Maravi

There's no need to further regulate the media, says Kabwela

There's no need to further regulate the media, says Kabwela
By Mwila Chansa
Thursday May 01, 2008 [04:00]

REGULATING the media further will amount to controlling the public, Press Freedom Committee of The Post (PFC) chairperson Chansa Kabwela has said. And Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary general Nigel Mulenga has said there are some laws that hinder journalists from performing their duties freely.

During the "Face the Media" programme on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) radio four yesterday ahead of the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) that falls on May 3 under the theme 'Access to Information, Freedom of the Press and Empowerment of People', Kabwela said advocating regulation of the media would entail regulating the public as they were the main consumers of news.

Kabwela said there was no need to further regulate the media as there were already more than enough laws and mechanisms of self-regulation on the part of journalists and the institutions they work for. She said the Freedom of Information Bill, once enacted into law, would not only benefit journalists but the ordinary Zambians as well.

"Leaders are elected by the people and these people have a right to know what their leaders are doing. Freedom of information is not about making money for newspapers, it is about promoting the very tenets of democracy such as accountability and transparency," she said.

Kabwela observed that there was need for sensitisation among people so that they could come on board in advocating for media law reforms to remove the perception that matters of press freedom were only for journalists.

She urged journalists to keep the momentum and continue pushing for media law reforms, as they would ultimately contribute to the fight against vices such as corruption.

Kabwela said the media fraternity was optimistic over progress on law reforms this year, as the government had shown political will on the matter. She also emphasised the need to empower people with education to ensure that they were able to utilise the information provided by the media.

"Freedom of the press and access to information feeds into the broader objective of empowerment of the community. But much as we are talking about empowering people, we also need to ensure that people are educated for them to be able to utilise the information to make meaningful decisions," Kabwela said.

And Mulenga said criminal libel laws prevented journalists from gathering information for fear of being imprisoned. Mulenga said there was need to revise some of the laws to ensure that journalists operated freely.

He called on all journalists to reflect on their contribution to society and focus on the future.

And WPFD organising committee secretary, Patson Phiri, called on stakeholders to understand the purpose of laws on freedom of information. Phiri said doubts or perceptions that freedom of information would only benefit the media would always hold the country back.

"For example, it would be no harm for a resident to walk into the office of a district commissioner and ask him how much money was allocated for repairing a bridge. This will promote accountability," he said.

Phiri also said freedom of information could also be linked to national development.
And a caller, a Mr Chanda complained that people had become disinterested in reading newspapers because the media had concentrated on politics at the expense of other development issues.

Kabwela admitted that although the caller's concerns were genuine, politics could not be completely done away with as they impacted on society.

Another caller expressed concern over the gruesome pictures in the media.

Phiri said it was not right to show gruesome pictures and that there was need to find ways of manipulating the manner in which they were published or televised.

However, Kabwela said it was inevitable to show certain pictures.

"If I have pictures of bandits that have been shot by the police, I will decide to put them in the paper as a deterrent to criminals out there," said Kabwela.

Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, MEDIA, PFC, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 5:59 AM