Malawi university, Poly, launches media book

Experts have hailed the coming of a journalism book authored by Malawian scholars as the beginning of an end to problems rocking journalism training in the country.

The commentators were speaking during the launch of Journalism Practice in Malawi: Past, Progress and Prospects on Thursday at the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi in Blantyre.

 “The book contains home-grown ideas, which are necessary for training media personnel in the country,” said Unesco (Malawi Commission) executive secretary Dr Francis Mkandawire, one of the editors of the book financed by the UN education and science agency.

Head of the department of journalism and media studies at the Polytechnic Maclan Kanyang’wa said the book, published last year, will make journalism teaching and learning easier.

“It has also presented us the hope that we have the capacity to publish and contribute to education,” said Kanyang’wa.

Final year students at the college said the book gives learners reliable and relevant local text for reference. 

However, they criticised the book for misspellings and grammatical errors—notwithstanding the fact that there is no female voice on the contributors’ list.

The book covers a diversity of topics, including media and radio history, online journalism, media ethics and news as a commodity.