SOUTHERN AFRICA MEDIA LANDSCAPE: Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe Profile compiled by 38 Harvey Brown Road, Milton Park, Harare Zimbabwe Contact:
[email protected] Tel: 00263 867 710 8362 1 MALAWI Malawi is a landlocked country and former British colony. Malawi became independent in 1964. Population 16.8 million according to the Government of Malawi https://www.malawi.gov.mw/ Languages English and Chichewa (Chichewa spoken by 75% of the population) are the two officially recognized languages. Other local languages spoken are Lomwe 17%, Yao 20%, Ngoni, 11%, Tumbuka 9%, Nyanja 6%, Sena 4%, Tonga 2% as well as several other languages. Cities and towns Capital City – Lilongwe Commercial capital – Blantyre Government President: Peter Mutharika Currency Kwacha 2 Administrative map of Malawi Source: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/malawi-administrative-map.htm 3 Summary of Media ▪ Two (2) State owned radio stations ▪ Twenty-four (24) Community radio stations ▪ Ten (10) Privately owned radio stations with national reach ▪ Ten (10) Television stations ▪ One (1) Government news agency ▪ Thirteen (13) Privately owned newspapers with the Blantyre Newspapers Limited and Nations Publications Limited owning five and four titles respectively under each media house. The remaining four are community and religious publications. The dailies are The Nation and The Daily Times. Five (5) magazines, mostly religious (Source: www.osisa.org) Broadcasting in Malawi Types of licenses for broadcasting 1. Radio a) Public national Sound Broadcaster (State/ government owned) b) Private National Sound c) Community radio (Split into National community of interest, regional community of interest, geographical community sound) 2. Television a) Public National Television (State/government owned) b) Private National Television c) Community Of Interest Television 4 Radio Stations Malawi has 78 registered broadcast media and 43 are operational.