as "Dark, Cold and Creepy".

In addition, Assange released a hash that has some speculating that the publisher drop a new leak in the days to come. There's talk of passkeys to the encrypted Insurance files from the last year and their contents may be released. Speculation has been rampant as to what the files contain.

Could they contain Clinton's unreleased and unredacted emails?

Is this a message to leakers and would be leakers?


Related Post - see @fortified's latest -


https://steemit.com/wikileaks/@fortified/more-clinton-dnc-emails-or-something-big-is-about-to-go-down


Vigil for Daphne

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Malta is a fairly small place with a tradition of respect of the feminine principle going back to ancient times. It is typical that a female would be killed in this way in such a place - heartlessness has a symbolism to it, whether deliberate or not.
We shall see whether the investigation reveals useful data of the details of the crime or just details that show that the investigation has no intention of succeeding - which is it's own evidence. :/
upvoted and resteemed!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

It is typical that a female would be killed in this way in such a place

Pardon?? Typical? Are you referring to the many ritual sacrifices of women in the nights of full moon of the Maltese island? Seriously. In fact every time that I go visiting my wife's family in Malta I hear explosions. Please, in front of this horror let's try to not be stereotypical (using a merciful euphemism toward your comment). She was a free and brave journalist who died because she had the guts to say that the king is naked. Making her a sort of parody of a victim of a non-existent supposed culture of the femenine (hystorical "respect for the femenine" ..should lead to killing her in "this way" I really can't get the connection between your two sentences!) is offensive for her work and dedication to seek the truth at any cost. In front of such an execution, someone starts talking about typical ways of killing "a female"...as much as Italians talk loud and play guitar, Spanish dance the flamenco, Germans eat wurstel and English don't wash their genitals becouse don't have a bidet in the toilet. Please! please! Don't make me read this banality in front of this horror..

you are misinterpreting my intention here, i am pointing to the way that such political assassinations are often carried out in a symbolic way, relevant to certain locations which have significant meaning to those who are involved. it could all also be 'coincidence', but i don't think so.

This is a very sad story. Investigative journalism is very risky. I pray there will be a system someday to protect journalists from all these evils.
May her soul rest in peace.

This just makes me want to do even more deeper investigative work here on steemit. I need to get my head around the Panama Papers website as I bet there is still so much to uncover in the data.

This is one of the reasons why anonymity is your friend in such work.

Thanks

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Malta has not even 500.000 citizens, I lived there and I can tell you that the new as it comes from the media gives not even 1/1000 of the idea of how criminal and scary this execution is. Followed you dude.

RIP Galazia. This is truly a deplorable killing and clearly meant to send a message.
Regarding Iceland's former prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, using an offshore company to hide money. That is not true. It was his wife's company (and money), not his.
The Icelandic tax authorities knew about the company, Wintris, and it was recently revealed she had overpaid on taxes. Saying that Gunnlaugsson used the company to hide money has been widely reported in international media, but it is simply factually incorrect.
Here is an article about Wintris' taxes:
http://www.mbl.is/frettir/kosning/2017/10/02/ofgreiddi_skatta_vegna_wintris/
I hope it is readable with Google Translate.

Hello @v4vapid
This is a very sad story. Investigative journalism is very risky. I pray there will be a system someday to protect journalists from all these evils.
May her soul rest in peace.


@learnandteach01

Very sad, bless her soul. RIP

the panama papers were one of the biggest scandal to ever come of the modern age , and repurcusion was enourmous , it sad that this has to happen, and it shows that was she was investigating was truth for them to take her life, sad day in deed, RIP

Rest in Peace, Daphne Caruana Galizia. This is a terrible loss for the world.

thx for posting all of this, hadn't seen some of these updates on it yet 👍

cheers, thanks for reading ;)

I suspect she was investigating something related to a gang/Mafia because intelligence services will always keep their hands clean. Hence deaths looks like natural causes. Bombing the car however sends a message to whom ever she was working with.

You may be correct about the mafia as the Guardian article mentioned she has investigated the mafia in Malta.

However, I really doubt that intelligence agencies 'always keep their hands clean'.
Just as an example: The CIA Drone Program

Spy agencies (intelligence service is their own euphemism) also send messages.

add another notch to her gun..

This is terrible to see. It's one of those things that we see happen in the movies, but when it happens in real life its send a chill down my spine. It shows you just how much corruption is out there in the world. Good on Assange for posting a bounty to find the killers. Scary stuff though, no one is untouchable

It really is scary stuff. Definitely a warning by TPTB that looking into their tax evasion and money laundering crimes will not be tolerated.

God I hope WL releases whatever it is they've been hinting at.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

These are good comments @v4vapid and @jasonshick. Scaring is the word, in a EU country and with such a direct connection between her recent work of targeting the Maltese establishment. So directly linked! The modality of this execution means a lot. Not because of a tradition of femicide (as I unfortunately had to read here), but becouse of the similies with the mafia executions (see Falcone, Borsellino, Impastato) and becouse this is a clear message to all the journalists and free people that want to raise their heads in the island..scary, that's the word. Followed you guys.

Check the comment further down ,your comment was copy and pasted further down but its been flagged, this guy is doing this alot

Another great post. I remember hearing about the Panama papers before it was quickly swept under the rug in the media

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

It certainly got forgotten about quite quickly, it's understandable maybe if you remember all the campaign craziness leading up to the Podesta emails.

I used their database for some searches but found it difficult if you don't know what you're looking for. I think Galizia knew exactly what she was looking for.

Impunity is a Maltese World problem.

