• ALERT Date: October 29, 2007 Persons: Joy TV Violation: Censored On October 29 2007, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) ordered Joy TV to immediately stop all television broadcasts until the station is issued appropriate radio and broadcasting licenses. Joy TV - a sister company to Joy Radio - has been held up in a wrangle with the country’s communications regulator after it challenged the Macra Board in court, describing it as illegal. In the latest development, Joy TV’s project manager Tailosi Bakili expressed surprise over the directive, saying the television station had applied for a court injunction stopping Macra from blocking its operations. According to Macra’s letter to the station’s manager, the regulator expressed concern that Joy TV was broadcasting without a license, which it said expired on March 31, 2007. The letter further warned that if the station flouts the directive, Macra would proceed to take appropriate measures against it, as stipulated in the same Act. Joy Television Limited is expected to be Malawi’s first private TV station. There is only one state-owned television station, Television Malawi (TVM), in existence. This development comes after Joy TV wrote the regulator on August 28, 2007 complaining that it had delayed in giving them a Studio Transmission Links (STL) Frequency, which could have allowed the station to conduct studio broadcasting. Macra’s board was dissolved following a lawsuit filed by the station’s sister company, Joy Radio, describing Macra’s board as unlawfully constituted and lacking an institutional memory. • ALERT Date: September 11, 2007 Persons: Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi (TVM), citizens of Malawi Violation: Other On September 11 2007, Parliament passed its US$670 million annual national budget with an allocation of only K1 (approx. US$.01) each for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi (TVM), for their 2007/2008 financial year. The MK1 allocation is nominal, to satisfy the law that make it illegal to provide no allocation at all without holding a vote. The development comes barely a week after MISA Regional Governing Council chairperson Thabo Thakalekoala sent a strong statement to government demanding sufficient resources to the two institutions. The 193-seat Parliament, with the opposition in the majority, recently claimed that the two state broadcasters were being used as propaganda tools by the current government to castigate the opposition. • ALERT Date: July 13, 2007 Persons: Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) Violation: Victory On July 13 2007, the High Court in Blantyre nullified the composition of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) board because its members did not qualify for appointment. In his ruling, Judge Frank Kapanda said it was wrong for President Bingu wa Mutharika to appoint the board members while excluding old members of the board. Kapanda issued an order stopping the board members from exercising their functions and another requiring the President to comply with the Communications Act. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -49- Media Institute of Southern Africa