Malawi It is also a misdemeanour to use the information for the benefit of a foreign state or to use it in a manner that is prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state; to retain secret information or to fail to take reasonable care of it; to communicate information relating to munitions of war to a foreign state or otherwise use it in a manner that is prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state. Public Security Regulations Clause 5 (1) prohibits anyone from publishing anything that is likely to be prejudicial to public security; undermine the authority of, or public confidence in the government; or promote a feeling of ill-will or hostility between any sections or classes or races of inhabitants of Malawi. Clause 10 empowers an authorised officer or a police officer to request any person to furnish or produce any information or papers in his/her possession which the officer considers to be necessary in order to preserve public security, with obvious negative implications for the protection of confidential sources of information for journalists. These regulations are used quite often. After the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) radio station had interviewed an opposition spokesperson when election results were announced in 2004, it was closed down temporarily for the “preservation of public security”. The same reason is often cited when officials try to pressurize journalists into revealing the sources of their information – which they regularly refuse to do. SCORES: Individual scores: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 5, 3 Average score: 2.0 African Media Barometer - Malawi 2006 7