Sounds very similar to what happened with Michael Hastings...

This is getting to be all too frequent in the times we live in.
Anonymity is the key going forward, as you state telling the truth is a dangerous thing. The world is definately heading towards the frightening future predicted by Orwell and Huxley. Hopefully this platform will serve as a catalyst for a new generation of journalists to come and work to expose the criminals destroying our society with less fear of deadly retribution .
Great post buddy, as ever.

I am feeling uncomfortable after hearing that.Journalists are the link that connects the truth and brought all those stuffs that need to be enlighted to the people.

Wow you are on top of this criminal activity well. Knowing now that they are suing her after she is dead tells us who was behind the murders these people have no conscience. We can not comprehend their behaviour because we have one.

I think this is the most important factor we have to cope with is that we can not expect to begin to understand what they are doing because of this vast difference between them and us. It is the real divide......... Conscience or no conscience. Prey and Predator in humans.

Think about how the bomb blew her car into the field...... Makes me wonder why the truck bomb of OKC didn' t blow across the street?

There are so many people who would've wanted her dead.

The Panama Papers exposed the crooked dealings of all of the world's most evil and corrupt figures: Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, The Clinton Mob, Bashar Al-Assad's chemical weapons-dealing cousin Rami Maklouf.

It's difficult to know where to start.

nice post :D

They are the people in charge of monitoring the course of power and at the same time become the center of power...

Some say Panama papers was released by CIA !!!

heartbreaking news, the world of journalists grieves over this event, and the case adds a blacklist of crime to journalists

Ohh This is really Sad News For Every Person And Also Jauneralits

It is so sad, but true. But justice must prevail.
salute to those who help bring out the truth.

So sad to hear that, this world is full of fake people.

Generalist should brave for the cause of real and truth news.

I'm grieving hear this happen @sikhanteuk

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Very well written! The story is terrible & I'm shocked about what I just read!

I think we all have to change our mind. All the people who risk their lives to investigate are murdered or they have to hide. (Assange, Snowden,...). But it is our responsibility to fight for their freedom.

OHH very sorry to listen that
and thanks for this information i haven't know this information yet.

Thnx @v4vapid for putting this info all together.

Dead men tell no lies, panama papers were an awesome scandal
RIP

This is some serious stuff. I feel like steem is going to become more and more of a safe heaven for news that doesn't sit well with the powerful. How long until stories like these are utterly gone from places like youtube.

One of the big reasons I am behind steem is there is a new heaven for freedom in town.

I'm sorry to hear that@sikhanteuk

Good jop

You know, I am not an envious sort, but seeing you getting 1000 times the payout (if you deduct my own vote) that I got even when I was faster then most of the sources you use - it does piss me off a bit ;)

steemit is so unfair :(

Anyway, such murder of whistleblowers/journalists is one of the most hideous crimes. Why can people do that? sigh

That's pretty heavy stuff, thanks for the insight, cheers to you ;)

very sad. Thanks for putting this article together.

Thank you for Information

OMG that is so horrible! Knowledge is powerful... people are willing to kill for it. I'm so sad to here about this news.

:( evil evil people!!

It's sad that her life was taken for saying the truth

Another person that made a difference in the world murdered.. I hope they don't get away with this.

Now we definitely know that this woman was on to something. Her Prime Minister looked a big dodgy.

RIP

Since its inception, the phenomenon known as "citizen journalism" has been subject to recurring criticism, sometimes in very hard terms, especially on the part of the real journalists, the holders of a press card.

Congratulations @v4vapid!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:

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Ohh...its so bad.
When it occurs?
@v4vapid

To expose the Panama Papers and everyone involved was so courageous but to receive death threats and have someone (or Government, or powerful company) to actually commit the act is deplorable. This is the work of some serious people who didnt like what Galazia had reported or was going to report. We live to under the umbrella of such financial & political power that even our own countries can't and will not protect us if they see us as a threat to the establishment, we see it in so many places. Dissidents ,whistleblowers or reporters are the ones that have power but not political or financial backing so they have to expose, report with bare minmum security to show the rest of us what really is going on. Sheep are herded by the sheppard and also sheep get slaughtered by the wolves but also those supposedly protecting them So sad.

Your post was resteem by Whale ResteemService @booster007

Keep it up!
All the best!

First Follow for 3 hours | Send a transaction with post URL | Your post gets resteemed | A post can only be resteemed once!

Are you on steemitchat or discord? I was hoping to talk to you about something off-chain.

I'm sometimes on discord hanging out in the PAL network. From time to time I check steemchat. Fire me a msg anytime :)

Do you have a different username on there? I have been unable to find you.

Galizia was a REAL journalist and it is to be hoped that other journalists will investigate and expose the culprit(s), particularly if the police are ... unable to do so.

The Panama Papers were a breakthrough revelation which, like those of Snowden, exposed the double standard which infests world politics and supposed economic opportunity for millions who toil at work WITHOUT special tax havens and hideaways. The time has come to expose the double standard...
AND END IT.

Hello bro i was just join steemit about 2 month ago but we are so poor so i can't invest money in steemit due to that no one is becomeing friend with me on steemit so, i am wonder if you visit and upvote my posts. Thank you

The only good journalist. Is a dead one

Anyone notice the MSM touch this one in the slightest?

This is terrible to see. It's one of those things that we see happen in the movies, but when it happens in real life its send a chill down my spine.

RIP Miss Galazia

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

copy and paste flag coming right up!

Ive seen comments by that guy on barrydutton post and others & barry and I told him that this was not on.

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment