Malawi 3.7 The editorial independence of the public broadcaster from commercial pressure and political influence is guaranteed by law and practised. ANALYSIS: According to section 87 (2) of the Communications Act, the MBC (and, by inference, also TVM) has “to function without any political bias and independently of any person or body of persons”. Both operators, however, are open to political pressure through the appointment process for their boards, their duty to report to the Minister of Information and their dependence on state funding (“He who pays the piper …”). Anyone and everyone in the political hierarchy seem to be thinking that they have a say in MBC and TVM. Many regularly interfere with operations by directly or indirectly getting into contact with editors or staff. The result is a high level of self-censorship in order to please politicians in the ruling parties before they complain. Opposition members of parliament protest that they are not being sufficiently covered. Indeed, whenever an opposition MP appears on TVM during live coverage of parliamentary sessions the sound bite is faded down and the content of what has been said is summarised by voice-over. On radio, the volume goes down whenever an opposition member speaks. And if such a speaker is hitting really hard, the signal is lost by coincidence. – It is only late at night that TVM broadcasts a full recording of the sessions. Advertisers also exert pressure in terms of choice of content and choice of placement of their advertising and programming times. “Big spenders” are preferred when buying airtime for their programmes – to the disadvantage of civil society groups which cannot afford large payments. African Media Barometer - Malawi 2006 25