Editors crucial in elections reporting—MEC

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has supported the resurgence of the Malawi Editors Forum (Maef), noting that editors are crucial in achieving an independent, free and impartial media as Malawi prepares for tripartite elections next year.

MEC commissioner the Reverend Emmanuel Chinkwita Phiri said this when he officially opened a Maef, National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) and MEC meeting on Friday in Blantyre.

“Editors are gatekeepers. [They] decide what goes and what does not go into the newspaper or on air. As such, they are very crucial if we are to achieve the desire to have an independent, free and impartial media as we approach 2014 elections,” he said.

Chinkwita Phiri applauded Nice for its role in civic educating the electorate throughout the period of voter registration which ended last week.

“When we started registration, most of the accredited NGOs were not on the ground. MEC and Nice did a lot of work to fill the gap until some CSOs joined us in the latter phases of voter registration. No one can talk of success of the voter registration without the mention of Nice.

“We applaud Nice because they have not been limited in their approach and strategies to ensure that the 2014 Tripartite Elections are a success. They have also looked into building the capacity of stakeholders and, in a special case, the Malawi Editors Forum,” he said.

Chinkwita Phiri added that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Maef is a commendable endeavour because, in most cases, interventions have been limited to the traditional workshops on reporting elections.

He pledged MEC’s commitment to work with the media by providing as much information as possible.

“We hope media practitioners will also take time to always crosscheck with us before publishing whenever there is an issue of interest to MEC. We are approaching a season of rumours and hearsay and we would urge you media managers to be on the lookout for such issues. Without encouraging self-censorship, we would urge you editors to always exercise your editorial judgment before publishing.”

Maef chairperson Cliffton Kawanga made a presentation on “Good practices in information gathering related to elections”.

In an interview, Kawanga said as the country gears for the May 20 2014 Tripartite Elections, it is important that the electorate is given adequate information to reduce voter apathy.