Diversity and Media Ownership in Malawi

Aleke Banda, whose family owns Nations Publications Ltd.

Kamuzu Banda, whose family owns Blantyre Newspapers Ltd.

Diversity and my study
By Idriss Ali Nassah

My area of interest is to study Malawian newspapers, largely because journalism in Malawi have been the focus of much public criticism but in spite of the criticism, there has been little scholarship of journalism conducted in the country.

The result is that what is known and taken as the truth about journalism in Malawi does not represent the whole, testable truth. While political and economic changes continue to affect the media landscape in Malawi, ownership of Malawi’s only two national dailies remain in the hands of two powerful families with ties to two opposing political parties.

Blantyre Newspapers Ltd, the publishers of The Daily Times, Malawi News and The Sunday Times is owned by the family of the founding president of Malawi, Hasting Kamuzu Banda and, until his death in 1998, the life president of the Malawi Congress Party. The party ruled the country with an iron fist since independence in 1964, until it was ousted at the ballot in 1994. Nation Publications, publishers of The Nation, Weekend Nation and Sunday Nation is owned by the family of Aleke Banda, a former finance minister and vice-president of the United Democratic Front. The party won elections that toppled Kamuzu Banda (not related) in 1994 and ruled the country for the next ten years. Aleke Banda was to defect to lead an opposition party, People’s Progressive Movement.

My study will examine model ways of ownership of newspapers largely because concentration of media outlets by a small number of individuals or corporation is viewed as detrimental, dangerous, or otherwise problematic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_of_media_ownership).

As of 2002, Malawi had 11 independent newspapers: two dailies—The Nation and Daily Times; seven weeklies—New Vision, Weekly Chronicle, Statesman, Malawi News, Weekend Nation, Enquirer, and UDF News; one government-owned biweekly—Weekly News; one privately owned weekly paper, The People's Eye; and finally, The Mirror, published four times a week (http://www.pressreference.com/Ky-Ma/Malawi.html).

There is no Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) in Malawi to certify the sizes of circulation for newspapers and magazines. Newspapers largely circulate in urban areas, which have about 10 percent of the country's population, while only a few trickle to the rural areas. The World Bank reports that daily newspaper circulation in Malawi is 3 per 1,000 people. However, most of the newspapers listed above, and others that appeared sporadically since then have folded. The only visible newspapers are those owned by the two political families. (Reporters Without Borders. Malawi: Annual report 2002. Available from http://www.rsf.fr/).

The following is a list of some of the newspapers that were short-lived: The New Voice, The Watchers, The Malawian, Michiru Sun, City Star, Financial Observer, Weekly Mail, News Today, The Herald, New Express, Daily Monitor, and The Democrat, a hugely popular independent newspaper which collapsed in 1996. The Independent and The Star were phased out in 1999 because of lack of support from influential politicians. The Mirror (owned by Brown Mpinganjira, the country's foreign minister) survived longer than most.

It is not only developing countries that have had to deal with this matter. Even America has had to face questions of diversity in media ownership. A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public hearing on media ownership in 2006 was told: “Without diversity in ownership and participation, our democracy is in danger” (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_16_110/ai_n16818918/).

Ethics and My Study

Ethics and My Study

By: Johnathan Sellers

5/2/2009

Distribution of media programming including music, movies and television has been revolutionized by the iTunes software in recent years. As illegal downloading of copyrighted material including all of these media grew more popular, Apple’s iTunes software was the one of the first to provide a legal alternative to purchase high quality versions of all of these media types digitally and is now considered the largest digital media distributor (Apple's numbers).

The iTunes software has completely changed the media distribution business, changing how people are able to purchase and consume their media. It has also changed how people find out about media they are interested in, as Apple has developed ways to provide users with information on media content that they may be interested in. These features include Apple taking information from users’ iTunes media libraries so that they can make recommendations for media that they feel that particular iTunes user would like and be willing to purchase. Apple has also provided ways for users who are connected to a large network to view other iTunes users content libraries and even enjoy their media.

These features have lead to debates on the web over whether or not it is ethical for Apple to take your personal iTunes library content information and use it to try and sell the consumer more content. It has also led to different discussions of whether further social networking features should be implemented into the software to increase connectivity which will raise additional privacy concerns.

