Maravi

Kunda's praising of Post surprises Unza lecturer

Kunda's praising of Post surprises Unza lecturer
By Allan Mulenga
Sat 26 Nov. 2011, 11:59 CAT

GEORGE Kunda's showering of praises on The Post is a surprising turnaround, says Dr Isaac Phiri. Commenting on former vice-president Kunda's statement in Parliament that The Post had taken a good stance of criticising the Patriotic Front government over wrong decisions it has been making, Dr Phiri, who is University of Zambia (UNZA) senior lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication said Kunda was unfairly opposed to the reporting that was done by The Post.

"I think what Mr George Kunda is saying according to today's (yesterday's) reports is a surprising turnaround because when those people were in power they were very aggressive, sometimes almost unfairly opposed to the reporting that was done by The Post," he said.

Dr Phiri urged politicians to be balanced when dealing with the media to avoid embarrassing themselves.

"I think public leaders must learn to be balanced at all times in dealing with the media so that they don't have to find themselves in a situation where you have to turn around, you have to jump fences literally once your position has been taken over by others," he said.

Dr Phiri said it was difficult for media professionals to believe what Kunda was saying about The Post, saying the former vice-president overtly opposed to what the newspaper stood for.

"It is difficult for me as a media consumer and a media scholar to believe what is being said now about The Post when they were so overtly opposed to what the newspaper was doing," he said.

Dr Phiri urged Kunda to apologise to the newspaper for misunderstanding its operation.

"He Kunda has to be apologetic. People are apologising now, maybe this is the time to say ‘we misunderstood what The Post stood for, we misunderstood the message of The Post, now that we are in the opposition, we appreciate because we actually have the space ourselves to be covered well'," he said.

Dr Phiri said politicians needed to be consistent in their dealings with the media regardless of their positions in society.

"The lesson to be learnt is that politicians must learn to be consistent in their messages all the times, so that they don't have to do an about-turn when they go out of power or in power. They should continue with the same message. It is good in democracy to be consistent about a certain message continuously," said Dr Phiri.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, ISAAC PHIRI, THE POST, UNZA

posted by MrK @ 5:11 PM