Newspaper editors nearly fought over FAM elections coverage
In what would be best described as an attempt to quell bias reporting that has infested Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) sports desks in the recent past, the management has banned its sports editors Pilirani Kachinziri and Dancan Mlanjira from editing stories on Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) elections.
FAM is on December 17 expected to elect new members of its executive committee including its president in what promises to be a highly contested battle between Henry Chibowa and Walter Nyamilandu on presidential race.
The BNL management has reached the decision after the two who are suspected of supporting the opposing camps in FAM had recently exchanged salvos over the coverage of the elections.
An insider source who sought for anonymity for fear of reprisals told Nyasa Times that Kachinziri who edits Daily Times has been rejecting running stories supporting the candidature of the incumbent Walter Nyamilandu.
As a result some reporters were finding solace in Mlanjira who was publishing the stories in the sister paper a weekly Malawi News which he edits.
This infuriated Kachinziri who confronted Mlanjira for ‘stealing’ stories written by his boys. The confrontation led the two into a heated quarrel that would nearly erupt into an exchange of blows.
In an effort to end the growing rift between the two, the management, has resolved that any story on FAM elections will be edited by Brian Ligomeka, Daily Times editor and Arnold Chachacha Munthali one of the editors on the local desk.
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