COMMENT - The Murdoch organisation is starting to crack.
UK police arrest Rebekah Brooks in hacking probe
By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press – 2 hours ago
LONDON (AP) — Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie were arrested Tuesday in dawn raids that also netted four other suspects in the spreading phone hacking scandal.
Police said the six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The charge is an indication that investigators may be focusing on a possible coverup of the scope of phone hacking rather than the illegal hacking itself.
It was the most arrests in a single day since "Operation Weeting" — as the police investigation into phone hacking is known — began arresting reporters, senior news executives, police officers and others suspected of criminal acts.
The early morning police swoop brought the scandal to Prime Minister David Cameron's immediate social circle. Cameron said at a press conference earlier this month that Charlie Brooks, Rebekah Brooks' husband who has now been arrested, was a longtime friend.
The two had gone horse riding together, said Cameron, who lives in the Cotswolds town of Chipping Norton where the couple also reside.
"I've known Charlie Brooks, the husband of Rebekah Brooks, for over 30 years and he's a good friend and he's a neighbor in the constituency — we live a few miles apart," Cameron said after questions were raised about the propriety of the prime minister having ridden on a retired police horse that had been loaned to Rebekah Brooks.
The scandal began in 2005 with the revelation that tabloid reporters had broken into the voicemail systems of aides to the royal family in search of inside information. It mushroomed last summer with the revelation that hacking had been widespread at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid, which has since been shut.
Cameron had earlier lost his communications chief Andy Coulson because of questions that were raised about Coulson's role as editor of the News of the World when phones were hacked.
Rebekah Brooks, a one-time protege of Murdoch and also a former News of the World editor, had been arrested and set free on bail previously on charges related to the phone hacking and the corruption of officials.
In many of the earlier arrests suspects had been asked to report to various police stations for questioning, but police seem to have abandoned such lenient tactics as the scope of wrongdoing — and the subsequent coverup — has emerged.
Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers testified last month that the practice of making arrests without warning is an attempt to "secure best evidence and prevent suspects conferring or disposing of evidence."
Police did not reveal the names of the six people arrested Tuesday, but a person who had been briefed on the details said Rebekah and Charlie Brooks were among them.
News International, the British arm of Murdoch's global News Corp. empire, said its head of security, Mark Hanna, was also one of those arrested.
Police said the suspects ranged in age from 38 to 49 and that all but one were released on bail Tuesday evening after questioning. The Brookses are believed to be among those released on bail.
The force said 23 people have been arrested as part of Operation Weeting thus far, with others facing charges as part of a related inquiry into corrupt relations between police and the press.
The embarrassing scandal, which has shown Britain's tabloid press in an extremely unflattering light, led Cameron to create a judge-led inquiry to gather evidence about media wrongdoing with an eye toward cleaning up the system.
The panel, chaired by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, has heard extensive sworn testimony about gross criminal acts committed by tabloid reporters, including descriptions of how reporters hacked into the phone of a missing girl later found murdered.
Celebrities have described extreme media harassment and said they felt stalked and trapped by overzealous, unscrupulous reporters.
The Leveson Inquiry is trying to determine why an initial police investigation into phone hacking in 2006 failed to reveal the scope of the problem.
At the time, Murdoch's executives claimed the wrongdoing was limited to one scurrilous reporter and an unprincipled private detective, both of whom were jailed.
The dormant police investigation was reopened last year after reporters were found to have hacked into the voicemail of a missing schoolgirl who was later found to have been murdered.
Faced with dozens of court cases from aggrieved victims, Murdoch's company has given apologies and cash settlements to many claimants, including actress Sienna Miller, singer Charlotte Church, and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Murdoch has denied wrongdoing even as the scandal has claimed a number of his top lieutenants and led to the resignation last month of his son James Murdoch as chief executive of News International.
In February, Murdoch's Sun newspaper, Britain's best selling title, was hit hard as five senior staffers — including deputy editor Geoff Webster — were arrested as part of the inquiry into the alleged payment of bribes to police and other officials.
Rupert Murdoch had initially stood by Rebekah Brooks, a colorful figure known for her distinctive red hair, in the early days of the hacking imbroglio, but he eventually accepted her resignation shortly before her first arrest last year.
She was arrested in July on "suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications" and also on "suspicion of corruption allegations."
A spokesman for the Brookses did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
The phone hacking problem has also scuttled Murdoch's plans to purchase full control of the British broadcaster BSkyB.
Associated Press writers Raphael Satter and Robert Barr contributed to this report.
Labels: JOURNALISM, PRESS
Read more...
Daily News reporter attacked by Tsvangirai supporters: paper
by Staff Reporter
24/03/2011 00:00:00
A JOURNALIST from The Daily News was on Thursday assaulted by supporters of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai outside his MDC party’s headquarters in Harare, the newspaper said.
Xolisani Ncube was conducting street interviews near a shop selling MDC memorabilia, on the ground floor of the party’s Harvest House HQ, when he was set upon. His attackers stole a brand new digital camera and punched the young reporter in the face, said The Daily News’ news editor Guthrie Munyuki.
The reporter managed to escape but suffered a cut on his lip and his face was swollen, added Munyuki.
“It is the last thing we expect from a respectable party whose supporters have, of late, shown a violent streak synonymous with enemies of democracy and press freedom,” Munyuki said.
“This is worrying and we hope the MDC will look into this and help us recover our stolen camera as well as officially deploring this thuggish behaviour.”
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was reluctant to finger the party’s supporters preferring to say “they could have been some people from Epworth who came to our offices with an aggrieved party member”.
Thursday’s attack is not the first time that the MDC supporters have either assaulted or harassed journalists on official duty.
In 2007, former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reporter in Harare, John Nyashanu, was manhandled by the Prime Minister’s bodyguards as he made his way into the building.
Al Jazeera cameraman, Austin Gundani was in 2008 severely assaulted in Mutare and out-going SABC bureau chief for Zimbabwe, Thulasizwe Simelane was manhandled in Highfield.
Two weeks ago, a freelance journalist Nkosana Dhlamini was almost ejected from a press conference by Chamisa after he asked the Prime Minister a question on his perceived lack of power in the inclusive government. An angry Chamisa charged at Dhlamini and accused him of posing “questions asked by Zanu PF propagandists”.
The Daily News returned on the streets of Zimbabwe after seven years last week with a launch issue, and resumes regular publishing on Friday. The paper was banned in 2003.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, PRESS
Read more...
Security blocks journalists from covering Rupiah
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Tue 29 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT
JOURNALISTS were yesterday blocked by security personnel from covering President Rupiah Banda's arrival at Chipata airport from Mambwe district.
The security officers who were stationed at the junction of the Chipata/Mfuwe and Airport roads turned away all the journalists who wanted to cover the President's arrival from Mambwe district where he is currently spending his holiday. One officer said they were instructed not to allow people to go to the airport.
“You are not the only ones. I think you have seen a Zambia Daily Mail vehicle, Zanis and Honourable Reuben Chisanga's Milanzi member of parliament vehicle. They have all been turned away. So there are no people at the airport. The only people there are those from the security,” the officer said.
Sources later said there were very few people at the aiport when President Banda arrived from Mambwe.
President Banda, who is on holiday in Mfuwe, was expected to commission the new Chipata Trades Training Institute campus and flag off the tarring of the Chipata/Mfuwe road.
President Banda's press aide Dickson Jere said people were not being allowed at the airport because the visit was strictly private.
“If the trip is private why should people go there? If I have come to see my maize, how it has grown, why should people go there?” Jere asked.
And first lady Thandiwe Banda has donated assorted goods to Kakumbi and Masumba clinics in Mambwe district.
Thandiwe, who was accompanied by tourism minister Catherine Namugala, donated drugs, five bags of mealie meal, cooking oil, cases of sugar, exercise books and five mattresses to the clinics.
Thandiwe also donated K1 million to Chikoka Women's Club and Masumba HIV Support Group while Nabwalya Support Group was given K500,000.
Labels: MFUWE, PRESS, RUPIAH BANDA
Read more...
State House’s silence on MMD cadres shocks PFC
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Friday, May 15, 2009 2:20:29 PM
THE Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of The Post has expressed shock over State House's silence over the MMD cadres' arrogance in their quest to silence and intimidate the media.
And NGOCC executive director Engwase Mwale has called on President Rupiah Banda to immediately address the problem of harassment by MMD cadres before it degenerates into serious conflict.
In a statement, the committee noted that government was silent despite Post newspaper managing editor Amos Malupenga's petition to President Banda over the MMD cadres' continued threats and harassment of journalists.