These three links discuss the ethical issues of Apple using customer’s information from an iTunes user’s media library in order to sell more media content to that specific customer. The first is a news article (iTunes news article on privacy concerns) that describes the possible privacy concerns when the new technology was released. The other two articles debate on whether or not the feature is good or bad for iTunes users.

These next two links discuss the further implementation of adding additional social networking features to the software. Some argue for the additional implementation like in this article but others are a little wearier as seen in this article.

The purpose of my study is to examine iTunes consumers to see how they feel about being connected to other users and how they feel about their own privacy using this software. These ethical issues are important and will help shape further media distribution as digital distribution continues to grow both thru the use of iTunes as well as other possible digital distributors in the future.

Image provided by Appleinsider.com

Media Ethics and my thesis topic by Qifeng Huang

My thesis is mainly a content analysis focusing on Chinese magazine advertisements, so it won’t involve much ethical problems such as issues of IRB approval or human subject issues. But still, the topic of my thesis will have a very close relationship with today’s media research issue and ethics.

The content analysis will be conducted on Chinese magazine advertisements, which includes not only the coding of major variables suggested by Goffman, but also those demographic variables. In the process of coding, those variables together will form a unique understanding of each piece of advertisement, and indicate the relationship between men and women in each era.

This involves two kinds of ethical issues- the ethical issue when dealing with gender portrayal in the media: such as the stereotyping of women appeared in advertisements. Gender study has been a research area which is relevant to gender ethic issues for a long time. People are always concerning if the media has been stereotyping women or men in the media content, or if the image of women or men are distorted through the mirror of media. My study topic will cover this area of ethical issue; will discuss the implication of gender portrayal based on the findings of the study. If the gender portrayal in Chinese media world also reflects the unfair social status of men and women in Chinese society would be a big ethical concern in my study.

The second ethical concern which would be embedded in my study will be the advertising ethic issue. This is also a very controversial issue in advertising world. The content in advertisements, the way ads inflate some portion of the truth, all the commitment ads advocate are all concerned with ethical issues. In today’s media world, people are more and more concerned with advertising ethics to prevent false advertising or deceptive advertising. My study will analyze the content of advertisements in different era and examine the status of Chinese advertising ethics simultaneously. I will explore if the ethical standard changed during this time period, and what kind of ethical problems are hidden in those advertisements.

Ethical issues in the media have always been the most important and significant area covered by both academic scholars and practitioners. My thesis will further explore the ethical problems in Chinese advertising world, and continue contribute more gender related ethical issues to the existing literature.

Diversity and my study by Qifeng Huang

My thesis will involve a content analysis focusing on Chinese magazine advertisements to explore the change in gender portrayal. The study will keep track of one Chinese magazine from 1960s to now, to see if there is a change in portraying gender relationship due to the dramatic social and economic change China has gone through.

The concept of diversity flows through various aspects of my study. Generally speaking, it has two major impacts on my study. First, the diverse cultural root I am going to explore in my study will involve exploring the impact of Chinese culture and politics on the portrayal of gender relationship. Second, the audience my thesis is going to meet includes various groups: such as gender researchers, cultural scholars, general advertising professionals and practitioners etc.

The main aspect from which I am going to conduct my content analysis is mainly from Goffman’s frame analysis. He develops this theory in his book Gender advertisements based on the framing theory to explore the relationship between men and women in advertisements. Lots of studies in advertising area have been conducted to explore the gender portrayal but few have been conducted in the Asian culture context. China has gone through dramatic economical and political change since 1960s, from the very beginning of its independence; continue with the “open door policy” in 1980s, to today’s stunning economic development. This change China has gone through has affected the general gender relationship shaped in old Chinese society, and women in today’s China are respected as “half of the sky”.

To explore the cultural and political reason to this amazing gender relationship change in China could lead to a journey to the culture of this powerful Asian country. So this study will continue with my research on diverse culture background, and find the implication of Goffman’s theory in different social and cultural settings.

My thesis will analyze the advertisements from the angle of camera, from the subtle gestures which indicates the potential relationship between men and women, according to Goffman’s frame analysis. The result of my paper would discuss the cultural and social impact on the change of gender portrayal which could draw the interest of scholars in the cultural study. This also involves the extension of gender study in the context of Asian culture, which could also attract scholars in the field of gender study. A different implication of framing theory in advertising content would also be interesting enough to draw attention of framing scholars.

