Private news agency born
Independent and privately owned Lilongwe News Agency (Lina) has been born to complement efforts of other media houses to inform, educate and entertain the nation by providing additional sources of news material and related services.
In a statement made available to The Nation, Lina managing editor Paul Akomenji said the agency has roped in four veteran Malawian journalists Sam Makaka, Silvester Nyoni, Mundango Nyirenda and Akomenji himself. The four have a variety of experiences in wire service, print and electronic media as well as online news.
Lina said gaps in the media include the lack of the voice of an ordinary man in news stories.
Besides, Akomenji said, Lina, which seeks to feed local and international news outlets, has been established to help other players involved in keeping busy many unemployed young qualified journalists in the country.
Said Akomenji: “We are aware that due to an obviously small media industry in Malawi, journalism graduates from institutions such as the Malawi Institute of Journalism [MIJ], the University of Malawi [Unima], Blantyre International University [BIU], among others, fail to be absorbed into the small media industry.
“Lina at present has no resources to employ them, but we believe that those journalists with a passion in journalism will join hands with this private news agency to serve Malawians as volunteers.”
Lina becomes the second privately owned and independent news agency to exist in Malawi after the now defunct Mzuzu-based KTZ News Agency that was born at the dawn of multiparty democracy in the mid-1990S.