"We have noted with grave concern the continued attacks, threats and harassment of media personnel, particularly those working for The Post newspapers. It is extremely saddening that the links between MMD and the perpetrators of these violent acts indicate the acceptance, and possible complicity, of the ruling party in the violence. More so that the law enforcement agencies have allowed the MMD cadres to perform their illegal acts with impunity," the committee stated.
The PFC condemned in the strongest terms the MMD cadres in Solwezi who on Monday beat up Post vendor Deavan Mwanamwale and tore copies of the newspaper for what they termed as insulting headline on President Banda.
The committee stated that this barbaric act was unacceptable and called on every peace-loving Zambian to condemn the cadres.
The PFC stated that it was very clear that the authorities had failed in their duty to prevent, punish and redress the harm caused by MMD cadres' threats, attacks and harassment.
The committee stated that the ugly scenes of MMD cadres attacking and harassing innocent media personnel had continued unpunished.
"We wish to remind perpetrators of these violence, attacks and harassment that their actions are having a chilling effect on press freedom. The violation of journalists' rights is a direct infringement of the public right to information. These attacks on freedom of expression and the state's failure to address them, affects not only democracy, but also the enjoyment of other human rights for which the state is responsible," the committee stated.
The PFC stated that the MMD cadres' actions were a serious threat to free and open debate, which were critical for the country's continued peace and nurturing of its young democracy.
The committee stated that the public could not exercise its full freedom of expression where impunity prevails and law enforcement agencies were ineffective and unwilling to tackle aggressions against journalists.
"We demand that all acts of violence against journalists and the media end immediately. We ask the police to immediately pursue the MMD cadres for their illegal actions and bring them to book. We further demand for justice to prevail," stated the committee.
And Mwale said it was totally unacceptable for the MMD cadres to take the law in their hands by championing the total disregard of people's rights through their harassment of people.
She expressed concern and disappointment over the blatant infringement of ordinary citizens' rights normally with the full knowledge of the police and government leaders.
Mwale said the law must indeed take its course and bring these perpetrators to book.
She said the peacefulness and indeed the resilience that was exhibited by most ordinary Zambians must not be taken for granted especially in a situation where police refuse to grant permits for peaceful protests.
"Recently NGOCC witnessed a situation where police refused to grant a permit for a peaceful protest march by a coalition of NGOs to register our displeasure on the case of a young school girl that had been sexually abused by her school teacher. Of late we have further witnessed various physical and emotional abuses of journalists and ordinary citizens by MMD cadres for no apparent reason. What is wrong with ordinary citizens exercising their constitutional rights to take part in peaceful expression of their feelings when women and children are being raped and abused in all forms, or when journalists answer to their call of duty to inform the public on national events?" she asked.
Mwale said the MMD, as the ruling party in government must not be allowed to take democracy in their hands and arbitrarily so.
Since the beginning of this year, MMD cadres have waged a physical war on Post reporters. Post photographer Thomas Nsama has twice been physically attacked this year in his bid to cover President Banda.
Copperbelt Post reporters Mutuna Chanda and Abigail Chaponda have also suffered the wrath of MMD cadres.
A fortnight ago, Post journalist George Chellah and photographer Eddie Mwanaleza were physically harassed and chased at Lusaka City Airport where they had gone to cover President Banda's return from a state visit to Zimbabwe.
Labels: CADRES, ENGWASE MWALE, NGOCC, PFC, PRESS, STATE HOUSE
Read more...
It’s a good thing to have a free press – Rupiah
Written by Patson Chilemba in Lusaka and Christopher Miti in Chipata
Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:40:42 AM
IT is a good thing for Zambia to have a free press, President Rupiah Banda said on Tuesday. And Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) vice-president Amos Chanda has asked the government not to U-turn on its new position regarding self-regulation of the media.
During a live special programme on Breeze FM in Chipata on Tuesday evening, President Banda however said the media needed to take into account the fact that they had a responsibility to be fair and to publish the truth all the time.
“My personal view is that there is no need for media regulation but if you have seen what happened in the last election, instead of the media regulating themselves saying we are going too far, we are being personal, we are being rude, we are insulting; they thought they had a field day and that’s why there are people out there who are calling for the regulation of the media because of the behaviour of some of you during the last election,” said President Banda.
“What I personally think is that it’s up to how we behave. If the media behaves itself in the manner it should with due respect in the case of men to women, in the case of women to men, in the case of youths to the older people, in the case of the people to their leaders etcetera, we will have a good community making a good use of the media for the benefit of giving the people the information that they need.
I think it’s a good thing that we should have a free press but like all other freedoms, even in your home you love your children to be free but there is a time when you feel that your child has started using the abusive language that they picked up in the street and you would like to advise them not to do it, so I personally I feel that it’s good to have a free press but I would like to ask the press also to take into account the fact that they have a responsibility to be fair and to publish the truth all the time.”
And commenting on President Banda’s statement, Chanda said the statement was a logical conclusion to the debate on the merits of self-regulation as opposed to statutory regulation.
“I hope it brings to an end this debate on the merits of self-regulation as opposed to the demerits of statutory regulation. In fact, that’s why I was saying this is a definitive conclusion to the debate because it has come from the Head of State. We are appealing to the rest of the government bureaucracy and ministers to stick to this and not to U-turn,” said Chanda. “We were actually surprised that it came from the opposition [UPND].”
And Lusaka lawyer Patrick Matibini said the ideal situation was for the media to regulate itself.
However, Matibini urged the media to observe high professional standards in order to ensure successful self-regulation. He said his understanding of President Banda’s statement was that there were no immediate steps to put in place statutory regulating systems.
“I also undertstand the statement to mean that journalists should put in place a working system of self-regulation,” said Matibini. “The onus of ensuring we have a successful regulating system is on the journalists. One of the primary goals of self-regulation is to put into place a mechanism for addressing grievances between journalists and members of the public.”
Labels: FREEDOM OF SPEECH, PRESS, RUPIAH BANDA
Read more...
Trust and credibility
By Editor
Thursday August 07, 2008 [04:00]
PRESS freedom will always be contested. And when courage for that contest is lacking, press freedom itself is terribly diminished. Voluntary self-regulation, whether as individuals or as a collective, is at the apex of press freedom. It is not for Parliament or legislators or indeed the executive or their agents in the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ) to decide that press freedom is some sort of disease that we must quarantine.
As we have pointed out before, it is crass ignorance of the way laws are enacted and executed for one to think that a legislated media council is a self-regulating body. It is ignorance of the law for one to even insinuate that the Law Association of Zambia is a self-regulating body.
Lawyers in this country are not self-regulated; they are regulated by laws usually initiated by the executive and enacted by Parliament and adjudicated upon by the judiciary. Almost everything that is done by the Law Association of Zambia is a product of the law.
It is also folly for one to think that journalism, as a profession, can be symmetrically compared to professions like law. Press freedom is a right much linked or connected to the freedom of expression to be enjoyed by every citizen.
And like all other rights, its enjoyment doesn't need to be earned by good behaviour or obtaining of some certificate, diploma or degree. Journalism is a profession by occupation and not by any qualification other than that. To regulate that type of profession will be a great injustice to the people of this country.
And this is why we say the greatest danger to press freedom in this country lurks in the insidious encroachment by individuals of zeal, appearing to be well-meaning but without understanding.
Instead of putting additional legal restrictions, like a legislated media council, on journalists, we should be sure to help them handle their responsibilities and give them the freedom to fly.
People believe having freedom of the press is a natural phenomenon. It's not. It's the result of intense care and vigilance.
We are being challenged by members of MECOZ to state why we should fear the law. Probably we understand the law better than most journalists in this country because we have had more encounters with the law than most of them.
No media organisation has been subjected to the trials and tribulations that we have had to endure over the last 17 years.
We have suffered more arrests and criminal prosecutions than any journalist or media organisation in this country at the hands of both the executive and the legislature - and once or so by the judiciary. We have had the misfortune of being the only newspaper in the history of this country with a banned edition - done under the law.
And in these cases we have emerged triumphant. So who can legitimately talk about us fearing the law? Which journalist in this country knows the law as we do?
And with all humility - without being boastful in any way - we are the only newspaper probably in the history of this country whose editor and his deputy are both lawyers, are both advocates.
In life, it's always better to be clear about things.
The unregulated voice isn't as dangerous to the public as the regulated or silenced voice. Again, as Nelson Mandela once advised, "none of our irritations with the perceived inadequacies of the media should ever allow us to suggest even faintly that the independence of the press could be compromised or coerced".
Both freedom of speech and press freedom often provoke public and political controversy, but experience shows us again and again that when freedom is diseased, the only cure is more freedom and not the curtailment of that freedom or its strict regulation.
The government should not have any power whether through its agents in a legislated media council or other to rule the press. Trying to have a legislated media council is a big mistake. And in saying this, we are not exhibiting cowardice or fear of the law. We are merely sounding the warning. If we don't sound the warning, who will?
