REFRAIN FROM STATUTORY REGULATION, IPI TELLS ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT

A journalist at work at a radio station in Lusaka during the IPI mission

to Zambia. Also seen are IPI Fellow Raumond Louw

and Press Freedom Adviser, Naomi Hunt. Photo: IPI/Nayana Jayarajan

By Globe reporter
The International Press Institute (IPI) has asked the Zambian government to allow Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) to operate without hindrance, following its press freedom fact finding mission.
In its report on the state of media freedom and media regulation in Zambia, IPI advised government to refrain from any legal or extralegal attempt to control media content, but instead prosecute those who intimidate, threaten or attack journalists simply because of their media affiliations.
An IPI delegation that included Raheem Adedoyin, secretary, IPI Nigeria National Committee; and board chairman for the Kwara State Television Authority, Raymond Louw, IPI fellow;  publisher/editor of the Southern Africa Report and chairman of the South Africa Press Council, Alison Bethel McKenzie, IPI acting director, Nayana Jayarajan, IPI communications officer and Naomi Hunt, IPI press freedom adviser, visited Zambia between October 11 and 17 during which they held talks with journalists, media organizations and government.
“Like their journalist colleagues in Zambia, IPI fears that any statutory mechanism will reverse press freedom gains made over the past 20 years and will result in disproportionate penalties for reporters who commit press offences,” read the IPI report. “ IPI’s report finds that the government must allow ZAMEC to proceed without hindrance, and should refrain from statutory regulation. The government should allow government-owned media to participate in this mechanism. Lastly, government should refrain from any legal or extralegal attempt to control media content, and must prosecute those who intimidate, threaten or attack journalists simply because of their media affiliations.”
The IPI delegation spent most of its time in Lusaka, and had the opportunity to briefly visit two stations – one commercial station and one community station in Livingstone.
 According to the IPI report, most discussions between the IPI delegation and journalists revolved around the issue of media regulation in Zambia.
In 2009, the government warned the media fraternity to come up with an effective self-regulatory mechanism or be regulated by statute.
The media responded by developing and adopting a code and constitution for an all inclusive, non-statutory council: ZAMEC.
“Other press freedom issues that were touched upon include inefficiencies with broadcast licensing, the intimidation of media houses, the harassment of journalists at the hands of political party cadres, the use of frivolous lawsuits against journalists and media houses, the proposed registration of journalists, government pressure on the newsrooms of public media, and the lack of a freedom of information act,” read the report.
According to the report, the IPI delegation met journalists from most of Lusaka based major media houses, editors from public, private, print and broadcast media, representatives from several journalist organizations and unions, and representatives from the United States embassy and the United Nations, and Information Minister Lt. Gen. Ronnie Shikapwasha The Zambian constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the press, but provides an exhaustive list of exceptions that greatly undermine the internationally accepted principle.
The penal code also contains laws that could have a potential chilling effect on press freedom. These include laws criminalizing defamation, including defamation and insults against the President; the publication of obscenit; and sedition and seditious publication where seditious intention is defined to include any attempt to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government”, “to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Zambia” and to “raise discontent or disaffection among the people of Zambia.”
(Zambia Penal Code, Section 60).
There are no constitutional guarantees to access to information. A Freedom of Information Bill was  brought before the national assembly in 2002, but was withdrawn for consultations.
The bill has not been re-tabled despite pressure from media associations and some sectors of civil society, and it is not clear whom the government might be consulting.
According to the report, the IPI’s conversations with journalists in Lusaka suggested that most journalists acquire information on government activities through inside sources and sometimes leaks, and not through official channels.
“One journalist in Lusaka told IPI that his newsroom really needs such a law in place to do its work, including uncovering corruption but that there was “a lack of political will, both from the ruling party and the opposition,” read part of the report.
ZAMEC is Zambia’s second effort at an independent media council.  Another council, the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ) was established by the Media Institute of Southern Africa and the Press Association of Zambia with the support of international donors in 2002, and launched in 2004, but unfortunately proved to be an ineffective regulatory mechanism.
The disintegration of MECOZ has been largely blamed on the lack of participation by The Post – the country’s only privately-owned daily newspaper – and on members’ failure to comply with decisions.