On 3 May Zambia joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.
At the ACA we work to grow accountability in the use of public resources.
We wish to place on record that, as an organisation, our definition of ‘public resources’ is not limited to monetary and physical properties or infrastructure. Our understanding of public resources includes all public owned enterprises and associated personnel. Among the most critical of these resources that require accountable, equitable and professional management are public media.
Recently, many voices have raised concern over the sustained and seemingly never ending political tension that has prevailed in Zambia since the 2016 general elections. The ACA is of the view that this situation has in a major way been worsened by the abuse of the critical public resource of the media especially ZNBC radio and TV.
A review of the media coverage by state owned publications and broadcasting entities shows beyond any dispute the fact that government media has completely blacked out any voices that are not those of the government the ruling party and those who support them.
While it is important that the government and the Patriotic Front are given fair coverage in state media, it is unacceptable that this should be done to the exclusion of all non-concerting voices. The public media by definition is owned and funded by citizens and must therefore adhere to the highest ethical standards. In the way that the government media entities are operating now they represent an unacceptable abuse of a public resource by those in power.
Over and above professional ethical demands, public media is bound by law to provide their audience with unbiased news and opinion. The ZNBC Act of 2010 in section 7 as amended in 2002 clearly states that Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation shall:
7. 1
(e) contribute to the development of free and informed opinions and as such, constitute an important element of the democratic process;
(f) reflect, as comprehensively as possible, the range of opinions and political, philosophical, religious, scientific, and artistic trends;
(m) broadcast news and current affairs programmes which shall be comprehensive, unbiased and independent and commentary which shall be clearly distinguished from news;
The ACA therefore calls upon the government to liberate the public media from political interference and the resultant self-censorship so as to open up the nation to fair, balanced and accurate news and other information.
We are convinced that a free public media is able to help the restoration of trust and confidence in other public institutions because citizens will be afforded the opportunity to listen, judge and decide between and among many opinions.
Further, a free public and private media space is in itself the most powerful tool that can be used to close or render ineffectual the hitherto much complained about unethical and faceless media outlets. In other words, if the ZNBC, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail fail to report fairly on all sides of a story, the country will continue to get its news from very unethical and unprofessional news sources. A free public media allows for an honest and healthy conversation on the various matters that affect the nation. It is a conversation desperately needed by Zambia right now.
Issued by: Jimmy Maliseni – Information and Advocacy Officer
5th May