44 · MONEY
BOOKS
ISSUE 61
FEARLESS Malta: 6 October 2017—a leading Maltese journalist is killed in a car bomb. MONEY delves into press freedom and how one can communicate its importance to children in a simple manner. One attempt is a picture story book by Gattaldo celebrating Daphne’s life, to be launched soon here and in the UK…
M It is vital to teach children on the importance of Press Freedom and bring about awareness that journalists are out there to give us an accurate picture on the goings-on, including scrutinising the work of the Government and Opposition. But do you feel that young children will get the gist in the end? G Think of the numerous times in history that disclosures by journalists helped to change things for the better, to impeach corrupt political leaders or to bring about change through elections and yet, for some reason, polls indicate that journalists are very unpopular now. In this era of challenge to professional journalism, its contribution deserves highlighting. I believe that a big part of the reason for the public’s mistrust of journalists is borne of the public’s inability to distinguish between true and fake news, information and propaganda. Social media has put a spotlight on our lack of media literacy. How do we make sure our children are more prepared? It’s best here to specify the age range (6–11) that my book is targeted at. It’s an essential time of a child’s development when they are spending more time away from their parents and interacting with media more independently, therefore suddenly encountering a lot more unsupervised information. They also start to develop an understanding of abstract concepts like poverty, unfairness, and emotions. Don’t underestimate children. They don’t need anyone telling them what to think. I believe children need guidance but above all what they need is a safe space for discussion. “Fearless, The Story of Daphne Caruana Galizia” tells the life story of a journalist with whom we are all familiar. The book aims to encourage children to be independent thinkers, to inform their opinions and to persevere in fighting for what they believe in. The book provides context and perspective, and that is what children need to make sense of what journalism brings
