Malawi's government encourages local Catholic media

Karonga, Malawi, Aug 3, 2017 / 09:03 am

Mawali's information, communication and technology ministry praised the country's Catholic media this week for their evangelization efforts as part of the 51st Communications Sunday.

Information Minister Nicholas Dausi, a Catholic, extended this support to the Church after touring the offices of Tuntufye FM, the Diocese of Karonga's radio station.

Later in the day, he addressed Catholic media outlets at St. Mary's parish in Karonga. In doing so, he challenged them to not be brought down by negativity in their coverage.

"We should not thrive on bad news or something that is defamatory to our colleagues. Using Church media is crucial for the evangelization drive," he said.

He praised the groups and affirmed the government's support.

"I am impressed with the way Tuntufye FM of Karonga diocese is doing. They are doing fine, and we will support them," he said.

Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga then said Mass, and both issued a challenge and stated his gratitude to those gathered.

"I would like to challenge our media houses and those working in these (media) houses to be more professional. We thank God for the gift of all communication tools. However, we are challenging ourselves to use them effectively. We can do much better than what we are doing with our television stations, radio stations and newspapers," said Bishop Mtumbuka.

"Let us offer the message of faith for the glory of God and the development of this nation. We are the ones to champion this, and this can be done based on the way we do things. Let's do things in a coordinated manner and be innovative," he added.

At the same celebration, Bishop George Tambala of Zomba, the Malawian bishops' social communications chair, reflected on Pope Francis' message for World Communications Day.

"Pope Francis challenges us all to break the various circle of anxiety and stem the spiral of fear that results from a constant focus on bad news such as war, terrorism, scandals and all sorts of human failure," said Bishop Tambala.

He also noted that Francis' message challenges that "all media practitioners should search for an open and creative style of communication that never seeks to glorify evil but instead to concentrate on solutions and inspire a positive and responsible approach on the part of its recipient."

Malawi's Catholic media outlets include the bishops' social communications commission; Radio Maria Malawi; Radio Alinafe; Tigabane Radio; Tuntufye FM; Luntha Television, Montfort and Likuni Press.