The National Book Council (NBC) provides institutional support to the book industry, including funding, organising events, and promoting books and reading. It publishes resources such as author’s manuals to educate authors about copyright, publishing, and the market. As from 2026 it falls within the responsibility of the Ministry for Arts, Culture and National Heritage, following several years being part of that for education. The Publishing Entities survey tracks the number of new book titles published annually, helping to monitor and support the growth of the publishing industry and inform policy and strategy. In 2022, 545 new book titles were published, marking a 5.2% increase from the previous year.
The total number of ISBN numbers assigned in 2024 increased, with a total of 1,127 as compared to 871 in 2023. The amount of ISBNs assigned to books published on online platforms such as Amazon also increased in 2024.
Maltese publishers are actively involved in discovering new voices, nurturing talent, and promoting Maltese literature both locally and internationally. They work closely with authors to ensure high standards in book production and marketing.
One of the most notable tools for promoting the publishing sector is the Malta Book Festival. It is held annually, and features book launches, presentations, meetings with local and international authors, seminars, panel discussions, and events for children and students. Together with the festival, the NBC holds the Literary Contest of Novels for Youth, and other national and regional events, workshops, and contests, together with the National Book Prize to encourage Maltese literature.
Arts Council Malta (ACM) operates the Newspapers Support Scheme to support the quality assurance of content related to arts, culture, and heritage in print newspapers. Print newspapers face a challenging situation with limited financial and human resources, diminishing readership and tough competition from the digital world. Part of the scheme supports linguistic services for print newspapers in the Maltese language. Newspapers published in Maltese benefit from financial support towards linguistic development including orthography and improvement of journalistic expression in terms of style, clarity, syntax, and semantics. Elements like conciseness, political correctness, clear articulation, and analytical thinking are addressed professionally and in line with international standards.
Another part of the scheme supports expenditure for the creation of regular arts, culture, and heritage content designed to disseminate knowledge to readers about cultural aspects via features, articles and pictorial material in view of promoting events and projects to attract new audiences. In this way print-based media in Malta is encouraged to feature recognition towards the importance of arts, culture, and heritage as seminal contributors to citizens’ wellbeing in contemporary society.
In 2024 the criteria marking the level of protection of freedom of expression as per the Media Pluralism Monitor identified a low-risk score of 28%, namely 10 percentage points higher than in 2023. This increase reflects a stalled reform process, the gap between proposed safeguards and international good practice standards, as well as continued risk of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). Malta’s media reform has somewhat stalled, with Malta announced as the SLAPP country of the year 2024 by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe.
Freedom of expression is protected by Article 41(1) of the Constitution and the ongoing media reform includes plans to establish further safeguards for journalists’ sources. Fines for moral damages in cases of civil proceedings for defamation are capped according to the Constitution of Malta.
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