‘The media in Zambia has been taken for a ride’

‘The media in Zambia has been taken for a ride’
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Sunday, August 09, 2009 9:23:46 PM

MEDIA associations and unions in Zambia have stated that the media in Zambia has been taken for a ride. According to the joint petition on the state of the media in Zambia which was presented to Vice-President George Kunda on behalf of President Rupiah Banda at Mulungushi International Conference Centre last Friday, four major issues were raised - violence against the media, media law reforms and independence of the broadcast media, Chansa Kabwela's case and the removal of a media representative from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

On violence against journalists, the media bodies stated that the media in Zambia was under fire and urged the government to seriously consider protecting journalists.

"We make this comment in view of the sustained harassment of journalists, which climaxed on July 28, 2009 incident as some MMD cadres went on rampage punching and kicking journalists as though they were criminals, at the Lusaka International Airport. We are sure you have seen a sample of what happens to journalists when they are caught up in such situations. This is not first incident because even opposition cadres have harassed practitioners in public media institutions," they stated.

"One recent incident involved ZNBC's Lackson Nthani in Southern Province during the UPND/PF pact meeting. It is sad that these incidents take place in full view of police officers who only advise journalists to leave such events but fail to apprehend and prosecute those found wanting."

They urged President Banda to take further action other than just condemning the attacks on the media especially the one that transpired at the Lusaka International Airport.

"Though one cadre was arrested on August 5, 2009 after committing the offence on July, 28, 2009, we still wish to emphasise that ample protection and measures must be put in place to protect the media from such violence to prevent cadres especially from the MMD that are beating professionals in Zambia who play a very key role of disseminating information," they stated.

The media bodies stated that they strongly felt that the continued harassment of media personnel had persisted because little action was taken previously.

They noted that they still remained worried if the solution to this problem would lie on marching to get government's attention to the matter.

They stated that ample protection must be devised because journalists and all citizens deserved nothing less.

"Just yesterday, August 6, 2009, the MMD cadres threatened Chansa Kabwela and the vehicle she used to go through the back gate of the new magistrate court because they had gathered in front of the gate and were threatening violence. We appreciate the fact that Chansa's case is in court already but we wonder why violence is becoming the order of the day especially in the ruling party, which is supposed to be a torchbearer to other political parties in terms of respect for order. This shows the audacity the cadres have and impunity with which they disregard others citizens' rights," they stated.

The media bodies resorted to seeking redress from the President because they felt that their concerns on this issue had not been adequately addressed.

"Contrastingly, we have heard statements from top government officials saying media practitioners are reaping what they sow and simply put, they deserve to be beaten, which is very sad in a country that claims to be democratic. This is a sad development for a country that has been independent for about 45 years and under democratic rule for about 18 years," they stated.

They implored President Banda to ensure that the police were allowed to exercise their powers independently to enforce law and order and put in place adequate and stringent measures to protect the media as the elections temple begins to heat up.

They stated that if these measures were not put in place, media practitioners would suffer terrible fate next time and may not return alive from assignments.

The media bodies stated that violence against journalists had also been committed by the police as journalists were undertaking their duties and such officers were not brought to book except for a few who were suspended on the Copperbelt Province.

The stated that the trend was spreading because even ordinary citizens were becoming violent towards the media.

They cited one specific example involving Muvi TV staffer Delphister Lungu who was being threatened by a suspected child defiler.

On media reforms and independence of the broadcast media, the media bodies stated that the government must relinquish the illegal duty it was playing of regulating the broadcast media in Zambia through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services (MIBS).

They stated that this kind of regulation was for the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which had not been implemented since 2002 when the IBA Act took effect.

The media bodies stated that the ZNBC Act was another law that had continued to lie in Limbo and only two aspects had been implemented such as the television license fee.

However, they stated that an overdue board that comprised political figures was still overseeing the running of ZNBC, thus undermining ZNBC's autonomy as the board that was supposed to promote good governance in the corporation was not independent from government and the party of the day.

