CHAPTER 5: SIGNIFICANT THEMES of journalists during press conferences. Other negative developments included integrating vocal and robust civil society activists and critical media personnel into the government, corruption and lack of ethics in journalism, the dormancy of the Media Council of Malawi due to financial reasons and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority’s lack of transparency. The AMB recommended continued advocacy for Access to Information legislation and taking the ATI policy to parliament in November 2012. It also advised lobbying the government for a framework for ATI legislation, the urgent revival of the Media Council of Malawi, the establishment of a research collaboration unit to look into issues affecting the media, and a campaign to turn the state broadcaster into a true public medium. 2016 AMB Positive developments mentioned in this AMB included an increase in television and radio stations, increased competition which improved standards, positive media legislation and policy, live coverage of court proceedings, work towards enhancing media training, reduction of cases involving the arrest of journalists and their harassment, and the passing of the Gender Equality Act (2014) which imposed quotas in government departments and training institutions. Negative developments included poor salaries for journalists, the introduction of VAT on imported broadcasting equipment and newsprint, arrests of ordinary citizens for expressing their views, reversal of efforts to transform the state broadcaster into a true public service broadcaster, a poor economy that affected salaries and the media sector, difficulties in accessing the President, and cross-ownership within the media sector which narrows content diversity. Recommendations included multi-sectoral lobbying for the implementation of ATI legislation, evaluating the performance of the new Communications Act (2016) through MISA Malawi, transforming the state broadcaster into a truly public broadcaster, repealing insult laws, making the Media Council of Malawi more accessible and visible in tackling unethical behaviour, translating the code of ethics into vernacular languages and investigating issues that affect the media. 32 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER 11 YEARS IN REVIEW