And in opposing a legislated media council, we are not in any way trying to condone and support irresponsibility or impunity. In any discipline, there are people who pursue it with honour and with decency and there are people who don't.
Using this as pretext to come up with a legislated media council is not right, fair or just. We see journalists as manual workers, the labourers of the word. Journalism can only be of value when it is free from statutory controls under whatever guise, and is passionate.
There is a feeling that the very word 'responsibility' implies wimpiness. One can be a fully 'he-man' journalist responsibly - and we mean that in a gender-encompassing way.
Isn't it up to journalists to wrestle with what is in the public interest, not necessarily what is of interest?
The idea of diversity becomes our strength, sacred to us. The range of broadening, the potential becoming a way and a song. Many have fought this reality. We know the wounds.
To censor in any way is to destroy, or at least to oppose the process of reality. To hear one voice clearly, we must have the right to hear them all.
The essence of a free life is being able to choose the style of living you prefer, free from exclusion and without the compulsion of conformity or law.
And no set of professional ethics is better than your own personal ethics.
A truly free press, that is not subjected to statutory media councils, is to a great people what winds are to oceans and malarial regions, which waft away the elements of diseases, and bring new elements of health. Where free speech is stopped or regulated, miasma is bred, and death comes fast.
We all want to do right and do well. But if you don't do well, you are not going to be in a position to do right.
The freedom of the individual and the rights of conscience will have no place in a society where a small group of people in a legislated media council, protected by the law and supported by the government, espouses a particular view of morality, of what the media should publish or broadcast, one that has no room for deviation from the norm.
We shouldn't forget that news unfolds but is never complete. It is written in haste but not carved in stone. It often wounds but more often it heals.
Our Constitution - even the new one being debated - rebels at the thought of giving government or Parliament the power to control people's minds. When the conspiracy of lies surrounding us demands of us to silence the one word of truth given to us, that word becomes the one word we would wish to utter above all others.
Moreover, a free and independent media that is regulating itself will be more trusted than a media regulated by a statutory body like MECOZ. Trust and credibility are the commodities we trade in.
We say all this in reaction to the remarks made by members of MECOZ on their radio programme yesterday, accusing us of having a misguided notion about the nature of a legislated media council.
We are not cowards. And we have a long track record of fighting for press freedom and other liberties, a record that is recognised globally and for which we have received many international press freedom awards.
We have fought more battles in defence and advancement of press freedom than the combined force of all those who today are championing the creation of a legislated media council. We know the politicians will be on their side in all this.
But this is not the first time most of these elements have sided with politicians against us. And as always, we will be ready to take them on and fight for that which is just, fair and humane.
We may not be able to stop them from having their MECOZ legislated but such a setback will never deter us from struggling with all the tenacity we can marshal against their evil MECOZ Act.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, MECOZ, MEDIA, PRESS, THE POST
Read more...
UK photojournalist hanged self in Zimbabwe hotel
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 08/02/2008 04:33:51
THE family of an Irish photojournalist who hanged himself in Zimbabwe while working undercover for the London Times newspaper has said there will be no need for an enquiry after accepting he took his own life. Richard Mills, an award winning Northern Ireland journalist was said by Zimbabwean authorities to have died of asphyxiation by hanging – an explanation initially rejected by his family. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday that it had also withdrawn a call for an inquiry into Mills’ death in a hotel room on July 14.
“Having had the chance to examine in detail the circumstances surrounding Richard’s death we are now reconciled to the fact that he did indeed take his own life,” a statement released by the family said.
“We acknowledge that the amount of suffering and extreme hardship he witnessed at first hand in many harrowing situations throughout the world proved too much for him to bear.”
The family’s statement forced the IFJ to recoil from a statement issued earlier this week demanding that the South African government puts pressure on Zimbabwean authorities to launch a full investigation.
The IFJ said: “We share the deep suspicion of Richard Mills’ family over the circumstances of the death of this gifted colleague. It casts a fresh shadow over the crisis for democracy in Zimbabwe.”
The IFJ now admits its suspicions were misplaced. IFJ Secretary General Adrian White said the organisation’s call for an enquiry was made in response to a request by the Mills family. The 41-year-old renowned front-line lensman, who had worked on assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan had been due to leave Zimbabwe the day after he died.
A veteran of the Royal Air Force, Mills had been working in Zimbabwe undercover, a situation which made The Times cautious about reporting details of his death. The paper would not even disclose whether Mills had been working with a reporter, although it later emerged his body was found by Catherine Philp, The Times’ Diplomatic Correspondent who was covering the story in Zimbabwe with Mills.
Mills was laid to rest on Tuesday after a funeral service at Roselawn Cemetery in Belfast.
Labels: INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, JOURNALISM, PRESS
Read more...
A shameful undertaking
By Editor
Wednesday July 30, 2008 [04:00]
Those who are thinking of going to government and beg it to regulate the media through a statutory media council should think twice about the real consequences of what they are trying to do. We do appreciate the fact that there are many irritations we may have with our press as a result of its inadequacies. But asking the government to set up a statutory body to regulate the conduct of the press is definitely not the right way to go.
One who takes this route cannot in any way claim to be promoting, advancing or defending press freedom. They are actually enemies of press freedom.
The best advice on this issue comes from no other than Nelson Mandela: “None of our irritations with the perceived inadequacies of the media should ever allow us to suggest even faintly that the independence of the press could be compromised or coerced.”
A press that is subject to a mandatory regulation by a statutory media council is not a free one. It is folly for anyone to think there can be self-regulation under a statutory media council. This is not self-regulation. This is statutory or mandatory regulation.
Self-regulation can only be practiced under a voluntary body or council, not a statutory one. A statutory body is a mandatory one, regulated by those whose duty is to execute the laws. It is also under the control of those who make the laws – the legislators.
And it is naïve and an exhibition of crass ignorance for anyone to think that those regulated under such a statutory body will not be subject to criminal sanctions. A total disregard of the law may at some point attract penal sanctions.
But again this has clearly demonstrated why The Post has consistently refused to be part of the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ). How can we belong to a body that looks at things this way? We cannot belong to a body whose only discernible preoccupation is to limit press freedom in the country under the guise of regulation.
We should realise that the greatest danger to press freedom in this country lurks in the insidious encroachment by men and women of zeal, appearing to be well-meaning but without understanding.
Again, this reminds us of what Mandela once said: “A critical and independent press is the lifeblood of any democracy. A bad free press is preferable to a technically good, subservient one.”
Few would argue that the media always carries out its functions responsibly. Newspaper reporters and television correspondents may aspire to a standard of objectivity, but the news is inevitably filtered through the biases and sensibilities of individuals and the enterprises for which they work.
They can be sensational, superficial, intrusive, inaccurate and inflammatory. The solution is not to devise laws that set some arbitrary definition of responsibility or to license 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.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, a distinguished justice of the United States Supreme Court, said in 1919: “The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.”
A strong, free country and a strong press are inseparable. You cannot have one without the other. No nation ever has, and none will.
What those in MECOZ are trying to do really is suffocate the press under the blankets of the worst pretensions.
What they are forgetting is that press freedom is a constitutional right. And constitutional rights do not have to be earned by conduct.
We hold that the greatest right in the world is the right to be wrong, that in the exercise thereof, people have an inviolable right to express their unbridled thoughts on all topics and personalities, being liable only for the abuse of that right.
The freedom we are campaigning for is one that should protect unpopular and even inaccurate speech. Press freedom is a farce if it means merely the freedom to report pleasant things.
Inaccuracies can be overcome or minimised through training and retraining of our journalists. And institutions dealing with training of journalists in Zambia are mostly under the control of the government. If there is bad journalism, those in charge of training of journalists should try to see how they can improve their programmes.
It is often said that a free press – which often forces us to confront that which we may find unsettling – is the price of democracy. We believe a free press is not costly to society, it is, in fact, a reward of democracy.
The freedom of the press that we are campaigning for is not primarily designed for enjoyment by the media. It is basically for the protection of the public by making the widest possible flow of information a cornerstone of their democracy.
Every man and woman should have an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he or she pleases before the public; to forbid this, is to destroy the freedom of the press.
But if he or she publishes what is improper, mischievous or even illegal, he or she must take the consequences of his or her temerity, of course, appreciating the fact that the right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
It cannot be denied that there have been many complaints about the conduct of our press and some, like MECOZ, have advocated some form of statutory control for the press.
But the mere fact that speech is accompanied by conduct does not mean that the speech should be suppressed under the guise of prohibiting the conduct. But we who so staunchly espouse free press and then seek to edit it must be wary that from today’s decisions might leach tomorrow’s hypocrisy.
