Journalists in Malawi

2016

A total of 62.1 percent of the 371 journalists interviewed for the South African leg of the Worlds of Journalism Study (WJS) were women. On average, South African journalists in the sample were 39.92 years old (s=11.98); half of the journalists were younger than 37 years. Journalists tend to be well educated: 62.9 percent of the respondents held a Bachelor’s degree from a university, and 19.5 percent held a master’s degree. Another three of the journalists had obtained a doctoral degree, and 8.7 percent had undertaken some university studies but did not complete their studies. Of those respondents who held a university degree, exactly half (50.0%) had specialized in journalism; 16.1 percent specialized in communication and journalism and 8.8 per cent specialized in another communication field.

This study used in-depth interviews to investigate the conditions of service and welfare of journalists in Malawi. It found that while the Media Council of Malawi code of professional ethics and standards and in-house policies expected the best out the journalists, the majority of the journalists, mostly junior reporters, were grossly underpaid; far below the monthly living wage. It also found that dejection, fatalism, and individualism pervade journalists so much so that some of them seemed resigned to their status quo. Media owners seemed unwilling to engage in any debate about their journalist employees' welfare. The study concludes that under such circumstances, many Malawian journalists were likely to be tempted to take bribes and engage in other forms of corruption as coping mechanisms.

This study used in-depth interviews to investigate the conditions of service and welfare of journalists in Malawi. It found that while the Media Council of Malawi code of professional ethics and standards and in-house policies expected the best out the journalists, the majority of the journalists, mostly junior reporters, were grossly underpaid; far below the monthly living wage. It also found that dejection, fatalism, and individualism pervade journalists so much so that some of them seemed resigned to their status quo. Media owners seemed unwilling to engage in any debate about their journalist employees' welfare. The study concludes that under such circumstances, many Malawian journalists were likely to be tempted to take bribes and engage in other forms of corruption as coping mechanisms.

Worl of Journalism Study , 2017

Journalism, 2016

This national survey conducted in 2012–2013 (N = 504) examines demographic characteristics of the Kenyan journalists. Findings indicate that the typical Kenyan journalist is male (66%), married (57%), and in his mid-30s (M = 34 years). He tends to have a Bachelor’s degree (46%) and has received college-level training in journalism or communication (91%). However, when it comes to majoring in journalism or communication, most of the journalists were trained at the level of associate degree (45%), followed by Bachelor’s degree (38.5%) and Master’s degree (13.6%). Thirty-three percent of the Kenyan journalists work in daily newspapers, with 73 percent of them employed on full-time basis. In ethnic grouping, about a quarter (24.9%) of Kenyan news people belong to the Kikuyu tribe, followed by Luhya tribe (20%). The results also indicate that the majority of the journalists are from the Rift Valley province (21.4%) – Kenya’s largest administrative unit – followed by Western (19.5%) and C...

State of Newsroom Report 2023, 2023

Malawi’s maiden State of the Newsroom report for Malawi in 2021 came out as the country, like the rest of the world, was coming out of the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Life was generally tough for everyone in Malawi and the media industry was not spared. Journalism as we know it had to adapt to the so-called new normal if it is to survive. Two years later, Gregory Gondwe of the Continuing Journalism Education (CJE) and Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) in Malawi under the Basel Institute on Governance in collaboration with Franz Krüger and Alan Finlay of the Wits Journalism Programme at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa bring the second edition of the State of the Newsroom Report 2023 for Malawi. There are many issues related to the media coming in different guises throughout this edition. As with the first edition, this State of the Newsroom Malawi has research-based articles complemented by commentaries on contemporary issues affecting the media in the country.

2016

In the sample of 186 journalists interviewed in Botswana, most were male (62.4%), held a bachelor’s degree or equivalent (84.2%), and had specialized in journalism and/or mass communication (84.7%). The mean age of these journalists was 34.07 years. Journalists’ modal language/ethnicity was Setswana (83.7%), but 10 other languages/ethnicity were represented in small frequencies. In terms of religious affiliation, of the 184 respondents who reported their religious affiliation, 123 (66.8%) were Christian; these respondents did not specify a particular denomination of Christianity. Percentages for those who did provide a denomination were 4.9 percent for Protestant/Lutheran and 5.4 percent for Roman Catholic. Religion was quite important for the journalists (3.93 on a five-point scale, where 5 indicated more).

2020

This paper presents research findings on development journalism in

Journalism Practice, 2016

The professional role conceptions of journalists have for many years remained a central strand in journalism studies. The present research investigates the professional role conceptions that Kenyan journalists perceive to be the most important in their work. Similarly, the professional role they consider the most important is further analyzed in relation to demographics (age, gender, education, contract type, media type, and media ownership). Findings from a national survey of 504 Kenyan journalists indicate that "providing citizens with information" is the most important role (61.3 percent), followed by "advocate for social change" (51.7 percent). The other major roles include to "support official policies" (46.9 percent), "motivate people to participate in civic activities" (45.6 percent), and "act as watchdog of government" (35.3 percent). The most important role-providing citizens with information-is backed across all demographics with a strong mean of 4.4 on a five-point scale ranging from 1 ("not important at all") to 5 ("extremely important"). However, the difference of means across all the analyzed demographics are not statistically significant.

One thing that shines out about journalists and their editors in Swaziland is the deeply cynical way they operate. Swazi journalists claim to be upholders of fine ethical traditions of honesty and inquiry, but instead they are often publishing lies or playing with readers’ emotions to boost company profits. This article explores the state of newspaper journalism in Swaziland, a small kingdom in Africa, ruled over by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Editors are deliberately misleading their readers by publishing material that is intended to provoke controversy and reaction, even though they know it also contains lies. This is done in order to boost profits for owners.

Political history of Malawi can essentially be categorised in three phases:

Journal of Communication, 2017

The purpose of the study was to determine whether gaps exist in the Kenyan journalism training thatare now filled by other professionals. Materials and methods: The three study sites were local FM radio stations-Radio Citizen, Radio Jambo, and Radio Maisha. Using a 2014 Media Council of Kenya study of radio talk shows in Kenya as a background,the thesis placed more emphasis on the radio presenters and their content. The study applied Social Responsibility Theory which posits that media should be more responsible and accountable to the society. The study employed a descriptive survey using qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this study, four presenters, two key personnel from the Media Council of Kenya were interviewed. as well as a sample of their radio talk show content. Results: The media council of Kenya lacked the capacity to ensure that only trained radio broadcast journalists were hired by media houses. In addition, despite MCK having developed a curriculum for middle level journalism training institutions, its impact in standardising training had been negligible. Recommendations: The study recommended improvement of the journalism curriculum as well as embracing of the MCK curriculum by middle level colleges.

2017

Kenya boasts one of the vibrant media markets by the standards of East Africa. According to the Media Council of Kenya, there are about 3000 journalists operating in the country and who are registered with the statutory media regulating body. The number of journalists listed by the Media Council includes those who work for the media houses on a full time basis, correspondents, stringers or freelancers, and also students at the nation’s media schools. In order to appreciate the kind of journalist working in the Kenyan media it is helpful to first consider the Kenyan media landscape. There is almost an even spread of radio in the urban and in the rural, even if the urban may appear to have more stations. The majority of the media established in the city are the traditional ones: print, television, and radio. Most of these urban-based legacy media target the entire country and largely operate in either of the national languages of Kiswahili and English. The country has four national ne...

2013