The aim of my study would focus on revealing the gender relationship change in the Chinese culture context to emphasize the diverse implication of frame analysis in different culture.

Case Study: Contemporary Media Research Issue, Ethics & My Topic

Case Study: Contemporary Media Research Issue, Ethics & My Topic
By Darcy Delaney



Photos provided by Time Magazine


The contemporary media research issue of the news media’s coverage of female political candidates has numerous faults within the common ethics of journalism. Ethical codebooks usually list fair and balanced coverage as one of the main components in which all journalists should adhere. However, according to the information from five sources listed below, it is not being followed by all news organizations.

The first source I found was Journalism.org’s The State of the News Media 2009. This source emphasized how news magazine coverage has created biases against current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries. According to the article, current President Barack Obama appeared on the cover of Time 13 times and Newsweek 12 times during the 2008 race. However, Clinton only appeared on Time three times and Newsweek twice during the same time period.

The second source, the Web site of the St. Petersburg Times, provided an article that illustrated some of the biases the media have created against Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries. The site referenced The Center for Media and Public Affairs. The Center found that by the time of the Iowa Caucus, 84 percent of the news coverage Obama received was positive, while only 51 percent of the coverage Clinton received was positive.

The Temple News online, a third source agreed, but did not provide percentages. Instead, this Web site used examples of media biases like when Chris Stover, the author of the article wrote, “For example, MSNBC’s David Shuster said in February that former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton was “being pimped out” by her mother. Yet no one says anything about Sen. John McCain’s traveling, blogging daughter.”

The fourth source, Communication Currents, also emphasized that the media coverage of Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries were biased. However, this source suggested that these biases existed in coverage of Clinton, the biases were not as strong as previous female candidates had seen.

About.com: Women’s Issues provided a list of articles written about this topic in relation to sexism. “In her Shoes” is a blog by Linda Lowen. This blog allowed the reader to understand how many members of a viewing (or reading) audience can become frustrated with biased coverage.

Overall, each one of these five sources provided information that agreed there were biases in the media against Clinton during this election. While this happens, it is not ethical.

News organizations are supposed to provide factual, balanced and unbiased information to their audience. This does not seem to be the case with political coverage of this election or any election prior. It is important to understand that these biases exist in order to make the necessary changes in the media so that these differences in political coverage no longer occur.

Ethics and Malawian Newspapers

Ethics and Malawian newspapers

By Idriss Ali Nassah

As elsewhere on the African continent, Malawi has made efforts over the past decade to develop a Western-style media that would serve to enhance the country’s young democracy. However, prospects that the Malawian newspaper is in a position to do that look grim. Much of this grim outlook can be attributed to the quality of newspaper journalism. It is commonplace to hear public utterances on journalists in disparaging remarks as biased, unprofessional, unethical and ignorant.

The World Bank estimated that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and the media face a number of constraints (http://www.pressreference.com/Ky-Ma/Malawi.html). My study will focus on the constraints of the country’s only two national daily newspapers, The Daily Times and The Nation, both owned by families with strong political ties.

How ethical are journalists in Malawi and what effect does ownership has on this question? Interestingly, what journalists in America debate as matters of ethics is everyday occurrence in Malawi without anyone ever raising concern. The question of free food for journalists, for example. Nathan Kelly posted this question http://groups.poynter.org/members/blog_view.asp?id=190115&post=64848.

“During press conferences, especially those involving sports, journalists are offered food”, Kelly wrote. “Why is food, sometimes a buffet, offered and what are those putting on the conference expecting in return? Does the food subconsciously cause us to be nicer while reporting because we’re full of sandwiches and cookies, even though we try to remain professional?”

In Malawi, the absence of free food at any media event would cause journalists to be nastier in their reporting. And to ensure coverage, it is common practice for journalists to receive transport disbursements and envelopes containing wads of money from companies and organizers of media events. It is a known fact that at some events were no envelopes were distributed to journalists, the reporters became agitated and demanded “allowances” or else there would be no coverage.

The blame can be placed on the owners, not the reporters, because reporters in Malawi receive salaries that are generally a cruel joke.

