Determinations

The determinations carried out by a special committee of the Council, known as the Ethics, Complaints and Disciplinary Committee, that fulfills the following clause of the Media Council of Malawi Constitution:

Clause 7.1 of the Constitution gives powers to the Board of Trustees to form the Ethics, Complaints and Disciplinary Committee.

Composition of the Committee.

1. The Committee shall comprise Five (5) members three (3) of whom shall be from the media and two (2) from the public provided that one of the public members shall be the representative from the Malawi Law Society.
2. The Committee shall in consultation with the Board draw up its own rules of procedure.
3. The Committee shall be responsible for updating, maintaining and promoting the Code of Ethics and professional standards for media practitioners, journalists and media organizations.
4. The Committee shall be responsible for receiving and adjudicating on complaints and grievances as provided for in the rules of procedure.
5. All complaints shall be disposed of with urgency and in any event not later than two (2) months after receipt of such complaint.
6. Upon receipt of any complaint, the Committee shall aim at resolving the matter through mediation and negotiations, and shall only resort to adjudication where such mediation and negotiations have failed.
7. Upon determination of a complaint the Committee may

a) Censure;
b) Order an apology;
c) Order publication of the corrected version of the article from which the complaint arose;
d) Order full publication of the results of the hearing.