State of the Media and Journalism in Malawi

2017

For the first three decades following independence from Britain in 1964, the governance of Malawi was a political dictatorship under President Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP). The country adopted a multiparty constitution in 1993 through a national referendum. Bakili Muluzi and his United Democratic Front (UDF) emerged winners of the 1994 general elections and formed a government. The UDF also won the 1999 and 2004 elections. In a multiparty democracy, the right to freedom of expression should ideally empower journalists to provide in-depth and balanced reporting on issues that affect the disadvantaged populace, the majority of which lives in abject poverty. The media's attempts at providing accurate and balanced information have, however, intensified tensions with the ruling politburo. Building on the case of four journalists who were dismissed from the country's public broadcaster, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Radio, this paper draws from Gramscian concepts of ideology and hegemony to critique the practice of political journalism in Malawi's broadcasting media. It seeks to explore how oppressive political regimes stifle media freedom and how all this leads to the emergence of popular culture as a form of alternative media.

This paper is a critical review of the role and performance of the media in the 2004 Malawi Parliamentary and Presidential Elections. The paper argues that, although not perfect, the professional and legal environment in Malawi is conducive enough for the media to develop and work professionally. It notes that, although the print media sector has experienced a downward development trend since 1994, the broadcasting sector has expanded and media-related training has flourished since 1994. Against this background, the paper goes on to argue that the dismal performance of the media in general, and public broadcasters, MBC and TVM in particular, was the result of a lack of attitude change and political partisanship amongst media managers, and a lack of political will amongst the politicians themselves. Politicians seem to be interested in media professionalism only during elections. The paper makes several recommendations to Malawian journalists to improve their performance.

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.

Journal of Development and Communication Studies, 2018

Based principally on verbal data collected through interviews with journalists, journalism educationists, journalist trainers, and curriculum analysis, this study notes some progress made in the field of Malawian journalism since independence. However, it argues that despite the welcome increase in the number of journalism and communication qualifications offered by public and private journalism training colleges in Malawi, the quality of the output is still lackluster. This is overwhelmingly because practical skills courses are taught inadequately, haphazardly and theoretically due, partly, to inadequate human and material resources and lack of a national policy to guide the formation of journalists. It recommends that to improve the quality and relevance of journalistic output, Malawi should draft and publish a journalism education and training policy to guide all journalism training colleges. It also recommends that training colleges should partner with the industry, multilateral organizations with interest in communication and media development, government departments and NGOs not only for industrial attachment but also for these to sponsor communication and journalism training programmes. Partner institutions should consider procuring training materials and assets for the training institutions. The study further recommends that partner institutions need to consider sponsoring academic staff for higher education in journalism and media studies.

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

The Worlds of Journalism Study was one of the most comprehensive surveys of the culture and practice of journalism in Malawi since 2010, when the Journalists Union of Malawi (JUMA) did a survey of journalists' conditions of service. To a certain extent, the two studies complement each other.

2015

This study investigated the political role of the Weekend Nation newspaper in the democratisation of Malawi between 2002 and 2012 within the context of its foundational and ownership structures by a politician. Bearing in mind that the newspaper was founded by a politician belonging to the first democratically elected ruling party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), this research sought to examine the impact of media ownership on the political role of the Weekend Nation's journalistic practices in Malawi's democratisation. Between 2002 and 2012, Malawi was governed by three presidents-Bakili Muluzi of the UDF from 1994 to 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from 2004 to 2012, and Joyce Banda of the People's Party (PP) from 2012 to 2014-all of whom were hostile to the Weekend Nation. Taking into cognisance the ownership of the Weekend Nation by a politician, the critical political economy theory of the media was deemed to be the most appropriate theoretical framework for this study. In media research, the critical political economy theory asserts that owners are able to regulate the output of the media institution either by intervening in the day-today operations, or by establishing general goals and understandings and appointing managerial and editorial staff to implement them within the constraints set by the overall allocation of resources. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, in particular in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis. Research findings indicate that overall, the political ownership of the newspaper had no direct bearing on the journalists' political role in the enhancement of democracy and good governance in Malawi. It established that despite the ownership of the Weekend Nation belonging to a prominent and influential politician, the editorial independence was not compromised. Contrary to general expectations, this study established that the Weekend Nation in Malawi, was critical to the political elite in an indiscriminate manner. Although it was not the focus of this study, the research also showed that market forces, in line with the stance taken by the critical political economy theory, had some impact on the Weekend Nation's editorial independence. The quest for more advertising revenue, to an extent, undermined the struggle for complete editorial independence. I give thanks to God Almighty, all the angels and saints for the grace and enrichment in my career. Words fail me to express sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Simphiwe Sesanti, whose scholarly guidance, motivation and leadership enabled me to travel through the academic journey with a vision. I also wish to thank most sincerely Professor Lizette Rabe and Dr. Gabriël Botma of the Stellenbosch University's Journalism Department, from whose insights I benefited greatly. I would also like to thank Mrs. Elizabeth Newman and Mrs. Lijuan Daniels who made my stay in the department very pleasant. For Elizabeth in particular, I am also grateful for the consolidation of our spiritual beliefs through the Stellenbosch Roman Catholic Parish, which was an important aspect during my research and beyond. My research would not have been possible without the financial support of the University of Stellenbosch's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' Graduate School which awarded me a full-time scholarship to pursue my dream and for that I am greatly indebted. I also thank the University of Malawi's Chancellor College for the gesture of a fully-paid leave throughout my studies. A special thanks to the Nation Publications Limited (NPL) management: CEO Mbumba Achuthan, Deputy CEO Alfred Mtonga, and former Managing Editor, late Edward Chitsulo for granting me access to their organisation, including all the former and present Weekend Nation journalists who took part in this study. The NPL library team was marvellous during the months I and my research assistant, Francis "Fra" Xavier Mpanga, spent there. "Fra", your contribution deserves special recognition. For staff of the Society of Malawi library in Blantyre, Chancellor College library and the National Archives in Zomba, Malawi, I express my sincere thanks for your support. I am also grateful to the Stellenbosch Journalism departmental colleagues in research, Adrian Stewart, Mphatisi Ndhlovu, Sibongile Mpofu, Irene Wamae, Marenet Jordaan and Nabila Hatimy as well as John Bosco Isunju from the Faculty of Science for their friendship and scholarly support. Finally, my profound gratitude goes to my family, specifically my mother for her tireless motherly and grandmotherly love and care. I also thank my wife Prisca, my children Sipho and Brianna who had to endure three years of my absence, my siblings Mwayi, Mtisunge, Chikondi, Khuma and Mwatitha as well as the Gunde and Mpanga clans for their moral support and words of encouragement in the course of my studies.

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.