Absence of self-regulation undermining Malawi media

Media Council of Malawi (MCM) executive director, Baldwin Chiyamwaka, over the weekend, said once the Malawi Media Code of Ethics and Complaints and Arbitration Procedures currently being drafted, is put in place, self-regulation will enable the Malawi media avoid mediocrity.

MCM, which was resuscitated in February 2007, is a desperate effort by Malawi media to have a self-regulating institution that promotes a vibrant media, which is not only professional but accountable to the public as well.

“We want the Malawi media to maintain and promote the status of journalism as professional; and the status of journalism cannot be achieved without [a] self-regulation concept,” said Chiyamwaka in the northern city of Mzuzu during a countrywide consultative meeting with journalists on the matter.

Since independence in 1964, the Malawi media was gagged due to dictatorial rule which only ended in 1993 with a referendum that ushered in a multi-party democratic system of governance.

With the system in place, different instruments, including one on freedom of expression, were put in place and in turn, countless publications and radio stations emerged throughout the country.

As media operations unfolded, it was clear that there was a need to create a self-regulation institution and therefore the Media Council of Malawi was formed. Unfortunately, even before rolling out its duties and programmes, the body collapsed and Malawi had been operating without it, until now.

Media practitioners in Mzuzu bemoaned that a lot of pretenders and impersonators have besieged the fraternity and therefore the resuscitation of the organisation would help clean up the media industry.

“We have been a laughing stock in the eyes of our media colleagues in bordering countries because here in Malawi every Jim and Jack would just wake up and start saying he or she is a journalist,” lamented Nyika Media Club publicity secretary, Angellah Mkandawire.

She said with the coming in of the MCM, they hope Malawi will have to attain an integrity that befits any national media industry.

Director of the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ), Dr. Peter Mitunda also bemoaned the quality of the media output which he said was disappointing.

“We are encouraging even those practicing journalists to always aim at advancing their qualification standing by pursuing further studies,” he said.

The other challenge as seen in the eyes of the Dean of Media Studies at the University of Malawi, Gray Mang'anda, is that ever since multi-party dispensation, Malawi has been littered with mediocre media institutions operating at all angles.

MCM executive director, Chiyamwaka says once the body is in full swing, and allows for the self-regulating concept to flourish in the country's media, there will be a preservation of editorial freedom, minimisation of state interference, promotion of media quality, and the public will be able to access the media.

Apart from overseeing the drafting of the Malawi Media Code of Ethics and Complaints and Arbitration Procedures, the council is also developing an accreditation policy, which allows those media practitioners with press cards to operate in Malawi.