Zambian journalists seem to be torn between the pursuit of the truth and their desire of being in good terms with the powerful. The main form of corruption in our journalism today are the many guises of social climbing on the pyramids of power.
And this may explain why some journalists today are seeking to do the job of legislators – drafting laws to regulate the media.
It is not possible for The Post, given its strong tradition of promoting and defending press freedom, to be part of the MECOZ betrayal of press freedom.
What MECOZ is trying to do will earn them a very bad reputation in the world. They will surely be denounced by all press freedom organisations in the world. And we will aid this process by launching a local and international campaign against their intentions to have a legislated media council.
We will go for them individually and collectively because this is what it entails to fight for press freedom. Theirs is truly a discredited and shameful undertaking.
Labels: MECOZ, MEDIA, PRESS, REGULATION
Read more...
IPI urges action against media attacks in Zim
By Mwila Chansa
Saturday June 21, 2008 [04:00]
INTERNATIONAL Press Institute (IPI) members have called on AU and SADC to take a public stand against the Zimbabwean authorities' action on freedom of expression in that country. According to the resolutions made by IPI members after their Annual General Assembly on June 16, 2008 in Belgrade Serbia, the members stated that uninformed and intimidated citizenry could not benefit from free and fair elections.
"IPI members call on President Robert Mugabe to take effective measures to stop the violence and judicial attacks against the media, and to permit fair elections which include unfettered access to information, and the unhindered presence of the international media," the members stated.
They also condemned the surge of attacks on the media in Zimbabwe sparked by disputed election results that had further deteriorated conditions for journalists and threatened the legitimacy of the runoff slated for next week Friday.
The members stated that cosmetic amendments to the 'notorious' Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act had triggered confusion with journalists required to seek accreditation from an agency that was yet to be formed, and electoral coverage requiring two levels of permission, one from a legally defunct entity.
"The country's bureaucratic requirements, long burdensome, have become increasingly inscrutable. As the recent banning of multiple media outlets and prosecutions of journalists, both local and foreign demonstrated, these inconsistencies have not prevented authorities from using legislation to stifle critical coverage," the members stated.
They stated that physical attacks were on the rise and that in the last few months, several freelancers had been brutally beaten.
They added that judicial harassment had also increased and that an editor was prosecuted for allegedly publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and contempt of court after running a column by an opposition politician, and a media lawyer charged with "undermining the authority or insulting the president" for an alleged remark suggesting that President Mugabe should step down.
They added that the State-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation had been particularly hit by the recent clampdown and that the head of the organisation was reported fired for refusing to comply with an order to deny positive coverage to the opposition.
"In a blatant attempt to intimidate, in early June, eight other ZBS employees were placed on two-month-long paid vacation, ordered to surrender their ZBS identity cards, and instructed to stay away from both other employees and ZBS premises," they stated.
And the members expressed concern at the failure by a number of countries to comply with provisions of Article 19.
Article 19 provides that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression and that this right include; freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
They stated that the failure to uphold Article 19 resulted into the media being frequently assailed by punitive and other measures that obstructed the free flow of information.
The Assembly was concerned at the growing number of arrests targeted at journalists and photographers reporting or photographing police's actions at crime scenes or other incidences in South Africa.
"On several occasions in the last year, journalists have been summarily bundled into police vans and imprisoned sometimes for a night. In all circumstances, the alleged crimes they had committed-never clearly spelled out at their time of arrest - have been thrown out of court mainly on grounds that there was no evidence on which to base a prosecution," they stated.
They also raised concerns over the impunity of perpetrators of killings of journalists in Serbia and urged the authorities there to intensify their investigations into such cases.
The members observed that failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks sent dangerous signals, with journalists increasingly seen as easy targets.
They also condemned measures that diluted journalists' right to protect the confidentiality of their sources everywhere, particularly in Europe.
The members stated that they were alarmed at the growing number of missing journalists in Mexico and the continuing failure of the authorities to bring to justice those who perpetrate attacks against members of the country's news media.
They also called on governments to respect journalists' rights to report freely on natural calamities and their aftermaths, permitting them to collect and disseminate information about such events.
The members also strongly condemned the recent bombings of offices of the Bilbao edition of the Spanish daily newspaper, El Correo.
and leading journalists dedicated to the protection of press freedom.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, ELECTIONS, IPI, PRESS, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
God bless the media
By Editor
Sunday May 04, 2008 [04:00]
In life it is very important to be clear about things. And we would like our politicians, especially our parliamentarians and government ministers, to make their decisions on the basis of principles and reason. We don’t want them to be led by emotion and fears. They shouldn’t be manipulated into taking certain positions.
We therefore see no reason for anyone to try and comfort them that the media doesn’t intend to injure. We would like to remind our Minister of Information that we belong to the media and not to the insurance business and he must not think that support for the access to information bill should be a premium which would ensure any politician that they would be untouched by the media.
This seems to be an attempt to make a virtue out our inadequacies. We want our political leaders to make intelligent decisions. And it is the triumph of optimism of will over pessimism of intelligence that has always sustained us.
It doesn’t make sense to try and tie the issue of a press or media council to the enactment of an access to information law. The transgressions of any media or journalist should not be tied to this.
Our Minister of Information says our neighbours in Tanzania have a council which is responsible and if one of the media organisations transgresses, they can go to the council and appeal for regulation.
And the Minister is wondering where he should go if his rights are infringed. He says going to court may take 10 years and in the meantime something has been written about him and he is divorced at home. He asks if he is going to be compensated for being divorced.
Actually, when one critically examines the example our minister has given, one will realise that falsities that have usually led to divorces are not in the media; they lie elsewhere. They are usually found in the unpublished or unbroadcast words.
They are not part of the libel but slander. So if this is his concern, then he should look for a council of some form that will regulate slander since he doesn’t want to spend 10 years in court.
No one should be opposed to self-regulation. It is not possible to practice journalism without one form or another of self-regulation. Every journalist and every media house regulates itself in one form or another. Self-regulation does not necessarily mean belonging to a media council of some form.
We have adequate defamation laws in this country and we will not run away from them by creating all sorts of kangaroo courts and trying to force citizens to join such syndicates. If our court processes take too long to complete, it is the duty of our legislators and those in government to ensure that these processes are shortened by providing our judiciary with necessary capacity – financial and otherwise.
And it is not only politicians who are affected by libel. Even us journalists sometimes have our reputations injured by fellow journalists and their media organisations. The editors of this newspaper have had litigation against the Daily Mail, the Weekly Angel, Today, among others, and won.
The cases have taken long but they were eventually closed and judgment passed. No one should injure the reputation of others with impunity.
If we publish anything legally offensive against anyone, they have every right to seek redress in our courts of law. Just the same way if one is slandered by another citizen, they have every right to sue for slander. Usually there are no shortcuts to justice.
We have no problems with a media council as long as it is a voluntary one. And being voluntary means that we have a choice either to join it or to stay away from it. This choice must be respected otherwise the whole thing becomes mandatory.
And as we have stated before, one cannot in one breath advocate for a non-mandatory media council and at the same time try to force everyone to take up membership in it. Again, there is need to be clear about things.
In any given discipline, there are people who pursue it with honour and with decency and there are people who don’t.
To say that the media are terrible is not quite accurate or fair.
To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity, over error and oppression.
The press should be considered not as the fourth branch of the government but as an essential counterweight to the government, the basic check against abuse of official power.
Both freedom of speech and press freedom often provoke public and political controversy, but experience shows again and again that when freedom is diseased, the only cure is more freedom.
A newspaper should tell the truth as only intellectual honesty can discern the truth. It should do what is in conscience needful and right.
No one should be able to pull the curtains of secrecy around decisions which can be revealed without injury. And we will never forget what President Levy Mwanawasa had to say on this in 2002.
When we obtained the Zamtrop Account through a court order following an application we had made in court, we asked our lawyers to go and see President Mwanawasa and find out from him if there was anything in these accounts whose exposure would jeopardise national security so that we could avoid doing so.
The President’s response was simply that there’s nothing of national security in theft, theft could not be hidden behind national security and we should use the accounts as we deem fit. This was our President’s response. Who can disagree with this? Why can’t we use it as a benchmark when looking at our access to information bill?
The truth is, if you don’t like what you are seeing in the news, you probably don’t like what is going on in society right now. If we don’t mirror our communities as they exist, then we may not have thriving and growing newspapers.
People believe that having freedom of expression is a natural phenomenon. It’s not. It is a result of intense care and vigilance.
The unregulated voice, the unregulated media isn’t as dangerous to the public as is the silenced voice.
We all want to do right and do well. But if you don’t do well, you are not going to be in a position to do right.
In our popular discussions, unwise ideas must have a hearing as well as wise ones, dangerous ideas as well as safe, unZambian as well as Zambian.
