Malawi media in retraction over South African lawyers sneaking in: Times story ‘correct’

One of Malawi’s daily newspapers, The Nation and  privately-owned Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS)  have attracted their stories about  two South African lawyers that the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) engaged for the presidential elections appeal case sneaked  in the country on Sunday April 12 2020 through Kamuzu International Airport.

Zodiak reported that the lawyers Dumisa Bhule Ntsebenza, SC and  Elizabeth Makhanani Mere flew from South Africa but could not proceed from Mozambique because they were denied airspace due to coronavirus travel restrictions.

But Zodiak retracted the false reporting and apologised.

The Nation  carried a story that the lawyer sneaked in the country on Sunday and issued a “correction” on its front page of Tuesday April 14  2020 – which was placed  on the front gape right foot corner.

“However it has emerged from court that the lawyers did not  make the trip due to travel restriction related to Covid-19. We regret the misrepresentation and retract the story-Editor.”

A similar story also appeared on Nyasa Times and the online publication swiftly deleted the article and in its updated court story also posted a correction notice  which was placed at the end of the article.

But the retractions still leaves a lot to be desired and the public jury is out there to question the mainstream media on credible reporting . However, the beauty of the professional news organisations such as The Nation, Zodiak and Nyasa Times is that they are held accountable to their news dissemination unlike  fake news outlets and social media carpers.

The Daily Times newspaper on the other hand reported “ correctly” that the South African lawyers did not make it in the country.