Abstract

This study investigates how The Daily Times newspaper negotiates commercial versus public interest, with focus on the year 2020. The year 2020 was critical to efforts for consolidating democracy in Malawi; the country held fresh presidential elections at the direction of the High Court. It was also in this year that Malawi was faced with Covid 19, a pandemic which, as the study shows, was heavily politicised. This study uses the case of The Daily Times newspaper which is the oldest newspaper in Malawi and has been through both politically and economically volatile environments. Although The Daily Times newspaper has remained afloat through colonial, dictatorial and democratic epochs in the country, there is a dearth in literature on the strategies that the newspaper uses to remain afloat on the media market. As a theoretical framework, the study has adopted Habermas’ concept of the public sphere, which is grounded in the ethics of communication. The key finding is that The Daily Times newspaper fails to ethically balance commercial versus public interest. This study establishes that The Daily Times newspaper prioritises commercial over public interest in its operations. Although the newspaper has the potential of contributing to the consolidation of democracy in Malawi, this potential is hampered by a trade-off between commercial and public interest. The study thus highlights the aforementioned potential as well as how this is challenged by commercial interests.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2024

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