F or Malawian journalists and the media, 2005 was a year of mixed fortunes. President Bingu wa Mutharika and his successive ministers of Information and Tourism kept telling the nation that the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Malawi Television (TVM) would open up and accommodate dissenting views. The President even offered to help in the training of journalists. Neither the training nor the opening up of the public broadcasting sector took place. Further, recommendations made by the review workshop of Malawi’s 2004 elections for the government to loosen its grip on public broadcasters went unheeded. As expected, like its predecessors, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) monopolised public media during the campaign for byelections in six constituencies. It won all the seats. Ironically, the UDF cried foul and described the by-elections as neither free nor fair, accusing the DPP of abusing public resources, the very tactics international observers and political critics condemned during the controversial 2004 elections which the UDF (alone) considered free and fair. Media-government relationship A downward turn was apparent during 2005 in the relationship between the private media and the government. A few events illustrate these deteriorating relations. Daily Times journalist Collins Mtika was beaten by Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) supporters while covering a press conference by AFORD’s president, Chakufwa Chihana. At the time, AFORD was in a ruling coalition with the UDF. The same month, President Mutharika rejected reporters from TVM and MBC, choosing his own journalists to accompany him to China. Later, two journalists and the Vice President’s press officer were arrested over a story that alleged that the President had left state house because he was being haunted by ghosts. Zodiak radio was denied permission by parliament to broadcast parliamentary proceedings live. Capital Radio was sued using a 1967 insult law that is inconsistent with the current constitution. Thereafter the government accused three newspapers – the Chronicle, the Nation and the Daily Times – of harbouring mercenary journalists in the employ of former government minister and ex-MP Philip Bwanali. The First Lady sued the Nation despite having refuted the story that said she and her entourage went shopping in expensive shops in Scotland while her husband was pleading for aid. The story was based on the Daily Record website (www.dailyrecord.co.uk/tm_objectid). Veteran MBC journalist Moffat Kondowe complained late in the year that he was sent back from reporting parliamentary proceedings on the orders of the Minister of Information who accused him of being a UDF spy. MISA condemned the government action. Deputy Minister of Information and Tourism John Bande went as far as accusing TVM journalists of engaging in sexual acts in the studios instead of concentrating on their work. There were, of course times, like May 3 World Press Freedom Day, when government praised the media for contributing significantly to the consolidation of democracy in Malawi. But this could be seen as a politically correct statement befitting the occasion. In brief, mistrust characterised the relationship between the private media and the Malawian government, while the opposition continued to doubt the integrity of public media. Legislative environment Chapter 4 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of the press/media, So This Is Democracy? 2005 -62- Media Institute of Southern Africa