And then there is the problem of sources planting stories via reporters. This is damaging to the print media but these sources often make these reporters offers they can’t refuse. Perhaps Malawi journalism needs a Jason Blair type of scandal to wake from this huge ethical lapse. If you need reminding, Blair was a young reporter who shook the media when it was discovered that his fabricated stories had found their way into the New York Times. In a remarkable chain of events, the Times published an unprecedented 14,420-word explanation (by its count) on May 11, 2003, with Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd leaving in its wake. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/new-york-times-media five/story.aspx?guid=%7BF8886DFF-921E-4D52-A2C6-4D5634AFBC36%7D&dist=msr_20.

After that, fair or not, Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s New York Times became the poster child for everything that was wrong about journalism, specifically its arrogance, its ethical lapses and its apparent inability to police itself.

Greg Mitchell, the editor of Editor & Publisher, posited: "Since the Jayson Blair case broke, many more, although still not enough, newspapers have done or some of these things: 1) expanded their corrections sections; 2) utilized plagiarism-checking programs; 3) formalized their ethics policies; 4) been more forthright in owning up to certain issues, either via an editor's column or an ombudsman."

It was reported on http://community.marketwatch.com/newsjunkie that after the Blair/Miller fiasco, The New York Times took steps to position itself as one of the most credible news organizations in the world, and its quality and depth of its reporting improved.

Malawi is yet to witness a reporter or editor who resigns as a result of ethical lapses. This is largely because such type of misconduct is, if not openly encouraged, them definitely tolerated. Perhaps that will soon change. In neighboring Zimbabwe in February 2000, Andy Moyse, the acting editor of The Standard, a Zimbabwe weekly newspaper, resigned in disgrace after admitting that the newspaper had written a false report (www.globaljournalist.org/stories/2000/09/01/africas-fight-for-ethics/).
Moyse, publisher Clive Wilson and reporter Chengetai Zvauya were found guilty, holding them responsible for reporting the allegations, which turned out to be false. The journalists were fined thousands of US dollars for the offense.

There is no consensus among Africa’s media as to whether the government, or the press itself, should be responsible for ensuring an ethical media.. Veteran Kenyan journalist Philip Ochieng also condemns what he called the “gutter press” for unprofessional conduct, and says it justifies the government’s insistence on regulating the media.

Africa’s media have grown tremendously in the past three decades and need to adhere strictly to professional ethics. Malawi’s newspapers need to play a leading role in their own regulation. That responsibility to ensure an ethical media should start with the owners and management of newspapers.

Diversity and My Study by Darcy Delaney

Diversity and My Study
By Darcy Delaney


Photo provided by MSNBC

The topic of my thesis is the portrayal of female political candidates by weekly news magazines. I will conduct a content analysis that analyzes three news magazines (Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report) during the 2007 Democratic primaries, ending with the Iowa Caucus. Current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden (then competitors for the Democratic presidential candidacy) will be the two candidates analyzed in this study. It will be a content analysis that analyzes photographs containing one or both of the candidates, and the headlines and cutlines that accompany these photographs.

Political diversity can be defined as encouraging acceptance of political candidates with different backgrounds. The 2008 U.S. Presidential race saw a multitude of diversity, not just with females being in the race, but also with an African American male running for president. It is evident by the results of this race (with President Barack Obama and Clinton being the final competitors for the Democratic seat and with Obama winning the overall election) that Americans are more accepting of diversity than ever before. However, are the media still creating biases?

Diversity plays a crucial role in my thesis. While there were positive outcomes from this election, it is possible the media still created biases that could have created negative portrayals of female candidates, which numerous researchers have suggested could result in the loss of an election. This study would not exist without diversity as its backbone. If diversity were not part of this study, it would have a huge impact on the subjects being analyzed and would determine the sources in every possible way.

If diversity were not a part of this study, Clinton would not be able to be analyzed. This would also not allow me to study Gov. Sarah Palin or Obama. The 2008 presidential election was filled with diversity, which is the primary reason it is worth studying. Without diversity, the election would differ in no way from previous presidential elections held in the United States.

A study of the portrayal of female candidates by weekly news magazines that did not contain diversity would not exist. If different candidates were chosen, it would mean no diversity existed. The results would differ because it would no longer be measuring portrayals of female candidates by the mass media.

Click here to view a video showing media bias against female political candidates and some of the candidates’ wives.