4.8 Salary levels and general working conditions for journalists and other media practitioners are adequate to discourage corruption ANALYSIS: Malawian journalists worked for a long time under a patronage system. An independent Journalists’ Union has just been set up. In the absence of a union, journalists were easily divided to respective loyalties of their employers and they would switch allegiances by moving into different camps that thrived on patronage. Most media houses do not have adequate facilities and tend to accept offers of transport, phone facilities and allowances from news sources. This is prone to corruption. It is not unusual to hear of political parties having a ‘media task force’ whose intention is to embellish and create stories in favour of the sponsoring party. The salary of a school leaver on entry is usually equivalent of $100 a month, while the Cost of Living Index (at the time of writing the report) shows that it takes about $150 for one to survive in Malawi for a month. Journalists have to supplement their income in some way. They easily become corruptible. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 4.9 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2 1.8 (2006 = 1.1) Training facilities offer formal qualification programmes for journalists as well as opportunities to upgrade their skills ANALYSIS: Malawi has an abundance of training institutions that offer formal qualification programmes ranging from certificate to bachelors level. The qualifications from within Malawi include the Malawi Institute of Journalism certificates and diplomas and the University of Malawi’s diploma and bachelors. Other institutions offer qualifications of foreign examining boards such as the Association of Business and Management (ABMA); (CIMA) and the Shareworld Open University of Cyprus diplomas and degrees. The current requirement is that all institutions be accredited by the Higher Committee on Education for recognition and standardization of the qualifications. Courses for upgrading journalists are very rare in the country. These are either hosted in-house or are often tenable outside the country at a higher cost. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: So This Is Democracy? 2008 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 3 3.9 (2006 = 4.3) -193- Media Institute of Southern Africa