The Media Institute for Southern Africa—Malawi Chapter has expressed concerns over the continued torture, harassment and threatening of Journalists in the country in the course of their work.
The development comes amidst revelations that Times Group reporter Cathy Maulidi has been receiving messages from anonymous people on her WhatsApp line, threatening her over a story she authored on the statement made in Parliament by Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule.
The Minister, when responding to a question raised by Kasungu North parliamentarian Mike Bango, sought an update from the Minister on plans to advertise Malawi on jerseys for teams in Spanish football as other countries such as Rwanda do with English Premier League teams.
In her response, the Minister claimed that Malawi needs about MK20 billion to place a “Visit Malawi” advert on an English Premier team’s jersey.
The statement attracted a wave of backlash from Malawians, and some took to social media to express their dismay.
But responding to the insults on the Time’s group reporter, MISA Malawi Chairperson, Golden Matonga said any sort of harassment, threats and online trolls targeted at Journalists for simply doing their job is an attack on press freedom.
“The attacks on Journalists can be easily construed as a deliberate attempt to silence critics and stifle media freedom and freedom of expression,” said Matonga in a statement.
He reminded politicians and party followers that there are already well-established structures for regulating the media industry in the country, hence urging all parties that may feel injured by acts of Journalists to engage them rather than resorting to various forms of attack.
Recently, Malawian Journalists have been a target of arrest by the government for exposing various acts of corruption scandals involving government officials and some Asian businessmen.
