Lawyer Theu slams Nation newspaper in Facebook rant: ‘Whoever pays the piper calls the tune’

A prominent Malawian lawyer has ignited a fierce row over press freedom after publicly accusing the country’s leading newspaper of being little more than a mouthpiece for whoever pays to get their story told.

Bright Theu, a well-known private practice lawyer, took to Facebook to launch his blistering attack on The Nation Publications Limited, branding the outlet a shadow of what a proper watchdog press should be.

“Even mainstream media outlets like Nation appear to have reduced themselves to pay per publication and do not care about the journalistic duty to act in good faith and publish reliable, precise and balanced information in accordance with the ethics of journalism. It seems whoever pays the piper calls the tune indeed,” Theu wrote.

He didn’t hold back with his parting shot either, sarcastically dismissing the press as the “so-called Fourth Estate” — a term traditionally used to describe journalism’s role in holding power to account.

Theu’s broadside comes hot on the heels of a separate clash between Nation and Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha, who used Parliament to accuse the publication of running a story he claimed was factually inaccurate.

The exact details of the story Mwanamvekha took issue with, and what specifically he disputed about its accuracy, were on Medf loan and Constituency Development Fund.

The Nation has built a reputation over the years as one of Malawi’s most established and widely read news outlets. It has not yet responded publicly to either Theu’s Facebook post or Mwanamvekha’s parliamentary remarks.

The row raises fresh questions about the pressures facing Malawi’s media industry, at a time when journalists across the country continue to navigate accusations of bias from politicians and public figures on all sides of the political divide.