Media practitioners in Malawi will meet at Mtolankhani House in Lilongwe for a panel discussion on the state of media freedom in the country.
Minister of Information and Digitalisation Honourable Gospel Kazako, the British High Commissioner to Malawi David Beer and over 40 media practitioners drawn from community and national media outlets and media clubs are expected to attend the event Thursday, February 10, 2022.
Convened by MISA Malawi in partnership with the British High Commission in Malawi and The Basel Institute on Governance, the panel discussion seeks to discuss threats and opportunities to media freedom in 2022 and beyond.
Speaking ahead of the event, MISA Malawi Chairperson Teresa Ndanga said the panel discussion accords the media an opportunity to reflect on strides made and challenges that Malawi media and citizens continue to face.
Ndanga said freedom of expression is a fundamental aspect of media freedom and the discussion will look at how that freedom is thriving and reasons for any violations of such freedoms.
“It is our expectation that this will not just be a conversation, but one that will help us take remedial action on the challenges,” Ndanga said.
The panel discussion comes at a time Malawi media and citizens continue to experience some setbacks in the enjoyment of Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information.
In the past year, the Police led the pack in the attacks on journalists, media experienced censorship, some citizens were arrested for exercising their freedom of expression online and offline and access to information (ATI) continued to be a mere dream despite the operationalisation of ATI Act in 2020.
The discussion in Lilongwe coincides with the Global Conference for Media Freedom which is this year being held in Estonia.
