and telecommunications industry in Malawi. As of December 2008 there were 23 licensed broadcasters in Malawi. The radio category accounts for 20, including one state-owned radio. The country has three licensed television stations: one state-owned and two privately owned by the Catholic and All for Jesus churches. The latter was licensed in March 2008 and is expected to be on air by May 2009. The large number of privately owned radio stations, in particular, provides a wide choice for people to access information of interest. However, the state broadcaster was once again denied public funding by the opposition-dominated Parliament, citing biased coverage as the reason. “It doesn’t matter how much you weep: the funding for these two unusually primitive organisations cannot pass. Not in this house,” a senior opposition legislator, George Ntafu was quoted as saying. Mtafu was a cabinet minister until 2004, under whose regime these two institutions did not perform any better but got the funding anyway. It is, therefore, easy to conclude that the decision is not in the interests of the greater good but rather a show of political muscle. The finance mnister could only allocate the nominal one Malawi Kwacha (a tenth of one United States cent) to the state broadcaster. By denying the two broadcasters access to public finances, Parliament displayed a lack of moral high-ground, considering that the two institutions have a legal obligation towards the public to provide information, education and entertainment on a range of social issues such as health, HIV and AIDS, agriculture and many more. MBC and TVM enjoy the widest coverage in their respective categories. On the flipside, the two state broadcasters have not helped themselves by taking initiatives that put them directly in the firing line. Some of the programming, such as the satirical Makiyolobasi and the panel discussion show Mizwanya, has clearly displayed the broadcasters’ agenda to demonise opposition leaders. For instance, Makiyolobasi uses the voices of opposition leaders and portrays them as villains. This should, to some extent, explain the anger in Parliament. Both the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and MACRA cautioned the two broadcasters during the course of the year (March and June respectively) on broadcasts that were perceived to promote hate speech or offensive language. Private radio stations provide an alternative to the state broadcasters despite their limitations in terms of infrastructure and coverage. Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) stands out among those whose main target is the rural audience. The station scooped an international award on human rights reporting during the year. Joy FM, on the other hand, had a fair share of tribulations as its relationship with MACRA degenerated into a cat-and-mouse chase. On October 17 MACRA ordered Joy FM to stop broadcasting. It was only served by the courts and was back on air two days later. When MACRA challenged the ruling, silence once again engulfed the airwaves of Joy FM on November 20, after the High Court threw out the station’s injunction barring MACRA from shutting it down. Once again Joy was saved by the court following the Supreme Court’s ruling in early December pending a judicial review. Joy FM is in a very precarious position due to its ties with former President Bakili Muluzi, a prominent opponent of the government. The community radio sector is still under-developed and yet it provides great potential for strengthening grassroots democracy. Malawi has four community radio stations. The Communications Act of 1998 is overdue for revision following the experiences in its application. It needs to be realigned with the Communications Sector Policy on a number of areas such as the definition of a community radio and the status of private satellite television. So This Is Democracy? 2008 -45- Media Institute of Southern Africa