Aubrey Sumbuleta is accused of abuse of office, indecent assault and sexual harassment. induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability journalism and trust in facts; and chill their active participation (along with that of their sources, colleagues and audiences) in public debate. This amounts to an attack on democratic deliberation and media freedom, encompassing the public’s right to access information, and it cannot be normalised or tolerated as an inevitable aspect of online discourse, nor contemporary audienceengaged journalism,” (15) according to a UNESCO digital report. In what is seen as an attempt to further delay the 2022 case, Sumbuleta, who was already found guilty of sexual harassment by the Human Rights Commission applied to have the case heard by a jury. The case has not been back in court since August 2023. In an interview for this report, Dorothy Kachitsa of the Association of Women in the Media in Malawi, , expressed the view that cases of sexual harassment of female journalists remain grossly underreported. Although no study was conducted, some female journalists through a network called Journalists United Against Cyber Bullying and Harassment (16) say they report cases in which they were targets of online harassment because of the stories they did. Some reported attempts to peddle disinformation against them to discredit the stories they had done. “They [women] fear they can lose their jobs. They fear they can be harmed by the perpetrators. They feel they would be stigmatised. They feel they could lose their marriages/relationships,” she said. Although section 7 of the Gender Equality Act , places the responsibility on government to “Online violence against women journalists is designed to: belittle, humiliate, and shame; (17) Malawian journalists conduct an interview during a Misa Malawi training session STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023 50