The need to protect what we detest is the reason freedom of the mind both exists and remains under siege.
Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.
The things we are seeking are about freedom and tolerance – to believe, speak, publish, congregate and lobby as you see fit, while allowing others to do likewise, even people whose expressions you find abhorrent.
It may not be pleasant to see the truth, but we can assure you that the alternative is virtual slavery.
It seems that some government officials never learn that the cover-up can be worse than the underlying conduct.
In every country, press freedom boils down to a three-way deal between state power and popular instinct and the media’s muscle. The freedoms we are seeking are not so that we can freely praise and comfort our public officials. We are seeking them so that we can freely criticise our public officials.
A free press is not necessarily an angelic press. Therefore, tolerance for a free press is the touchstone for a democratic society. We say this because speech is the mark of humanity.
Standing up for what is right isn’t always popular.
The press has a responsibility not only to report the truth, but to do so with a sense of accountability and decorum. Freedom of speech is not about good speech versus bad; it is about who holds the power to decide which is which.
To us, it’s clear that only a strong and secure democracy can guarantee the fullest and more free exchange of ideas, no matter how much those ideas hurt or incite. You cannot have a democracy and you cannot have a community if you do not have a way to share ideas.
And the right to express yourself is not something that is inherently part of being a journalist; it’s part of being a human being.
And we don’t think it’s fair to blame press freedom or access to information when someone makes a fool of himself in public.
As a newspaper, we have to stand up for what is right and not worry about what is politically feasible. And surely, the glory of journalism is its transience.
We think the great thing about the freedoms we are talking about is that they extend to everyone, the wise and the foolish.
For this reason, the best we can say is simply to ask God to bless the media.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, MEDIA, MIKE MULONGOTI, PRESS
Read more...
Don't be arrogant in your push for reforms, Mulongoti urges media
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sunday May 04, 2008 [04:00]
INFORMATION minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday urged the media not to be arrogant and confrontational in the manner they were pushing for law reforms. But Press Freedom Committee of The Post chairperson Chansa Kabwela said The Post will not beg for the enactment of freedom of information laws.
During the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) which fell yesterday under the theme 'Freedom of the Press, Access to Information and Empowerment of People', Mulongoti said the confrontation by the media was not necessary because what was needed was dialogue.
Mulongoti accused the media of pushing an open door.
"I don't know why people are busy pushing an open door, you might falland break your bones. It is not necessary. I have spent this time going round seeking information on the benefits. I have gone round trying to learn from the best experiences that others have had over this piece of legislation," he said. "What I need to be comforted with is that we are moving together.
I have spent time studying this piece of legislation and I have looked at the British one and I have the question 'is this all there is to this law' and I was told 'yes' that was all there was to the law. I find that piece of legislation very comforting."
Mulongoti said at no time had the government said the freedom of information bill was for the press alone.
"Like our neighbours in Tanzania, they have a council which is responsible and if one of the media organisations transgresses, they can go to the council and appeal for regulation and that's all we say," he said.
"All we are saying is if I am abused, if my rights have been infringed, where do I go? Going to court may take me 10 years. In the meantime you have written about me having done something and I am divorced at home. Are you going to compensate me for being divorced?"
Mulongoti said people only wanted some consideration and that if one asks for an apology, it should be given.
"Apologise and my wife will reconsider that and we will reconcile. But if I am in court for 10 years, what is going to happen to me? All we are saying regulate yourselves; no one is imposing legislation on you," he said.
Mulongoti said the government only wanted media organisations to report responsibly.
"I have to go to Parliament to convince the other legislatures that it is a good piece but they have also had experiences. I heard Mr Chanda (Press Association of Zambia vice president Amos) the other day saying 'don't fear', surely once bitten, twice shy.
You expect those legislatures not to be scared if you reported something that had injured them? Comfort them that you don't intend to injure them. Comfort them not by insisting that you must put this piece of legislation whether you like it or not. That is not dialogue. We must move together," he said.
Mulongoti said if there were issues that the media organisations were not agreeable to, they should dialogue.
He warned that the beneficiaries of the information, the public, could take the law into their own hands when they get hurt if parties involved do not act together.
"We must provide remedies for each other. In this country we have got situations where we need to consult each other. Consensus does not mean agreeing on everything, consensus means we have been consulting each other. Sometimes you agree and disagree," he said.
Mulongoti said he had been accessible to everybody in the past one year he had worked in the information ministry.
Mulongoti also accused Post columnist Laura Miti-Banda of lacking humility.
"Last week when I was leaving somebody sent me a text that ‘have you talked to Laura Miti because she lacks humility.’ I have got that text in my cell phone.
She lacks humility, those of you who have read her articles, she writes so many things, as if those she is writing about are her age mates. But I believe I’m older than her and some of the things she writes about us, all us, is like our socialisation is meaningless," he said.
Mulongoti said people should have courtesy when they write about each other.
"We have no cause to write to her and say Dear Madame, eeh...you know in life there are people called termagants, they take advantage of freedoms to abuse others because by nature they are termagants. If you don't know that word, check it up," he said.
He said there was need to protect people from injury.
"There are others who suffer in pain quietly and silently and when they die, you can't say that you sat in the way of legislation, legislation empowered to abuse me more? The issue here is not the question of quarrelling, we are trying to put in laws that help," he said.
Mulongoti wondered whether journalists had taken time to read the freedom of information bill in Zambia as well as that of other countries.
"They were telling me that in England that in fact now the people asking for the law are not journalists because they read and found that what they thought, they had difficulties. So colleagues in the press, don't take it as if it is a fight, fight with who? I have given you an example, my office and phone is open to you, what more do you want? Are you not getting access and freedom of information from me?" he asked.
Mulongoti said he had agreed to have a workshop where he could meet with media organisations and sort out the issues.
"It's not me to comfort myself but to comfort other colleagues because they have fears and I must ensure that those fears must be put to rest. And we will not put those fears to rest as long as you intimidate me and insist ‘unless you give us this piece of legislation... we will...’ You don't do that, it's a process of legislation and negotiation," he said.
"And those of you fighting with yourselves, come on board, you are all part of the process.
As your minister, I can assure you I also want freedom of information but I am also mindful of the fact that because human beings are different, people are different. If you give them too much freedom, I don't know what they will do with that freedom."
He said there were people who wrote comforting things about others and people who made him feel like vomiting.
"Because we acknowledge that people are different we can't stop them but we want to implore them to consider that within our society we have respect for each other, we have customs," he said.
"Let us move the process together, we won't move if you insist and intimidate those who say they have another divergent view, consider those views as one opinion, Parliament, civil society, the church, government all have pieces of opinions that must be harmonized. Comfort me that what I am doing is right.
Don't insist from an arrogant position. Insist from a position you have a correct argument because you are making those people dig in and once they dig in, it becomes difficult."
He said media organisations would not have an ally in him if they insisted on positions that could not offer an opportunity for compromise.
"That is not right, democracy is about viewpoints. Respect other views. Help me but don't guide me with a stick. It's like a dog; if you can't call it with a stick it will not come," he said.
But Kabwela said enacting access to information laws was not a favour to the media, let alone The Post.
She said if this was the case then The Post would not ask for it because they were not in the business of seeking favours.
"We have never been favour seekers. We don't trade in favours. And it should not be a reward to us for doing certain things or behaving in a certain manner," she said
Kabwela said some politicians had even suggested that they would only support the access to information bill if the Post joined the Media Ethics Council of Zambia (MECOZ).
She said this would not happen.
"Certainly not for this reason. Membership to MECOZ is voluntary. And voluntary means voluntary; it does not mean mandatory. If they want it to be mandatory let them go ahead and make it so by legislating. However, this will be undesirable.
But if it is their wish, let it be. We are much better placed to deal with laws and courts. We have seventeen years of experience in this area. And we have demonstrated great and increasing capacity in defending ourselves and our rights in the courts of law," she said.
Kabwela said The Post would never seek favours from anyone over these issues because these matters were for the people of Zambia.
She said freedom of information and access to information laws were aimed at benefiting the people of Zambia.
However, Kabwela said The Post would always be willing to share knowledge and experience over these issues with the politicians and anyone else.
"For us, we have demonstrated that we know how to get the information we need. If we didn't, Mr Chiluba and his friends wouldn't be facing corruption charges in our courts of law today. So if you erroneously think that enacting access to information laws is a favour to The Post, please don't do it," she said.
"But the truth is, out of ignorance, you will only be doing yourselves a dis-favour; you will only be harming your own interests. And don't hold us, or the media in general, for the harm you will cause to yourselves."
Kabwela said a free press was non negotiable.
"Don't complain that the media is not informing you adequately. In short, what I am saying is that The Post will not beg for the enactment of these laws; it will not be coerced or blackmailed into joining MECOZ. It will only join MECOZ if it becomes a mandatory requirement," said Kabwela.
