Maravi

PAZA welcomes government decision not to regulate media

PAZA welcomes government decision not to regulate media
Written by Margaret Mtonga
Sunday, December 14, 2008 9:48:05 AM

MEMBERS of parliament calling for statutory regulation of the media should now reflect objectively on the issue, Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) vice-president Amos Chanda advised yesterday.

In an interview, Chanda welcomed the government’s decision not to come up with statutory regulation for the media.

He was commenting on information minister Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha’s statement during a Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme on Friday that the government was not advocating statutory media control. Lt Gen Shikapwasha said it was some members of parliament that complained during debates in Parliament last month and felt that the private media was exceedingly unethical before and during the October 30 election. He said it had never been government’s position to regulate the media, but only noted that since 1999, the media had lamentably failed to come up with a generally accepted self-regulation mechanism.

And Chanda said the position taken by the government not to come up with statutory regulation of the media was a positive step in enhancing the growth of Zambia’s young democracy.

“On behalf of Press Association of Zambia and other media bodies, we are happy that the government has taken our submissions of self-regulation,” Chanda said. “The media bodies have always advocated for self-regulation and this is a positive move in the progression of freedom of expression in the country.”

He said even if the government had delayed in responding to calls by the media to regulate themselves, its decision was gratifying.

“The government has taken a commendable step of not regulating the media through statutory means,” Chanda said. “The government has really taken time to respond to media submissions of self-regulation, but we are happy because the decision has not been done in a hurry.”

Chanda said the move would give an opportunity to members of parliament to reflect objectively on the demerits and merits of the media being regulated through statutory means.

“In this case, I mean the opposition United Party for National Development [UPND] members of parliament who strongly called on the government to regulate the media through statutory means,” Chanda said.

He said media organisations would soon be having a stakeholders’ conference whose aim will be to discuss issues of self-regulation.

“We agree with Ronnie Shikapwasha that the media should come up with a mechanism to solidify self-regulation,” said Chanda. “The conference is meant to strengthen the Media Council of Zambia or even change the present council.”

Labels: AMOS CHANDA, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, MEDIA, PAZ, REGULATION

posted by MrK @ 9:47 AM