MEAD Malawi keen to enhance environment, agriculture reporting

By Lucky Mkandawire, Blantyre , Malawi
An initiative to enhance environmental and agricultural reporting in Malawi has been unveiled.

Meeting under the auspices of media for environment and agriculture (MEAD) in the resort district of Mangochi, the journalists said that this was the only way they could contribute to the to the country’s socio-economic development which currently needs to be jump started.

The member journalists, who had made sponsored themselves for the meeting noted that most Malawian journalists have no zeal to specialise in environmental and agricultural reporting a fact which they said could be the contributing factor to the dwindling fortunes of the sectors.

“The sectors are not being given the attention they deserve. There are a lot of stories to be covered in this country. Environmental and agricultural researches are taking place almost daily and yet reporters in our media houses dash to report about politics,” lamented Moses Michael Phiri, a journalist working for The Nation Newspaper.

Phiri said MEAD Malawi would strive to ensure that environmental and agricultural reporting in the country gets comprehensive consideration just like any other area.

MEAD Malawi interim Publicity Secretary Pilirani Tambala called on editors to encourage their reporters to write more stories and produce more bulletins about environment and agriculture.

Tambala observed that Malawi was losing the war against deforestation and it was the duty of journalists to raise awareness and hold back the practice.

“It is said nothing happened until there was a journalist, so let us join hands and make something happen,” she said.

Henry Haukeyah, a reporter for Joy FM radio appealed to organisations to support the network so that it effectively and diligently achieves its mission of promoting the coverage of environmental and agricultural issues through holistic way that involves every stakeholder.

During the retreat, members agreed, depending on resources, to implement a number of activities which include production of news/feature articles for various media outlets both locally and internationally, creation of a website, production of newsletter, training and sensitisation workshops and media consultancy.

MEAD Malawi is a non-partisan and not-for-profit-making network of journalists established with an aim to encourage and empower Malawian journalists to professionally and accurately create and enhance public awareness on emerging issues in environment and agriculture through their writing.

Currently, it has cordial relationships with a number of similar networks from various countries like MESHA in Kenya , MEAD Botswana and Panos in Zambia .

MEAD Malawi can be contacted at P. O. Box 31633 , Chichiri, Blantyre 3.
Phone: (265) 8 891404 or (265) 8 578848 Fax: (265) 1 874555 or
Email: meadmalawi@publicist.com