In October 2018 I participated in the journalism program “Eurotours”, a scholarship granted by the Austrian Government for 27 young journalists, where each of them gets to travel to one of the EU member states for a research trip.
The applicants could name three member states and write a proposal why they would like to visit one of the countries and what stories they would research for. My choices were Latvia, Bulgaria and Malta.
Eventually I was assigned to travel to Malta. I wanted to go there, because Valletta was European Cultural Capital at the time. In addition, the anniversary of the assassination of Maltese Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was approaching. And lastly, several private sea rescue ships were detained at the ports of Valletta at the time. Interesting times, interesting stories.
In Malta, I interviewed the sister of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, former colleagues and friends, visited an Indie Music Festival, and boarded the detained sea rescue ship “Lifeline”, where I spoke with crew members about the situation in the mediterranean, on board, and about an ongoing trial against the ship’s former captain.
