Malawi media need to adjust accordingly to changing environment in terms of technology—MACRA

* In their daily operations and thinking and further urged them to be proactive in adopting the new technology platforms

* This year’s conference was held under the theme; ‘Shaping the Future of Broadcasting through Digital Technologies’

By Eunice Disi Lole, MANA

Radio and television broadcasters must embrace digital technologies in order to capture the new emerging markets, as well as new listeners and viewers looking for content on demand.

This was said by Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) Director Daud Suleman Director at a broadcasters’ conference at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, where he emphasised the need for media houses to adjust accordingly to the changing environment of the media industry in terms of technology.

Suleman also encouraged broadcasters to include technology in their daily operations and thinking and further urged them to be proactive in adopting the new technology platforms.

This year’s conference was held under the theme; ‘Shaping the Future of Broadcasting through Digital Technologies’ and present as guest of honour was Minister of Information & Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu who also urged media houses to embrace new technologies and to make sure the content produced is of competitive standards globally.

“We have seen other industries that are doing very well on the African soil and we believe that the talent and enthusiasm is there amongst broadcasters in Malawi.

“Coupled with an environment that can be led by the government that is favourable, we believe we can produce a very formidable broadcasting and content production industry here in Malawi.”

He added that currently Malawian content is not at the level where it can compete on the global market, as most of the content produced is consumed for free.

He, therefore, said there is need for media houses to move in the direction whereby people will be able to appreciate local content by paying for it, just like what other African countries do.

The Minister also stressed that paying for content is the only way of producing more content but also the only way media houses can be able to finance themselves and in turn build the industry for both local and global consumption.

Meanwhile, MACRA has invested 10 computer sets to Machinga Teachers Training Collenge (TTC) taking cognizance that most teachers lack information & communication technology (ICT) skills.

Khumbo Kasambala, project manager for Universal Service Fund, which is a MACRA unit, said this gap negatively affects the teachers’ profession, emphasizing that the integration of ICT in the education sector is crucial in line with MW2063 digitalisation aspirations.

“Machinga TTC provides services that are in line with government’s vision of providing higher education,” Kasambala said. “For the country to achieve its enablers in the MW2063, ICT integration in the education sector is crucial.

“It is against this background that MACRA partnered with Ministry of Education to ensure that its intuitions are provided with ICT materials to aid them have the skills.”

Machinga TTC acting Principal, Phillip Nashoni said the support will help in addressing learning challenges and bridge the gap in ICT skills among teacher trainees.

“Training institutions like ours are supposed to use different methods of teaching like teacher-student contacts which on their own cannot address the current challenges that we have.”

He added that the ICT equipment will positively contribute to provision of higher tertiary education and assured MACRA that the College will take care of the computer sets to boost ICT knowledge and skills to teacher trainees.—Additional reporting by Martin Chiwanda, MANA in Machinga