The EU may still enjoy the status of the safest place for journalists in the world, but this could easily change as the current trend of intimidating, harassing and even killing reporters seems to be on the rise.

Our guest is investigative journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, whose mother, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was brutally murdered in 2017 trying to expose corruption in Malta.

Julie Majerczak, head of the Brussels office of Reporters without Borders, told us that murders of journalists – with 16 killed in the EU since 2015 – were just the tip of the iceberg. They are increasingly the victims of various forms of pressure, abuse and censorship. We asked EESC member Christian Moos why defending media freedoms was so important for the EU.

Is there something the EU should do and should budgetary sanctions be applied to governments which stifle critical voices and press freedoms? Our guests tell it all in our latest episode "Without media freedom, there is no democracy".