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President Bakili Muluzi's government came into power promising an end to
censorship and other human rights abuses. The country's new constitution
which was approved shortly before the May 1994 multi-party elections
beautifully states in part that there shall be freedom of association,
opinion and expression and that the press shall have the right to report and
publish and be given assistance in gathering and disseminating any, and all
information, including that held by the state.
Like its SADC neighbours, Malawi signed the 1991 Windhoek Declaration thus
accepting the principles of freedoms of expression and the media as
fundamental human rights. Media freedom is founded by freedom of expression
which it self is rooted in the belief that every individual has a
fundamental right to receive and impart ideas and information without any
interference.
From looking at the constitution one would then expect to find that the
environment in which the Malawian media operate is conducive. However the
situation on the ground is very different and according to MISA Malawi's
National Director, Bentry Mndhuli, it is only on paper. The Malawian media
face a number of obstacles and operates in a constraining environment.
There is a willingness on the part of many journalists to disseminate
information and offer the Malawian public an alternative but the media face
a number of constraints such as the practical problems of sourcing newsprint
; the costs of printing; the weak production infrastructure; unfavourable
finance and tax arrangements, indifference/hostility to emerging media; high
taxes on equipment, supplies and advertising.
The economy itself is not stable and as Mrs. Puspha Jamieson of the Weekly
Chronicle, an independent newspaper, said the economic situation was really
getting out of hand with many people struggling to make ends meet.
Rates.
The high cost of printing means that the newspaper has to be priced higher
in order to recover the costs but this ultimately means that the price will
be twice sometimes three times higher.
Mrs. Jamieson gave examples of how the advertising rates were recently
raised three times within a short space of time. The implication was that
the newspaper prices had to rise and this had an adverse effect on the many
readers, many of whom end up not buying any newspaper as the prices become
out of reach. The readers' choice becomes a matter of survival.
Another problem that affects media owners is the ever increasing costs of a
ream of news print, with one ream costing about K 1000 (HFl.65) and
sometimes three or four reams are used to print one.
Running a newspaper is not so easy. Newspapers need to have adveritising in
the papers. Pushpa narrated how her company was once so badly affected by
the government's decision not to allow government-advertising in the
independent newspapers and still wonders how they survived. In the beginning
the company had 36 members of staff but because of the many problems they
ran into, financially and otherwise, the company ended up with 6 members of
staff only. The Jamiesons explained that it was really hard for many
newspapers to survive and they probably managed because they have a
committed team who have often had to make great sacrifices. At one time they
had to rely on family to assist with loans as the banks were not forthcoming
as media is seen as bad business.
The printing houses that the independent media use are not a hundred per
cent reliable. The Weekly Chronicle was once published a week later as the
printers were not able to do the job on time. Mr. Rob Jamieson says it is
not just a lack of staff and skills but there also other factors such as
poor equipment; no spare parts and poor work ethics.
OWNERSHIP
Ownership of Malawian media is a concern for most journalists in the
country. Effectively there are two independent newspapers in Malawi. These
are the Star and the Weekly Chronicle. The rest that call themselves
independent are actually owned by individual politicians or political
parties who are busy mud slinging each other.
When the announcement was made that any one was free to own a newspaper,
Malawi experienced the mad rush of newspapers mushrooming every day during
the run up to the elections. At a time there were 46!
It only became clear after elections that most of the newspapers had been
owned by politicians who had wanted to use the media for election purposes.
Many of them have since closed down.
Mr. Anderson Fumulani was one of those who felt that there was an urgent
need to seriously look at the ownership structure in Malawi.
Indeed there is press freedom but for whom?
It seems the freedom that's there only for those who can afford it.
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