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Rogue elements are poisoning media-govt relations – Kabwe

Rogue elements are poisoning media-govt relations – Kabwe
By Ernest Chanda
Fri 08 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE Media Liaison Committee (MLC) has charged that the government has been sponsoring some people to discredit the committee and its activities.

Briefing the press in Lusaka yesterday, committee chairperson Henry Kabwe said some people had been issuing articles in the Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail trying to water down the fight against statutory media regulation.

The committee comprises the Press Association of Zambia, Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zambia Union of Journalists and the Zambia Media Women Association.

Others are the Zambia Union of Broadcasters and Information Disseminators, Press Freedom Committee of The Post, Panos Southern Africa and Catholic Media Services.

“We have learnt with sadness the massive misinformation campaign published in both the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail of Monday, January 4, 2010. It is shocking that whilst calling for dialogue, government decided to sponsor known rogue elements with no standing whatsoever to write malicious and misleading articles against the MLC.

Our investigations have shown that these silly articles were not written by our professional members at these newspapers. They were imposed on them from outside where they were written by paid mercenaries masquerading as journalists,” Kabwe said. “These cash-driven rogues have been falsely assuring government and Vice-President George Kunda in particular that they can break the MLC.

We now wish to serve notice that we have full information about their identities and activities, involving their campaign of disinformation, which in fact is responsible for poisoning the media-government relations. These rogues, some of them servicing in high political offices that ordinarily should be above partisan politics, are the ones damaging the relations between the media and government. At a time when we are almost reaching a settlement zone on media regulation, these callous individuals are moving the two parties apart.”

Kabwe said the committee had for now withheld names of the people involved in the smear campaign, but would disclose if they persisted.

“Out of respect for professional comradeship, we have decided to withhold the name (s) of these elements who seek to benefit from an atmosphere in order to induce the unguarded politicians to pay them to undertake smear campaigns against decent persons and causes such as the one the MLC is involved. The MLC is bound by a strong cord of principle and no amount of cash-for-smear campaign would break our bond. We shall take on any individual head-on if this timely advice is not heeded,” he said.

“It is shameful that someone calling himself/herself a journalist can ever entertain and support such a draconian law against the media, media freedom, freedom of expression and the general democratic aspirations Zambians cherish. One man’s appetite for cash and favours from politicians cannot be allowed to derail the noble cause the MLC is undertaking to defeat the obnoxious Media Bill. We are prepared to go all the way to challenge this bill in the strongest possible ways and to along with it the opportunistic mercenaries authoring these libellous articles against us.”

Kabwe vowed not to remain silent when the media industry was being hurt.

“Whilst we are moved by principles, they are moved by money which is why they are alleging that our position is driven by forces outside our groups. What a shame that they want to judge us by their low standards. These low human beings cannot appreciate there are many decent people moved by conviction to do right and therefore they read in other people’s actions their own perceptions of right and wrong,” he said.

“We are responding to this paid mercenary for the last time and the next he does it against us, he will get his just deserts. We have an option of challenging these libellous articles and innuendoes in the courts of law, but we have chosen to meet head-on with these mercenaries whom we shall disclose at an opportune time. We refuse to remain silent when the media industry is being hurt.”

And committee spokesperson Amos Chanda said the MLC had decided to postpone the planned demonstration to give the government the respect and time to reflect on their intentions to regulate the media through draconian legislation.

He said the committee was expected to meet information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha yesterday afternoon to continue with dialogue.

Asked if the government was not trying to dangle a carrot to the committee so that they backed out of their fight against the media bill, Chanda vowed not to be compromised in any way.

“At its meeting on 5th January 2010, held at the PAZA Secretariat, the MLC resolved to postpone the notification of the police on the planned mass protest to allow government convene a meeting to allow for dialogue which they have called for.

The President on his return from holiday requested journalists last week not to demonstrate because the State was ready for dialogue. The Vice-President himself called for dialogue last week and so did the defence minister when he featured on a government programme on Radio Phoenix,” Chanda said.

“In the hope that these appeals for dialogue are genuine, we have decided we wait for them to convene a meeting for us to engage them. There is no end to dialogue, and if we think that dialogue is not working we will walk away. For now we are convinced that perhaps government’s call for dialogue is genuine. We are not fighting government, but the bill. We will go to the grave believing that this media bill is bad.”

Asked what would happen if the mecenaries publishing stories against the committee did not stop, Chanda promised to expose the names of all the people involved.

“We are not so worried about their conduct because we have no doubt that they will yield. They know that we have withheld their names for now because they know that we know them. If they don’t yield we shall have no choice but to expose them. Whereas our colleagues are moved by money we are moved by principle. It’s a struggle for ideas and we believe that the media bill government has introduced is bad,” said Chanda.

In an article entitled The George Kunda must Go Campaign published in the Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail of Monday January 4, 2010, the unnamed writer insinuates that the fights against statutory regulation of the media was a scheme to get rid of specific people in government.

Labels: HENRY KABWE, PRESS FREEDOM

posted by MrK @ 4:50 AM