February 9, 2012: The Malawi government has disputed a report released recently on press freedom by a France based Reporters Without Boarders (RWB), arguing that Malawi’s poor showing on the Press Freedom Index was based on inappropriate criteria. Responding to the report, government through the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Civic Education James Kalilangwe described the study’s criteria as wrong. “The criteria included violence, censorship and imprisonment of journalists yet Malawi has never caused, nor advocated for violence against journalists…neither does government engage in censorship of the media…no journalist has been imprisoned on any political grounds,” Kalilangwe argued. &RPPXQLTXp Date: February 6, 2012 Person/ institution: Media Violation/ issue: Other A recent report released by civil society organisation, Civic and Political Space Platform (CPSP), shows that the media in Malawi continue to grow despite facing very tough conditions. The 34-pagereport, titled Status of Governance Report in Malawi has dedicated a chapter on media and governance in Malawi. The report covers research conducted in the period 2009-2010 and is silent on 2011, a year in which most private media and independent journalists came under fire in Malawi. $OHUW Date: February 9, 2012 Person/ institution: Government of Malawi Violation/ issue: legislation Plans by Malawi government to review some draconian laws recently passed in Parliament have hit a snag due to lack of funds for the process. Government in November 2011 referred to the Law Commission several archaic laws for further review. These laws included Section 46 of the Penal Code which empowers a minister to ban publications deemed unsuitable for public good; Section 35 of the Police Act and the Local Courts Act. February 13, 2012: The Ministry of Justice has warned that repressive laws which were referred to the Malawi Law Commission for review can still be applied until such a time when they have been repealed. Confirming the news to The Nation newspaper, the ministry’s spokesperson Apoche Itimu said the laws remain active despite having been referred to the Commission for further review. “These laws were gazetted, making them active…So far there is no provision that makes them inactive. Until they are repealed, that’s the only time when they will be inactive”. $OHUW Date: February 16, 2012 Person/ institution: Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation Violation/ issue: Expelled Two journalists from state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation (MBC) were on 14 February barred from covering a 6R7KLVLV'HPRFUDF\"