Maravi

Who are you trying to fix?

Who are you trying to fix?
By The Post
Tue 11 Jan. 2011, 04:00 CAT

It is among the rights of citizens which found their expression in a democracy to express their points of view concerning the duties and sacrifices which are imposed on them, not to be forced to obey without being heard.

In this regard, the views expressed by Southern Province MMD chairperson Solomon Muzyamba on the necessity for a self-regulating media deserve support.

Solomon says “for those in leadership, I think they should be scrutinised by the public through the information the media gives out but that information should not be malicious and bent on destroying somebody or even targeted at discrediting an individual”.

We should not follow leaders blindly; we should critically examine their true intentions, and the direction in which they are leading us. Is it to a richer, more satisfying life?

To a life in which we are the masters of our own destiny?

Or, is it to new forms of oppression, tyranny, dictatorship and unfulfilled hopes? Let us work to become a single people.

A country is firm and united insofar as its citizens feel that they have a voice in its affairs.

This requires that each citizen be allowed one’s opinion and the right to act with full responsibility and without fear in matters that affect him intimately.

No one person can claim to have a monopoly of truth and wisdom.

No individual – or group of individuals – can pretend to have all the resources needed to guarantee the progress of a nation.

The contribution of the most humble members is often necessary for the good running of a group.

The people must never be reduced to a mass of subjugated beings vis a vis their rulers, but rather be treated as conscious, intelligent and responsible subjects, while those in authority for their part play their role as servants of the people, conscious of the liberating mission which is theirs and which they have to carry out in a spirit of love and justice.

Participation in the life of a country is not only a right; it is also a duty that each citizen should be proud to assume and exercise responsibly.

People in positions of authority, in government and administration, have a particular duty to work for the restoration of a climate of trust and openness.

However, participation will remain a fiction without the existence of adequate channels of expression and action: an independent press, open forums of discussions and the like.

Freedom of the press includes the freedom to hold and express a line of thinking that is distinct from that of the government.

Freedom of the press is basic to any civilised society.

The intentions of Rupiah Banda’s government to introduce statutory regulation of the media have nothing to do with public good.

They have everything to do with selfishness, greed, vanity and political survival. If the spirit of the common good were to animate Rupiah and his minions like Ronnie Shikapwasha and George Kunda, we would not be witnessing the things they are trying to do, their intentions and attempts to introduce statutory regulation of the media.

But it is necessary for them to realise that a free media is for the good of a country, and not for the political survival of any individual or political party.

And as we have pointed out before, few would argue that the news media in our country always carry out their functions responsibly.

They are sometimes sensational, superficial, malicious, intrusive, inaccurate and inflammatory.

This is not desirable. The solution is not to introduce statutory regulation and devise laws that set some arbitrary definition of responsibility or to licence journalists, but to broaden the level of public discourse so that citizens can better sift through the chaff of misinformation and rhetoric to find the kernels of truth.

If Rupiah’s government was truly interested in the common good, they would not think of statutory regulation at all.

What is driving them is selfish and narrow political interests. And this can be seen from the way they are abusing the media under their control and direction.

Look at the irresponsibility, outright lack of professionalism, bias, malice, calumny, lies that we read every day in the two newspapers they control and direct!

Watch the television programmes they produce on the media they control!

Can these people be said to care about truth in any way? Can they be said to be concerned about professionalism in any way?

They are in control of more than 60 per cent of media products in this country.

One can truthfully say that those who are seeking to regulate the media are also media players, controllers of media content.

The regulations they want to bring, can one say they are targeted against themselves? These people have no problems with what they do with the media.

They are already directly regulating a great proportion of the Zambian media. What they seem to have problems with is the small segment of the media that is not under their control and direction and at the head of this is The Post.

This is what they don’t control.

If The Post today started to serve them the way the Times of Zambia and Daily Mail are serving them, this whole subject of media regulation would come to an instant close.

So their intentions to regulate the media have nothing to do with common good but their selfish intentions.

We say this because in all respects, the media outside their control beats the media they control.

It is the media they control that has the highest number of libel cases, including against ourselves.

They have lost more legal suits than the media outside their control put together.

This in itself is a sign of recklessness, irresponsibility, lack of professionalism on their part.

And they have made it clear that they are happy with the way the state-owned media under their control is operating.

So this whole media regulation issue has nothing to do with the media they control, the media they every day abuse to carry their lies, abuses and propaganda.

But evil things have a way of boomeranging.

This statutory media regulation they want to introduce will boomerang in the way the removal of bail from motor vehicle theft did on them.

They will not be in power forever to control and direct things.

The media they want to suppress today, the media whose capacity they want to curtail today may turn out to be their saviour when they are out of power tomorrow. But what will they find?

They will find a media outside government control whose capacity they have undermined. This is all they will have to defend their human rights!

We want to make it very clear to all our people that statutory regulation of the media will certainly affect the operations of our country’s independent media.

But the greatest losers in all this will not be the journalists or the private media owners.

It will be the people of this country in their complexities and diversities.

Yes, the media today is in the forefront of defending press freedom in this country. But the press freedom that is being defended by the media does not belong to the media or the journalists who work for the media.

They are defending something that belongs to the people. And the greatest loss in all this will lie with the people, and not the journalists.

So those who think by the introduction of statutory regulation, they will fix certain journalists, editors, media owners and their organisations, are cheating themselves, are fools who will eventually, and without escape, suffer the consequences of their own deeds.


MLC meets Ronnie over media regulation
By By Mwala Kalaluka
Tue 11 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

THE Media Liaison Committee yesterday held a meeting with information and broadcasting ministers Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikap-washa over the issue of media regulation.

Media Liaison Committee (MLC) spokesperson Daniel Sikazwe said the meeting with Lieutenant General Shikapwasha and other government officials was held to facilitate for the opening of talks and engagement between the government and the MLC over media regulation issues.

Sikazwe, who is also Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zambia chairperson, said they agreed that it is important for them to start to dialogue.

Labels: MEDIA, PRESS FREEDOM, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, SOLOMON MUZYAMBA

posted by MrK @ 2:30 PM