take active measures to ensure that employers have developed and are implementing appropriate policy and procedures aimed at eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace, very few media houses in Malawi have done this. Community Radios in Malawi (ACORA) argued in an interview for this report that the recent devaluation and spectrum re-farming exercise by MACRA has left community radio stations feeling the financial strain. In 2023, Zodiak Broadcasting Station followed in the footsteps of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation by publicly launching its Sexual Harassment Policy developed with support from Women in News. “The recent MACRA re-farming process has further reduced the catchment areas for community radio stations from approximately 100 kms to around 50 kms. With a restricted market base due to smaller catchment areas compared to national broadcasters, community radios face financial strain,” he said. (18) This is a positive development and one that should be adopted by other media outlets in the country. Kuwacha also outlined other challenges affecting community broadcasters, including: i. Limited negotiation power, as some government agents engage the stations in a “take it or leave it” approach. The limited negotiation power forces community radio stations into unfavourable business agreements, resulting in loss of revenue. Challenging landscape for community broadcasters In 2023, community radio stations in Malawi faced a multiplicity of challenges including financial constraints, regulatory hurdles, lack of training and limited access to resources. ii. Limited support from district councils, and yet the councils often ask for free airtime for radio announcements and developmentoriented programmes. According to MISA-Malawi, the country lost one broadcaster in Maziko Radio Station as MACRA revoked its license due to delayed settlement of licence fees, bringing the total number of broadcasters closed by the Authority since 2022 to 14. iii. High costs associated with co-sitting fees paid to companies that lease out their towers. This is largely due to lack of regulatory oversight controlling these charges for community radios. iv. Community radio stations play a critical role in fostering democracy by increasing access to information and giving a voice to rural communities that would have otherwise been the preserve of the urban minority. While some capacity building of practitioners was conducted by institutions such as MISA Malawi and other UNESCO-funded organisations, a lot more needs to be done. Other broadcasters whose licences were revoked are Rainbow Television, Joy Television, Joy Radio, Ufulu FM, Sapitwa FM, Usisya Radio, Beyond FM, Dziko FM, Galaxy Radio and Power 101 FM. Some broadcasters managed to source funds and reapplied for their licences after being closed. These broadcasters are Capital Radio and Angaliba Radio and Television. v. Limited resources to employ qualified professional journalists. Most of the staff work as volunteers and lack requisite skills to work as journalists. Revocation of licenses by the regulatory authority will continue escalating unless drastic steps are taken to reduce the fees and peg them in the local currency and not the US dollar. vi. Lack of expertise to report and cover specialised fields such as health, agriculture and climate change. In May 2022, the Reserve Bank of Malawi devalued the Malawi kwacha by 25 percent. In November 2023, the currency was devalued again by 44 percent. (19) Cyclone Freddy brings climate change reporting to the fore in Malawi There were also other “currency alignments” in between. With the licence fees pegged to the dollar, the devaluation burden is automatically transferred to broadcasters, who are already struggling to survive. Edward Kuwacha of the Association “A lot of content for a significant number of media outlets has been produced by occurrences like Cyclone Freddy, the vast damage of our of 51 STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023