"This had continued to force the media to be polarized because they are towing the line of the ruling party and the government while the private media try to provide an alternative voice or those with divergent views from government. It is therefore not fair to ask the media to be ethical when the same government is choking the media from being ethical through controlling public media," they stated.

They urged the government to ensure that the IBA and the ZNBC Acts were fully made operational so that the broadcast media could be regulated by independent and professional bodies and not political appointees.

The media bodies expressed disappointment that the FoI Bill was not considered cardinal to be presented in the current Parliamentary session.

The media bodies stated that this was a sad development because all developed countries that had embraced a liberal media were quite advanced where development was concerned.

"It's rather not uneasy to see MIBS regulate the broadcast sector and we hope that the concerns made by MIBS on Sky FM will not lead to their licence being withheld at the point of renewal. There is need for the FoI Bill of 2002 so that the Zambian people can enjoy accessing their public media and quality information because we believe such legislation will make the work of the media more professional as they will be answerable to professional run bodies and not by political appointees who toe the party line that is ruling the country," they stated "This undoubtedly is one leading cause of the media polarity in Zambia because media are forced to be extreme because some sections of the media are forced to report favourably about their appointees who are politicians."

They stated that as they call for the implementation of the media law reforms, they wished to draw the government to the promises made in the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and the media policy of 1996 that they promised among others to address impeding media laws which they had not to date and yet they come into office through democratic means but prefer to use archaic and colonial laws which they seemed to be content with.

"Yet these laws were used to oppress the indigenous minds of the day. One of the pieces of legislation that was recommended by the media for repeal and amendment is the law on obscenity. In Zambia to date, no one can define obscenity yet the law provides for imprisonment up to five years, because in the first place the law does not even state what constitutes obscenity. So the media are expected to grope in the dark and censor themselves because of the law," they stated "In fact even citizens will have it easy on this law because it does not guide the citizens on what constitutes obscenity."

On plans by the government to regulate the media via statutory instrument, the media bodies felt the intention would attract objection from all those who believed in a free media.

The stated that the profession of journalism should be regulated by imparting good moral values in journalists and a self regulatory mechanism was the only way to go.

The media bodies stated that forcing such regulation on journalists would also reduce on its acceptability which was a pre-requisite for any law to achieve its intended objective.

"We note that the government has given us six months in which to come up with a widely accepted regulatory framework. As media associations, we have been sourcing for resources to immediately start consulting on what type of self regulation we should put in place and any other attention especially statutory regulation will be met with serious resistance," they stated.

On Kabwela's case, they called on the government to drop the charges against her because it was the law that was at fault.

"In addition, we wish to state that in the past there has been pictures which were published and changed the course of history in the world. One of these are the June 16 of 1976 of Hector Pieterson where a picture was captured of a boy running from apartheid inspired attacks of black South Africans with his brother in his hands who had blood on his face. Much as the pictures were gross they depicted the full extent of suffering brought about by the apartheid era. Another picture of a girl fully naked and running from fire bombs in Vietnam during the war was also another picture that changed the course of history," they stated "Imagine if these pictures were hidden, what would have been said of the war or the apartheid situation in South Africa?"

They called on the government to drop the case unconditionally against Kabwela because the laws on obscenity were not clear.

On the removal of Amos Chanda from the APRM, the media bodies stated that they had been robbed of the only representative in the decision making body of the APRM - the executive committee which Chanda was a part.

They stated that the review by the APRM would be without much success because democracy hinges on media related issues.

The media bodies stated that they were saddened about the development because media representation had been reduced to a lower level yet again.

They stated that it would not augur well for Zambia to continue trivialising media issues because the modern world required a fully functional media to operate adequately and for it to develop.

"We see a serious lapse in implementing the communications strategy without a well exposed journalist who understands issues at a deeper level. Our understanding is that people from other professions do not understand how democratic, corporate and political governance is linked from a journalistic perspective," they stated.

The media bodies stated that they were strongly concerned about the matters outlined and hoped they would be met with seriousness they deserved and not threats of regulation and more punitive measures being applied so that the media could close down.