Women for Change (WfC) assistant programme officer for information and advocacy Mwaba Simfunkwe said as Zambians commemorated WPFD this year, they should not forget that rural communities were also part of Zambia and that they needed to know how they were being governed.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on societies to spare no effort in bringing to justice the perpetrators of attacks on journalist.
MISA Zambia chairperson Henry Kabwe said Zimbabwe was the lead country in the southern African region in terms of violations against journalists.
Kabwe said in the course of last year, MISA issued 181 alerts on violence against journalists and Zimbabwe had the highest at 57.
Kabwe also said linking freedom of information to media ethics was wrong.
Press Association of Zambia president Andrew Sakala urged members of parliament to support the bill once it is taken to Parliament.
World Press Freedom Day Organising Committee Chairperson Amos Chanda said the Bill was not meant for the media but for Zambians.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, MIKE MULONGOTI, PRESS
Read more...
Celebrating May 3 with unchanging demands
By Editor
Saturday May 03, 2008 [04:00]
WE celebrate this year's World Press Freedom Day with more or less the same agenda, problems and challenges as those of last year. And top on our agenda is the access to information Bill. As we celebrate this year's World Press Freedom Day, we call on all our politicians, especially our parliamentarians, to reflect and meditate deeply over the issue of access to information. We urge them to explore how media freedom and access to information feed into the wider development objective of empowering the people.
There is need for us citizens and our political leaders to realise that empowerment is a multi-dimensional social and political process that helps us gain control over our own lives. And this can only be achieved through access to accurate, fair and unbiased information, representing a plurality of opinions, and the means to actively communicate vertically and horizontally, thereby participating in the active life of our nation, of our communities.
But this will not come by itself. We have to work for it, we have to make it happen. It will require us, as a nation, to create the necessary environment under which it can be realised. In order to make it a reality, a legal and regulatory environment must exist that allows for an open and pluralistic media sector to emerge; political will to support the sector and rule of law to protect it must also exist, and there must be law ensuring access to information, especially information in the public domain.
We know that our politicians, especially our parliamentarians and those in government, have been very uncomfortable with issues concerning access to information and increased media freedoms and rights.
They look at the media as protagonists who should not be made more powerful than they already are. They seem to feel that enacting access to information legislation will make the media stronger at the expense of those who govern, those in politics.
They have every right to fear the media, to be uncomfortable with it and less trusting of it given the way our media has performed. It cannot be denied that the media has not performed to the high standards expected of it. Of course there are reasons for this poor performance which don't need too much disquisition.
But whatever our irritations, our fears, our discomfort with the media, we should never use that to stifle media freedom and deny our people access to information. The cure for all these deficiencies with our media is to give them more and more access to information; and not to limit it. Limiting access to information will only worsen the situation.
Moreover, access to information is not for the media alone - it is for every citizen, including politicans themselves.
And news consumers must have the necessary media literacy skills to critically analyse and synthesise the information they receive to use it in their daily lives and to hold the media accountable for its actions.
The elements, along with the media professionals adhering to the highest ethical and professional standards designed by themselves as practitioners, serve as fundamental infrastructure on which freedom of expression can prevail. On this basis media serves as a watchdog, civil society engages with authorities and decision-makers, and information flows through the nation and between communities.
The media can fulfil a watchdog role by reporting on the activities of government, civil society and the private sector. A plurality of media outlets is key for this to occur because of the breadth of material to report on and to ensure that different opinions are heard. The media enables citizens to be informed and to participate in their society which generates real empowerment. And accurate, fair and unbiased reporting is the best defence against ignorance and uninformed decision making.
In all facets of national and community life, the media plays a central role as the conduit for information and potentially a catalyst for activism and change. For example, development issues can have a polarising effect on a community, encompassing a debate that can stretch from economic benefits to environmental impacts to overall quality of life concerns.
Through media, a non-threatening informed debate can ensue that is able to yield positive outcomes for all stakeholders. In these instances, media can ensure the voice in a community is counted as much as the financial interests of investors in any one particular project.
It becomes increasingly evident that the responsibility of accurate, fair and unbiased reporting is critical to the media's relevance and respectability in a society and to the community's ability to fulfil its role in a democracy. Without the informed participation of its citizenry, a democracy is sure to crumble. If those in power are manipulating journalists, the media become a propaganda tool for plunging the society into ignorance, indifference and despair.
But we must realise that the fuel that drives this engine, that moves all this, is information and, therefore, access to information is very critical. Freedom of information laws, which permit access to public information are essential, but so are the means by which information is made available.
Open and pluralistic media are, perhaps, most precious when they simply provide the mirror for society to see itself. These moments of reflection are instrumental in defining national and community objectives, making course corrections when the nation or the community or its leaders have lost touch with each other or gone astray.
It is clear that the communications media are powerful and far-reaching instruments for promoting awareness and consciousness. They should therefore be accorded new importance in our nation and communities. It would be difficult for us to find a more effective tool for educating, mobilising, organising and agitating the masses of our people. If we do not use these media, it is doubtful that our voice will be heard at all.
The statistics indicating the average amount of time Zambians are devoting to listening to various radio stations, watching television, reading newspapers and other publications each week leave no doubt as to their importance.
They will be of decisive importance in inculcating human values and in promoting new types of organisational and living styles that will help to create the new order we seek. For this reason, it is important that we give the media and all our people maximum freedom and adequate access to information so that they can meaningfully participate in the affairs of their country and their communities.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, PRESS
Read more...
Don't fear the press, KK urges govt
By Mwila Chansa, Speedwell Mupuchi,Abigail Chaponda and Bright
Saturday May 03, 2008 [04:00]
DR Kenneth Kaunda has called on governments and organisations not to fear press freedom. And United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) director-general Koïchiro Matsuura has said acts of intimidation and violence against journalists were morally unacceptable. In his World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) message that falls today under the theme "Freedom of the Press, Access to Information and Empowerment of People", Dr Kaunda said governments and other organisations should be ready to see that the truth be told about them“The world of the press is an extremely important aspect of human development. It is a key to development,” Dr Kaunda said.
He said it was society’s desire that the press told them what was happening around them in a transparent, sincere and truthful manner. Dr Kaunda said press freedom was important not only for journalists but the government and society at large.
And Matsuura said freedom of expression was a fundamental human right recognised in Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, whose 60th anniversary was being celebrated this year.
He paid tribute to the courage and professionalism of the many journalists and media professionals killed and wounded while carrying out their professional activities. He noted that alongside the dangers of conflict areas and war zones, journalists often faced threats, intimidation and actual violence as a direct result of their work.
“These acts are unconscionable, not only because they violate the human rights of individuals, but also because they impede the free flow of accurate and reliable information which underpins good governance and democracy. Too often these crimes are not adequately punished,” he said.
Matsuura stated that press freedom and access to information fed into the wider development objective of empowering people by giving them the information that could help them gain control over their own lives.
“This empowerment supports participatory democracy by giving citizens the capacity to engage in public debate and to hold governments and others accountable. But this flow of communication does not happen automatically.
It has to be fostered by a free, pluralistic, independent and professional media, and through national policies founded on four key principles at the heart of UNESCO’s work: freedom of expression, quality education for all, universal access to information and knowledge, and respect for linguistic diversity,” he stated.
“Without strong policies to foster linguistic diversity in all aspects of a nation’s life - in schools, administration, law and in the media - we risk denying hundreds of thousands of people around the world of the basic right to engage in public life and debate.”
Matsuura noted that freedom of information, and online information alone did not guarantee access. He stated that people also needed the internet connectivity and IT resources to use that information, for example to access national or international news or to provide a plurality of media options, including community radio.
He said as people celebrate World Press Freedom Day today, they should remember the journalists who had put themselves at risks in order to provide the public with accurate and independent information.
Matsuura also advised people to remember that press freedom and freedom of information were the founding principles for good governance, development and peace.
And UPND Namwala member of parliament Major Robbie Chizhyuka challenged the media to exhibit enough traits of self-regulation.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting ahead of World Press Freedom Day at Mulungushi International Conference Centre yesterday, Maj Chizhyuka said there was need for the media to unite to deal with ethical issues that arose under a single ethical body.
He urged the media to continue lobbying, negotiating and convincing the lawmakers on the need to implement the access to information law.
Maj Chizyuka said the media should organise itself and demonstrate a strong ethical capacity that it could deal with intricacies that arose in the course of their duty.
He said the issue of the media belonging to one single ethical body was frequently raised by members of the public and it could not be ignored.
Maj Chizhyuka said there was need for partnership among the public, private media and parliamentarians to iron out contentious issues that surrounded the implementation of the access to information law.
