State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 for broadcasting a testimony of a victim of ‘bloodsuckers’ because President Muluzi had ordered a ban on any speech about ‘vampires’ in Malawi. They also arrested a journalist, Frank Namangale, for correctly citing in a newspaper article that a crime suspect was related to President Muluzi. In both cases media personnel were charged with conduct likely to cause fear, alarm or unrest as if media consumers were not discerning or astute enough to evaluate news items without police protection. It took a directive from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fahad Asani, to redirect their energies to deal with crime and not to harass the media. The directive reminded the police about the supremacy of the Constitution and the need to preserve media freedom. However, such a directive is not adequate and the media continue to operate in fear because Malawi still retains a litany of laws that infringe on media freedom. Anti-media Freedom Laws Armouries of repressive laws that have the potential to abrogate information gathering and publication by the media remain on the statute books and have been used against the media. The list of these laws was submitted to the Law Commission for review years ago. Until these laws are amended or repealed, they pose a real threat to the operations of the media. The alternative of challenging these laws in Court as unconstitutional is costly as a private weekly, The Chronicle learnt. Defamation The Chronicle, was closed down temporarily in October 2003 because of failure to settle defamation penalties to a cabinet minister, Dumbo Lemani. Defamation cases are a cancer to media freedom not because individual reputations should not be protected, but because it is usually persons with vast power and resources, who invoke this law instead of showing restraint and tolerance. • Other Legislation Another serious pointer to the vulnerability of media freedom in the face of repressive laws was use of legislative and executive powers to censor the media. When the society was concerned with incidents of ‘bloodsuckers’ in Malawi, the President ordered a ban on any speech about ‘vampires’ and as noted above a journalist was arrested for defying the ban on account of the publics’ right to knowledge. In August, parliament banned the screening of edited versions of a TV reality show, Big Brother Africa on TVM. They labelled the programme immoral. The Censorship Board condemned the ban and advised parliament to refer such matters to the Board. The High Court lifted the ban after a citizen contested it. 3. Economic Environment Media Diversity The economic environment in 2003 stunted media growth. The domestic economy shrunk as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Union withheld financial support to Malawi. This triggered further rises in inflation and interest rates, instability in foreign exchange and government inability to fund some of its operations3. Coupled with widespread penury4, media operations and consumers were adversely affected as production costs rose. Public media were further squeezed to augment government subvention with commercial revenue increasing competition for scarce advertising and sponsorship revenue from a narrow industrial base. Entertainment and cheap sources of information such as phone-ins, public relations articles and drop-in news sources dominated media output as media institutions cut costs. So This Is Democracy? 2003 41 Media Institute of Southern Africa