The Nation Malawi

TJ · Member

The Nation Malawi

Studa · Senior Member

As for the journalist who is quoted as 'Nation reporter' writing the story about a mentaly disabled girl being raped, I can not make any judgement on it since the girl is said to be 16 and he must have had information from people who are familiar with the girl and thats what I presume they call her. We do not have an extensive support for people with autisism and other mental health problems in Malawi and this should be blamed not on the joualists, but the government!!

awmygawd · Guru

Malawi's political leadership is incompetent in a number of respects, but blaming it for badly written articles in an independent newspaper is going a bit too far, Studa.

Studa · Senior Member

I might have strayed a bit from the subject at hand, plus, I might have not elaborated further but my interpratation of government, I implied, not just the present administration. In Malawi the majority of the population have a stigma on mentaly dilapidated people thus referring to them as 'openga' , 'amisala', etc.It is never regarded as a disease!

The journalist who has not been refered to by name erred by employing the word 'imbicile' on the grounds that the word has been branded as offensive. It used be a former classifficaion of mental illness, no longer in use.

What do we do about it? I surmise that we should contact the editor involved.

game · Guru

awmygawd wrote:
Malawi's political leadership is incompetent in a number of respects, but blaming it for badly written articles in an independent newspaper is going a bit too far, Studa.

are you sure??although you are a bit off the topic i think you have to know a few things about journalism,language used can be deemed incorrect according to its connotations,for example.we no longer refer to a disabled person as crippled,what the nation newspaper did was using this word without properly considering the gravity of its meaning on the reader,this is uncalled for.

as for the incopentence in the government,we all know that african politics is flawed,the media is flawed and the whole system is flawed,our media operate in fear,TVM instead of being a public broadcaster turns out to be a political entity,lately their has been the promotion of bright malopa which alot of people think was a political manouvre..this kind of behaviour leaves both the government and the media both incopentent,not one finger pointing at the other.

singanga · Newbie

I Agree TJ. Its about time we stood to account for the lack of quality in journalism we are subjected to.

As a national newspaper it is not only too graphic, biggotted and lacking understanding. For a long time I too have felt the quality of reporting and arcane bias strangles the quality of jounalism in Malawi.

How can we complain about journalists when the government is much the same.

Try looking for government application forms, recently I picked up for a permanent residence permit form (not for me) and driving licence application.

Its asks if the applicant has ever been diagnosed Insane or an idiot????

These terms are pre 1940 psychiatric labels which no longer hold validity or judgement in medicolegal capabilities.

I am glad someone stands to uphold a sense of quality in thought and action.

bingiza · Guru

Singanga and TJ

In this context can u define government?

If individuals are not willing to uplift their writing skills what has government got to do with it? For the politicians the writing is on the wall they get their sympathisers and give them posts that dont fit them hence the many flaws but lets not generalise govt separate the lazy bums mates.

Tutu · Member

Below is another example of very poor journalism . Full of grammatical errors.

NationalGovt hires UK lawyer to prosecute Chilumpha by Rabecca Theu, 30 January 2007 - 07:55:45

Government has hired a United Kingdom lawyer to assist in prosecuting Vice President Cassim Chilumpha in the treason case that starts Tuesday.
Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Wezi Kayira confirmed Monday that Queen’s Counsel (QC) Anthony Derry has been hired to help government in the case.
Kayira said Derry practises in London and heads his own chambers which has over 60 solicitors.
He explained that Derry will work together with Mbendera and Nkhono Associates as well as other officials from his office.
“It’s not that we are undermining Malawian lawyers. In any field, even medicine, we hire people to assist us. That’s why we also had to look externally. He will simply assist us,” said Kayira.
The process of admitting Derry to the bar started yesterday at the High Court in Blantyre before Chief Justice Leonard Unyolo but it was adjourned to 2 o’clock today.
Kayira could not say how much Derry will be paid for his services.
“I am simply DPP. Who pays and what happens in payment I don’t know,” said Kayira.
Chilumpha, who is supposed to take plea this morning, is answering treason charges on suspicion that he and two other businessmen, Yusuf Matumula and Rashid Nembo, were involved in a plot to assassinate President Bingu wa Mutharika.
The three were arrested in April last year and accused of hiring South African assassins to kill the President.
According to recent press reports, the accused’s lawyer, Fahad Assani, said the DPP will be issuing a certificate of discontinuance of the case against Nembo today.
Assani cited lack of evidence on the part of government although the state did not commit.

TJ · Member

bingiza wrote:
Singanga and TJ

In this context can u define government?

If individuals are not willing to uplift their writing skills what has government got to do with it...

Bingiza you want the weed but it seems like you are already high --zocheza.

I did not mention government at all in my earlier posting because I know The Nation is a private paper. One I have respected for a long time.

However, I understand why others would bring the government in. The government should play an important part in developing journalism studies. The problem with Malawi is that the government does not trust the media much. Any money spent on the media is usually on those that toe the party line. This is a historical problem and it should be addressed now.

Back to the issue at hand, I blame the editor because it looks to me like some of the reports do not get edited at all.

YTP · Guru

Malawi has a long long way to go. For now we just have to grin and bear it.

Almost each and every important area of our country is regressing.

And to think that this newspaper is one of the best we have! Pathetic.

singanga · Newbie

If the governement can not get their own definitions correct and still dwell on arcane descriptions. Then the nation follows in their flawed example. Government campaigns, styles of representation and the people who represent it influence us strongly in what we regard as acceptable styles and in turn adopt these generally. A small proportion of people break that following and these are the thinkers who think outside the box.

bingiza · Guru

singanga wrote:

If the governement can not get their own definitions correct and still dwell on arcane descriptions. Then the nation follows in their flawed example. Government campaigns, styles of representation and the people who represent it influence us strongly in what we regard as acceptable styles and in turn adopt these generally. A small proportion of people break that following and these are the thinkers who think outside the box.

I was sure you would get back to people issues and not Govt