0DODZL press conference organized by civil society organizations (CSOs) in Malawi. The press conference was designed to express concern on the arrest of prominent human rights lawyer. Ralph Kasambara. Reports say the journalists were ordered to leave the press conference venue before proceedings could begin. The Malawi Chapter of the Media institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) confirmed the incident, stating that the CSOs had barred the journalist because of the apparent bias, by MBC, towards the Malawi government. $OHUW Date: March 3, 2012 Person/ institution: The Sunday Times, the Eye Witness, Violation/ issue: Threatened, assaulted Malawi Minister of Information, Patricia Kaliati has lashed at The Sunday Times over a cabinet assessment report done and published by the newspaper in its 26 February 2012 issue. Launched in 2004, the newspaper is the first-ever Sunday newspaper in Malawi and its annual cabinet assessment reports are widely anticipated by many people. Kaliati, who scored a low 2 out of 10 herself, trashed the report and went further to describe The Sunday Times 6R7KLVLV'HPRFUDF\" as an “unsuccessful” newspaper. A score of “2” on the newspaper’s score-sheet means “give it up”. March 6, 2012: Malawi’s Information and Civic Education minister, Patricia Kaliati, has verbally assaulted freelance journalist, Gregory Gondwe, following an article published by online news site, Biz Community and which Gondwe himself shared with Malawian journalists on a dedicated and exclusive e-mail discussion forum moderated by the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Malawi Chapter (MISA-Malawi). March 8, 2012: A journalist working for a private newspaper, The Eye Witness, claims he has been fired for allegedly expressing his views about his employers on a Media Institute of Southern Africa Malawi Chapter (MISA-Malawi) moderated e-mail forum and designed exclusively for Malawian journalists. The journalist, Watipaso Mzungu, believes that there is a mole amongst his colleagues on the e-mail forum. The allegation has added weight to alleged reports of espionage within the media fraternity in Malawi.