The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was an attack on all of those who try to articulate ideas and understand social truths, the Faculty for Social Wellbeing said today.

“All of this is not just about Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination, but about a society that has been weakened by a dialectic of hostility,” the faculty said. 

In a statement, it said the atmosphere we are living in at the moment is one of fear and with fear comes a loss of independence of thought and action.

"Academics at the Faculty for Social Wellbeing recognise that silence and complacency in the face of such darkness facing Maltese society is harmful. We need to take responsibility when we ourselves have rationalised decisions in public life that go against lawfulness and truthfulness."

"The faculty said it was everyone's responsibility and role to redeem society through a thousand acts of honesty, decency, integrity, respectability, propriety and all that is good. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, and our daily decisions and interactions need to reflect this belief,” the faculty members said.

"What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, and our daily decisions and interactions need to reflect this belief,” the faculty members said.

The faculty called for level-headiness in the public debate, so as to allow investigators and the forensic police squad to work serenely and bring to justice the perpetrator/s of this violence.

It called for acknowledgement of the importance of the media to ensure democracy, fairness and social equality.

Institutional impartiality also needed to be guaranteed secure and safe communities.

Journalists, it said, should not be demonised by political parties, individuals or groups and they should be afforded protection in the course of their duties.

The faculty also called for the promotion of a more active civil society which recognises the value of investigative journalism and informed debate.