And Post managing editor Amos Malupenga said it was unfortunate that the process of implementing the access to information law was being delayed due to personal interests by some lawmakers.
Malupenga, contributing to the debate on the need for access to information law, called for objectivity among parliamentarians as they formulated laws meant to govern the public. He said it was sad that there seemed to be a tug of war between the members of parliament and the media.
Malupenga observed that it was sad that some mistakes of the media were being generalised. He said, for example, some mistakes by The Post were not expected to let other media suffer because the existence of the media was not dependent on a single entity or individual.
He said The Post makes its own mistakes just like other media institutions.
“And we are just as concerned as members of the public about the need for professionalism in our work, so this matter cannot be overemphasised,” Malupenga said. “For that reason, there is a lot that we do publicly and privately to uphold our professionalism.”
Malupenga also said The Post supported in principle the objectives of Media Ethics Council of Zambia (MECOZ) but did not belong to this voluntary self-regulatory body.
“We have our own reasons which we can explain to those who would want to know why we don’t belong to MECOZ,” Malupenga said.
“Be that as it may, we still have some common grounds with MECOZ and we cooperate with them, together with other media bodies. But the bottom line is that membership is voluntary. And we believe that this country has sufficient laws to ensure that we operate professionally.”
Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) president Andrew Sakala said the media had shown considerable improvement in terms of self-regulation over the years. He said members of parliament should not formulate laws based on their personal experiences with some media institutions.
And in an interview, Mission Press director Fr Miha Drevensek observed that the public media had been hijacked and strangled. He said many journalists in the public media had uncovered a lot of anomalies in the government and even wrote about them but the information did not see the light of day because it was suffocated.
“Government is afraid of press freedom. Public media has been hijacked by the party in power and therefore strangled to a point of ‘slaveryish’ one-sided reporting,” Fr. Miha said.
He said if journalists in the public media attempted to write anything against the government, they could lose their employment.
“Government fears the truth to be known about what is happening in government. That is why they don’t want press freedom,” he said.
“Press freedom is somehow on the middle of the road. There are areas that are spoken about freely while those that tackle real life of national development cannot be talked about because government is in charge. I say there is still a long way to go.”
Fr Miha also called for the training of journalists in investigative and analytical reporting in order to enhance press freedom.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, PRESS
Read more...
Cops assault, detain Times reporter
By Times reporter
TIMES of Zambia senior reporter, Kaiko Namusa, was on Tuesday assaulted and detained for over an hour at Chipata Central police station for taking pictures of police officers who were manhandling a cyclist for allegedly breaking traffic rules. Mr Namusa, who is in Eastern Province accompanying Programme Against Malnutrition (PAM), said he was caught up in the fracas after being noticed to have taken photos of them beating a cyclist.
Mr Namusa said the officers, after beating him, grabbed his camera and demanded that the pictures be deleted, saying that if published they would tarnish their public image. They ordered him to accompany them to the police station alongside the cyclist who was also beaten up. While at the police station, he was told to sit on the floor along with other suspects amidst officers saying it was wrong for him to take photos in their town. He said when he demanded for the camera, the officers got annoyed and sought permission from the superiors to have him locked up.
One of their supervisors agreed that he be locked up for conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and only be released once his supervisors from Lusaka travelled to Chipata. At this point, PAM officials, who included Food Security Pack (FSP) national coordinator, Edward Zulu, and Bernadette Ngulube explained that the photos were taken in public interest but the officers dismissed them, warning that they should stay out of the issue. Mr Namusa was only released when one of the officers managed to delete the pictures from the camera.
Later, Eastern Province police commanding officer, Emlyn Mushondwa, apologised for his officers’ violent conduct. The matter has since been reported to the office of the Inspector General of Police for further action.
When contacted for a comment, police spokesperson, Bonny Kapeso, condemned the beating of the reporter, saying police officers should respect the work the media carried out. Mr Kapeso wondered how a journalist with just a notebook and a pen could pose a danger to the peace of the police officers. He said time and again Police Inspector General Ephraim Mateyo, had called on the police officers to respect the rights of the media but that it was sad that a few were still ignoring this call. “I will ask for a report from Eastern Province to establish exactly what happened and then take appropriate action,” he said. Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) condemned the beating and detention of Mr Namusa and demanded for disciplinary action against the officers.
“This is another example of police brutality against journalists and we demand that the Police Command take appropriate action against the culprits,” said PAZA president, Andrew Sakala.
Labels: EASTERN PROVINCE, JOURNALISM, POLICE BRUTALITY, PRESS
Read more...
Don't close them make them better
By Editor
Thursday April 17, 2008 [04:00]
We think it is part of the democratic process that our members of parliament and other politicians can take vigorous issue with the media when they regard it as appropriate without that in any way implying a right on their part to infringe on the freedom of the media. But it is frightening for a member of parliament to suggest that if he had a way he would close down all community radio stations because they have massacred the profession of broadcasting in Zambia and their output left much to be desired.
But as Nelson Mandela once observed, “none of our irritations with the perceived inadequacies of the media should ever allow us to even suggest faintly that the independence of the press could be compromised or coerced”.
No one can deny that there are a lot of deficiencies with our media, especially our community radio stations. And it is equally true that community radio producers and presenters have little knowledge about their work. But what is the cure for this lack of knowledge about their work? It is certainly not to close them.
Little knowledge about anything is only cured by providing more knowledge, more information – it is cured by training. The broadcasters in our community radio stations lack the necessary broadcasting training and in some cases don’t have sufficient levels of education.
And the question is: who is supposed to train them and equip them with the necessary skills required for them to do their job efficiently? Everyone has got a role to play in the training of our community radio broadcasters. But is everyone playing their role?
Not all are playing their role. Our members of parliament and other politicians have done very little, if not nothing, to help raise the broadcasting standards of our community radio stations by helping to mobilize resources for their training.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that most of our community radio stations run on shoestring budgets. This means they are not capable of employing and retaining journalists with college or university education or training.
This leaves untrained people, with limited educational levels to run our community radio stations. And a person can only give what they have, no more. If a little education is all they have, that is what we should expect them to give in their work.
So far the training of community radio station broadcasters had been left primarily to MISA Zambia, and in some respects to the Press Freedom Committee of The Post.
We would like to see more and more of our members of parliament and other politicians join in mobilising resources for the training of staff in our community radio stations.
We shouldn’t also lose sight of the fact that none of our community radio stations is making enough money to be able to hire broadcasters of the Mwansa Kapeya calibre and experience.
They have very limited resources; theirs are not profitable undertakings – at least for now. They depend on subsidies from well-wishers and other sponsors. And this is not strange in a country where the great majority of the media survives on subsidies and handouts of one form or another.
If we have problems in terms of quality of work and other professional aspects with the established national media, what more with small, fragile, extremely under-resourced community radio stations?
It is good to recognise and acknowledge the deficiencies and inadequacies of our community radio stations but things should not end here.
Those who are critical of the situation, those who are not happy with the operations of our community radio stations should go further and find ways of overcoming these problems. Our members of parliament can do more for our community radio stations than just to simply harangue them.
They seem to be more concerned with the criticisms and other bashings against them that emanate from these community radio stations than with the help they can render them to improve their standards.
Yes, there are some members of parliament like Honourable Kapeya who know something about broadcasting but the majority know nothing. It would be good if Honourable Kapeya used a bit of his time – if a bit is all he has - to help train some of our community radio broadcasters than wishing he had powers to close them.
What would it profit him or the nation to close all our community radio stations because of their deficiencies or inadequacies? We don’t think this would be the best way to deal with this serious problem. Such type of annihilism is not going to benefit anyone. Let’s give our community radio stations a chance – and the support they need – to develop.
It takes time to acquire certain skills and the necessary experience. Our community radio stations are very young; they are a very recent addition to our media. Even for us, The Post, if the Zambian people were not very patient with us, we wouldn’t have developed to this level today; we would have been closed soon after we had launched.
But now with more and more training, exposure and experience, we can handle many issues competently although we still have a lot to learn. Even in Honourable Kapeya’s time at ZNBC, he can’t claim that all that he did there was perfect. Although he was a good broadcaster, there were still many deficiencies and inadequacies in his work which he needed to overcome. The quest for self-perfection never ends.
We can’t wait until we have very competent people with many years of experience for us to start community radio stations. We have to start with what we have and continue to improve on that.
As for the issue of members of parliament joining the boards of community radio stations, there is generally nothing wrong with that as a matter of principle.
However, there are dangers that may arise depending on the motives of such politicians being part of the boards of community radio stations. If their intentions are to influence things in such a way that they get the maximum and most favourable coverage, then there is a serious problem and their membership of such boards may not be desirable.
But this is not something that should be legislated. Each community radio station should be organised in a manner best suited to it and for it to achieve its most legitimate objectives.
