{"id":73088,"date":"2025-09-04T11:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?p=73088"},"modified":"2025-09-04T11:52:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T11:52:35","slug":"macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage","title":{"rendered":"MACRA Flags Bias, Hate Speech in Election Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has raised alarm over gaps in fairness and professionalism in how broadcasters are covering the 2025 general elections, warning that biased or inflammatory reporting risks undermining democracy.<\/p>\n<p>In its Election Broadcast Monitoring Report, MACRA says monitoring officers reviewed political content aired by national, regional, and community broadcasters in the run-up to the 16 September polls. The report reveals that while many broadcasters have upheld professional standards, incidents of concern continue to surface.<\/p>\n<p>According to the regulator, national broadcasters provided more diverse political representation, while community radios focused mainly on local campaign activities. However, some outlets were found to give significant airtime to campaign rallies, adverts, and programs in ways that showed bias \u2014 either favoring or criticizing particular candidates.<\/p>\n<p>MACRA\u2019s Broadcasting Directorate cited several troubling practices, including the use of derogatory and ageist remarks against candidates, the airing of hate speech and inflammatory statements without moderation, biased coverage favoring certain politicians, and the broadcasting of unverified allegations. The report also found instances where presenters displayed partiality, undermining journalistic objectivity.<\/p>\n<p>The watchdog reminded broadcasters that the Communications Act of 2016 and the General Terms and Conditions of a Content Service Licence (2021) require media houses to maintain fairness, accuracy, balance, and respect for human dignity. The law prohibits hate speech, incitement, and derogatory remarks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany broadcasters upheld professional standards, but gaps remain. Risks to democracy exist if biased or inflammatory content continues,\u201d the report cautions.<\/p>\n<p>MACRA has urged broadcasters to strengthen editorial oversight during live coverage, ensure fairness and balance in political reporting, and avoid inciting language or harmful stereotypes.<\/p>\n<p>The full report, including broadcaster-by-broadcaster analysis, is available online.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Malawi<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Malawi. The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has raised alarm over gaps in fairness and professionalism in how broadcasters are covering the 2025 general elections, warning that biased or inflammatory reporting risks undermining democracy. In its Election Broadcast Monitoring Report, MACRA says monitoring officers reviewed political content aired by national, regional, and community [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":73086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-73088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>MACRA Flags Bias, Hate Speech in Election Coverage - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has raised alarm over gaps in fairness and professionalism in how ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MACRA Flags Bias, Hate Speech in Election Coverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has raised alarm over gaps in fairness and professionalism in how ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-04T11:54:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2025\/09\/sm_1756974322.45762.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MACRA Flags Bias, Hate Speech in Election Coverage\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-04T11:54:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\"},\"wordCount\":290,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2025\/09\/sm_1756974322.45762.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/macra-flags-bias-hate-speech-in-election-coverage\",\"name\":\"MACRA Flags Bias, Hate Speech in Election Coverage - 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