Malawi History was made during 2014 when state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) stunned Malawians by focusing their content to reflect public interest and professional standards rather than political whims. Better known for being a mouth piece of the party in power, with over 99 percent content in favour of the party in power, MBC shifted gears from being a propaganda machine to a ‘platform for critical debate and dialogue on matters of national interest.’ The media operating environment in 2015 remained risky, exploitative and showed serious signs of backsliding. As stated in our 2014 review of this publication, ‘MBC proved most critics wrong by broadcasting all the presidential debates live, despite the fact that then incumbent Joyce Banda had refused to participate in the debates.’ During 2015, however MBC reverted back to type and positive steps the radio had taken were obliterated and the people in positions of authority at the station were replaced. At the same time, Government changed a revised Communications Bill to maintain its grip on MBC and MACRA. MISA Malawi called on MPs to reject the adulterated version of the Bill and ensure that the original version stakeholders had agreed on is tabled in the August House. In particular, MISA-Malawi raised concern that government reversed stakeholders’ proposals in the draft bill which removed the Head of State as the sole appointing authority for the boards and management of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) and the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). The independence of both MACRA and MBC was key in the review of the Communications Act of 1998. By maintaining the state president as the appointing authority for the boards and management of the two institutions, the cabinet effectively rendered the review of the law useless. Digital migration Malawi is on track with the digital migration process and is one of the few countries on the continent that met the June 17 deadline. Reports also indicate that the country is currently doing well in the region as far as content management and signal distribution is concerned. Malawi established the Digital Broadcasting Network Limited Company to provide signal distribution services to all licensed broadcasters and the company is currently fully established and hopes to continue doing well. Most Malawians, however, have minimal understanding of the digital migration process and officials at the Digital Broadcasting Network concede that there is a critical need to raise awareness so there is an appreciation of what digital migration means for the country and its citizens. New media and ICTs Malawi has several policies that touch on ICT, including the ICT Policy (2013), the National Access to Information Policy (2014), Digital Broadcasting Policy (2013) among others. These poli- So This is Democracy? 2015 39