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Malupenga warns media to brace against power-crazed politicians

Malupenga warns media to brace against power-crazed politicians
By Florence Bupe
Mon 28 June 2010, 08:40 CAT

POST managing editor Amos Malupenga has cautioned the media to be weary of politicians who will stop at nothing to cling on to power.

Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme on Friday, Malupenga said the next one year running up to the 2011 elections would be challenging to media practitioners.

“Government will want to remain in power and they will want to do all sorts of things to maintain power,” Malupenga said. “The media must brace themselves for tough times.”

Malupenga said those in the government were motivated by the desire to remain in power and would attempt to stifle the media to deprive people of the information they need to make informed decisions.

He said the government’s insistence to impose statutory regulation on the media was a desperate ploy to gag the media.

Malupenga also said the government was responsible for the current media landscape in the country.

He observed that the government had turned the public media into their mouthpiece, and this had compromised the performance and objectivity of journalists in those institutions.

Malupenga said the media should strive to uphold objectivity in their reporting and highlight the views of both those in the government and the opposition.

“What is key is that before we come to the media, we should blame it media landscape on our political leadership and government in particular. Government expects you to be in their favour all the time,” Malupenga said.

“It can’t be denied that as The Post, we carry critical views of the opposition and those in government but most colleagues in the state media have their hands tied.”

Malupenga dismissed suggestions that the media was destructive, stressing that they existed to keep checks and balances.

He said it was incorrect for the government to insist on statutory regulation of the media based on the argument that allowing the media to be self-regulatory would be destructive.

“This is a lame excuse to deny us freedom to operate. We are not asking for absolute freedom, we are asking for freedom that will allow us to operate freely,” said Malupenga.

And Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) vice-chairperson Amos Chanda warned politicians against taking citizens for granted, saying Zambians were now alert because of the role the media had continued to play in informing the nation.

“Politicians in power are just deluding themselves by thinking that Zambians don’t know what is happening. Zambians are now waking up and most of the people are telling us that there’s legitimacy in our arguments to have a self-regulatory media framework,” Chanda said.

Meanwhile, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia Chapter representative Mutemwa Makomani observed that the passing of the Freedom of Information Bill as a law would help hold politicians accountable.

He reiterated the need to take back the Bill to Parliament. Makomani said currently, most politicians in power were preoccupied with enriching themselves at the expense of development for the electorate.

Labels: AMOS MALUPENGA, PRESS FREEDOM

posted by MrK @ 3:28 PM