CHAPTER 4: AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER THEMATIC TRENDS: 2011-2021 educate and sensitise society on the need for reforms to create an enabling space for news media. The 2016 AMB for Malawi highlights positive progress in the range of information sources available to citizens, live coverage of court proceedings, legislative and policy reforms, and an enabling operational environment. However, several archaic restrictive laws and political overreach threaten freedom of expression and the media in the country. A recommendation in the 2012 AMB for Malawi was to “continue with the access to information campaign” by “lobbying the government to put in place a framework for ATI legislation”. The 2016 AMB for Malawi indicates that access to information remained a challenge for journalists in the absence of an enabling law, despite the constitution’s provision for access to information. In other countries, such as Mauritius, the recommendation has been to promote freedom by decriminalising media offences. The 2012 and 2020 AMBs for Zimbabwe show progress in the government’s engagement with civil society and willingness to consider reforming media laws. However, it is unclear from the summaries and recommendations whether such a change in attitude was induced by the earlier recommendations or reflects the country’s political changes. There may be a need to develop a mechanism or instrument for establishing the connection (or lack thereof) between reforms (or lack thereof) in the different countries and the proposed recommendations or findings of future AMBs. In some cases, although recommendations are made, progress is not followed or tracked in subsequent AMBs. For instance, the 2011 AMB for Cameroon recommended the decriminalisation of libel, but there was no follow-up on this issue in the 2014 "In some cases, although recommendations are made, progress is not followed or tracked in subsequent AMBs." AMB. Similarly, the question of access to information was broached in the 2011 AMB, again in 2014, but neglected in 2018. It is unclear whether this is due to the panellists engaged or the shifting contextual difficulties caused by changes in the political environment. 11 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER 11 YEARS IN REVIEW