If all this sounds too abstract, let us then say it in simpler terms.
We would hope that our community radio stations – like all our other media - develop greater professional integrity and responsibility, be critical guardians of democracy and freedom in the communities they serve, but they must respect their audiences, the targets of their criticism and broadcasts, but above all else their own integrity as social institutions.
How the forces of democratic governance and the media interact is the challenge we face and have to work through as a continuing and dynamic process in our efforts to advance democracy in our country. There is an old saying that freedom and order are constantly in tension with one another in society. Order without freedom leads to totalitarianism.
Freedom without order leads to anarchy. It is also said that societies recover quicker and more healthily from too much freedom than they do from totalitarianism. Mandela once said: “A bad free press is preferable to a technically good subservient press.”
Therefore, the role of community radio stations in sustaining the democratic efforts in our country should be well understood, appreciated, tolerated and supported by all our members of parliament and other politicians, and indeed by all our people.
Labels: FREEDOM OF SPEECH, PRESS
Read more...
'Free press most effective in controlling corruption'
By Nomusa Michelo
Sunday September 16, 2007 [04:00]
A FREE press is probably the most effective institution to control collusive corruption, University of Zambia head of Mass Communication department Ken Makungu has said. Speaking on Friday night during the "Integrity in public life discussion forum" organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) titled: “The role of the media In Promoting Good Governance vis-a-vis the fight against corruption”, Makungu said with a free press, independent journalists had the incentive to actively investigate any wrongdoing.
“Other bodies such as the judiciary or even watchdogs such as the Anti-Corruption Commission may be less effective, unless their internal incentive structures are closely aligned with the goal of discovering and prosecuting corruption,” he said.
Makungu also said if the press was free and competitive, it may not be possible to buy some journalists but this would only increase the incentive for other journalists to detect such arrangements and publicise them.
“The more involved a corrupt arrangement, the more fame an investigative journalist can earn by uncovering it,” he said.
And Press Freedom Association of Zambia vice-president Amos Chanda said the press’ role as a watchdog to those entrusted with public trust was crucial.
“Those entrusted with public duty do not always abide by the decency of public trust. When they veer off, the role of the media is to provide checks and balances,” he said. “The temptation to abuse public trust which results in bad governance will come from intoxication of power, greed, some people who simply like populism who want to sustain a populism culture.”
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia vice chairperson Zarina Geloo said the media, like any other industry, tends to have biases.
Geloo said some media houses reflected their preferences for certain politicians or personalities in articles of positive writing.
“Unfortunately, this trend has morphed from just media bias to media corruption,” she said.
“Where media bias is a breach of fundamental journalistic standards that could lead to loss of public trust, media corruption uses criminal devices to manipulate or defraud the public and destroys our societal moral fabric.”
Geloo said in time the media could cease to be a reliable tool for information but could become a powerful tool for fraud and manipulation.
ACC director of prevention and education Kayobo Ngandu said the ACC is drawing up an anti-corruption policy, which has reached advanced stages.
Labels: ACC, PRESS
Read more...
PAZA condemns killing of Russian journalist
By Patson Chilemba
Friday March 09, 2007 [02:00]
PRESS Association of Zambia (PAZA) vice-president Amos Chanda has condemned the mysterious death of a Russian journalist Ivan Safronov who died last week. Commenting on the death of Safronov who reported on military affairs and mysteriously plunged to his death from the fifth floor of his apartment building last week, Chanda said Russia was a major global power that should paint a positive image regarding the promotion and protection of media freedoms.
"Russia is a global power playing a major role in the global balance of power and therefore they have a huge responsibility on the protection and promotion of media freedoms," he said.
Chanda said it sent a chilling effect to the rest of the world whenever a journalist was murdered or media freedoms were contravened, especially in powerful countries like Russia.
"It can give an example to other countries that that's how things should be," he said.
Chanda said serious investigations should be launched and bring to book the culprits in Safronov's death.
Last week, Safronov, a respected Russian journalist, died mysteriously - making him the 14th journalist to die under questionable circumstances in Putin's Russia - according to statistics compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
More than 1,000 journalists and their support staff have died in the past decade, with Iraq and Russia topping the list as the deadliest countries for the profession, according to an Associated Press report released on Tuesday.
The report came as detectives investigated the suspicious death of Safronov, a military correspondent for Russia's top business daily - Kommersant - who died last Friday after falling out of a window in the stairway of his Moscow apartment building. Colleagues suspect foul play.
Russia was singled out in the report as a country with a growing list of slain journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot and killed outside her apartment last October while investigating abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya.
The October 2006 report by a France-based non-governmental organisation, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Russia as 147th on a list of 168 countries in terms of protecting journalists and media expression.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=23589
End violence, intimidation against journalists
By Editor
Friday March 09, 2007 [02:00]
Last Friday, another Russian journalist met his death in what has generally been described as mysterious circumstances.
Ivan Safronov, a 51-year-old defence correspondent for the newspaper Kommersant, was found dead on Friday. He apparently fell from a fifth-floor window and his body was found outside his flat.
Safronov was a former colonel in the Russian Space Forces, who wrote about military and space issues for Kommersant. Most recently, he had written about changes in the defence leadership and problems in military training that had led to the deaths of young soldiers. He also wrote about defence technology and military testing failures that often went unacknowledged and unreported by the army.
Last December, and to the dismay of Russian authorities, Safronov wrote about the third consecutive launch failure of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile. It has been reported in the media that since he started working for Kommersant in 1997, Safronov had been questioned a number of times by the Federal Security Services (FSB) on suspicion of publishing state secrets but was never charged.
But what is more depressing is that the death of Safronov comes a few months after the death of another journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who lost her life in what appeared to have been a contract murder. The killing of Anna at her Moscow home on 7 October, 2006 sparked international protests from governments, the European Union and other non-governmental organisations.
Before her death, the courageous and world-renowned journalist had worked for the paper Novaya Gazeta, and for many years had campaigned against the war in Chechnya and corruption and shrinking freedoms throughout the Russian Federation.
It is becoming very clear that something needs to be done to protect the lives of journalists operating in Russia. We are saying this because the number of journalists who are dying mysteriously is not going down; it is on the rise. In 2006 alone, three journalists were murdered in Russia, bringing to 21 the number killed doing their job since President Vladimir Putin came to power in March 2000.
As journalists, we are obviously concerned with what appears to be a spread of social violence and failure to punish the killers of journalists in Russia. We are concerned because it would appear that Russia is not providing a safe environment for its journalists. The unabated mysterious deaths of journalists in Russia has an effect of intimidating or scaring the otherwise brave journalists to do their work without fear. And since the death of Anna last October, we have not heard much in terms of what has happened to her assassins.
The intimidation of journalists in particular and the media in general should be condemned because it goes against the basic tenets of freedom and democracy. In countries which profess to be democracies, we expect that respect for fundamental human rights - such as press freedom - is highly exemplary.
And it is not only Russia where journalists face intimidation in their work, including the threat of death. There are several other countries which need to do more in terms of providing adequate freedoms for journalists and the media.
Within our country at the moment, we are beginning to witness the emergence of counterproductive elements in as far as the protection of journalists and rights such as press freedom is concerned. Only the other week, we heard and saw for ourselves how some members of parliament are willing to sacrifice the fundamental rights contained in Article 20 of the Constitution just for their own selfish and narrow ends.
It was depressing to see some members of parliament agitating for statutory media ethics legislation, a move which goes directly against the very principles upon which press freedom and other rights such as freedom of expression have been provided for in our Constitution.
Instead of making progress on the much stalled legislation such as the freedom of information Bill which stands withdrawn from Parliament, some members of parliament now want to be part of those who do not want journalists to enjoy press freedom.
We are not saying that as journalists we are immune from mistakes and we bear no responsibilities for what we do. Like everybody else, we do occasionally err in our work. Where it so happens that we have made mistakes, we have acted on our responsibility in various ways. And we can prove this.
We are therefore very surprised that there now seems to be a campaign to legislate against the media, to start making laws which will nullify the same freedoms that make the work of the media and journalists less difficult. Instead of enacting laws that actually make the work of journalists easier and providing a less hostile environment for the media, there are manoeuvres to stifle our work, to gag us. This is the challenge that we face as journalists operating in societies which do not fully appreciate our role.
But it should be realised that the media and journalists still have a great role to play in terms of oversight on the government and those who run it. Instead of intimidating the media either through repressive legislation or harming individual lives of those working within the media, it is important to find ways and means of providing a safer environment for them.
We therefore call on all governments of the world, to ensure that there is not only an end to violence against journalists, but also that there should be respect for press freedom and ways should be found to protect, and not to destroy, such freedoms.
Labels: EDITORIAL, PRESS
Read more...
