US embassy cable - 04LILONGWE400

UNCLAS LILONGWE 000400 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PINR, KPAO, MI, Political Issues, Media 
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION ADMITS BIAS BY STATE MEDIA 
 
REF: 03 LILONGWE 1202 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  At a bruising meeting convened by donor 
chiefs of mission on May 11 with representatives of the 
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) and the directors-general 
of state-controlled radio and television, the Commission 
itself acknowledged that election coverage has been heavily 
biased in favor of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) 
party.  According to one Commissioner, by not providing a 
level playing field, the state-run media knowingly 
contravened accepted agreements and guidelines.  With only 
days remaining before polling day on May 18, inequitable 
coverage of the opposition has already tarnished the 
elections and will certainly cause them to be assessed as 
less than fully free and fair.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) When confronted with weekly reports by the MEC 
Media Monitoring Units indicating blatant imbalance in their 
coverage of the elections, the directors-general of the 
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi 
(TVM) cursorily offered up a very tepid defense.  Instead, 
they blamed the Electoral Commission for not forcing them to 
follow rules they themselves had previously agreed to. 
(Note:  When the director-general of MBC said he had never 
received any guidance, the head of the Media Monitoring Unit 
produced a letter signed by the director-general 
acknowledging receipt of the guidelines and his agreement to 
follow them.  End note.)  One of the two Commissioners 
present responded with a stinging rebuke that MBC and TVM had 
been publicly and privately notified many times of their 
flaunting of the guidelines. 
 
3.  (SBU) One political party has sued MBC, TVM, and the 
Electoral Commission over the unfair media coverage.  The 
case is pending in the courts, and a ruling is expected May 
16.  The Electoral Commission itself had chided both MBC and 
TVM on May 3 for not following media rules and guidelines 
during the campaign, but later that week withdrew the 
allegations and apologized. 
 
4.  (SBU) Comment:  Since MBC is the only medium to reach the 
entire population, fair and accurate election information has 
been denied to a large percentage of Malawi's predominantly 
rural population.  Accordingly, the USG, the UK, the EU, and 
other donors have already made it known to the GOM that the 
state-owned media's coverage has been unacceptable and, no 
matter what happens on polling day, will negatively affect 
the credibility of the elections. 
BROWNING