The Media Council of Malawi (MCM) Chairperson Wilson Chingwede has argued the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) Diploma graduates refrain from reporting on fake news in times of pandemic.

Speaking as the guest of honor at COMESA Hall in Blantyre during the MIJ Graduation ceremony for diploma students on Friday, Chimgwede said that it is such an obligation for journalists to fight the Covid 19 pandemic of which he stressed that the most critical thing that the Malawians need is the kind of information that will lead to behavior change.

“The first step in building a responsible media is to remember our duties, as we do not have any other duty apart from informing our society with the truth for them to make informed decisions for personal societal and national development,” he said.

The graduation ceremony was however conducted on the theme “Responsible Journalisms During Crisis”.

The ceremony which was conducted in 32 shifts as one measure of preventing the further spread of Covid-19 has seen the awarding of Diplomas to 240 participants with only tw0 students, a male and a female passing with distinctions.

Meanwhile, among the 240 participants which are from two cohorts, 57 percent of the participants were females while the remaining 43 percent were males, a development which Chimgwede described as “no mean achievement” in as far as empowering of women is concerned.

“One thing am so grateful here today is the fact that we have started walking in our path to change the media landscape, for ages on end we have failed to have more ladies in the newsroom than males, we need to celebrate this particular feat,” said Chimgwede.

The Malawi Institute of journalism last conducted the graduation in April 2019.

Amongst the notable figures that patronized the occasion were the representative of the MIJ board chair Dr. Gregory Khamula, Executive Director of MIJ Anthony Phanga, Media Training Manager Mercy Manja, and MIJ FM broadcasting services Manager Roseline Mankhambera.