Malawi rated positively in promoting media freedom
Matonga: We are aware of the challenges
Reporters without Borders have rated positively, the country’s efforts in promoting media freedom.
According to their 2024 report, Malawi has made significant strides and its ranking has moved from 82 to 63.
The report further shows progress in operations of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), contributing to the promotion of media freedom.
It also cites the operationalisation of the Access to Information Law, which came into effect in September 2020.
Jolly Ntaba who is chairperson of the Media Council of Malawi (MCM) welcomes the development but states that there is a lot that needs to be done is as far as full independence of the media is concerned.
“The media is fairly free, but sometimes it’s the work form individual media houses that sometimes does work towards impinging the freedom that journalists are supposed to enjoy. For example, we have issues of self-censorship within each and every media house.
“So sometimes when we are looking at the media freedom, we shouldn’t just look at it from a political point of view, but we should look at it holistically and when you look at it holistically, Malawi indeed made progress but there are still some elements, even within the constitution there are still some laws that have a bearing on how the media is operating in Malawi,” Ntaba said.
Conceding with Ntaba, MISA Malawi Chairperson Golden Matonga points out the challenges that are still there and calls for the constraints to be addressed.
“While we welcome this development, we are also cognizant of the fact that they still remain on our statutes, many laws which criminalizes press freedom in the country.
“We are aware of the challenges that have been brought on board by passing of the Cyber Security and Electronic Transactions Act, which is being used increasingly to victimize journalist in the country,” Matonga added.
Press freedom is a constitutional right as per Section 36 of the Republican Constitution.
Despite these legal guarantees of press freedom and access to information, legal researchers have identified over 40 pieces of legislation on statute books that have the potential to suppress press freedom.
According to Reporters without Borders, these laws can be used against both journalists and bloggers.
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