Mass media in Zambia

Even though there is still suspicion on the part of Zambian governmental elites, there has been major strides taken in order to enhance the accountability of the state, state officials, and normal citizenry more broadly. One of the steps taking place more recently, the Media Development Policy which was passed on 23 November 2020.[2] Its mission consisted of five goals and objectives in order to enhance the freedom of the press which were; the fostering of a regulatory system to bolster press freedom, as well as diversity within the media sector; increasing the private ownership of media outlets and creating a space that levels the playing field to enhance equality, transparency, and accountability within the market; utilizing media platforms to ensure an avenue for citizens to engage in democratic discourse; increasing entrepreneurship and professionalism within the media realm; and lastly, investing in diverse economic sectors to facilitate the development of important media infrastructure needed to support the rapidly changing media market.[2] The hope is that Zambia can move away from the restrictive nature of the media and foster its abilities in order to produce a media sector that can be a stable sector of the economy, but also as a pillar to enhance democracy and accountability within the state of Zambia.[3] There is also hope through the point of view of jounralists as well, especially due to the ever increasing nature of violence threats and acts against jounralists by the state, political parities and their followers.[4]

There are a multitude of different Penal codes that the Zambian government has implemented in order to curtail media freedom, and more specifically investigative journalism. One example is, Section 53, which gives the executive the power to abolish any publications that he found to be a threat against the public interest.[5] While this does allow the state to curb any hateful, racists, and hurtful speech that might be able to benefit the Zambian society, it also grants the president gate-keeper abilities defining what is best for the public interest and what is not. In 1989, the Zambia president utilized this avenue to ban, "The Satanic Verses."[5] In 1996, The Post, was also banned from publishing within the state of Zambia. Other sections that fall within this category are Sections 54 and 55 as well.[5]

Sections 57 and 60, define laws of sedition; Sections 67 deals with the publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public; Section 69 outlaws defamation of the executive; Section 102 criminalizes the impersonation of law enforcement of any other governmental employ by a journalists in order to obtain valuable information; Section 116, contempt of Courts, where journalists are by law required to grant the court evidence, and sources, if ever summoned as a witness in court, ultimately forcing journalists to violate trust between journalists and sources.[5]

The State Security Act, Chapter 111 of the Laws of Zambia also diminishes the freedom of the press.[5] The Act was enacted jail time for up to 15 years for leaking classified information by either state officials or the journalists and media outlets that leaked it. Though the Act was initially intended enhance the states capabilities to security and defend against inter and intra state threats, journalists have broken this law in order to sound the alarm on the state when the state itself ultimately became the threat to the Zambian citizenries security. Examples can be seen in 1999, when the media out, The Post, leaked an article displaying a contrasting image of Zambias military capabilities to that of Angolas military capabilities, eliminating the country on how ill prepared and equipped the state of Zambia was to go to war with Angola.[5] Ultimately, The Post, its editor and report were charged with espionage through the means of The State Security Act.[5]

Radio stations in Zambia have evolved exponentially since the adoption of the radio during the period of colonization. Although Zambia has been known to be hesitant in the liberalization of the media, the radio was liberalized by the establishment and implementation of the Zambia National Broadcasting Licensing Regulations in December 1993.[6] The country saw a rapid uptick in the number of radio stations throughout the country, going from only 12 stations in 2000, to 48 in 2008.[6] Radio stations have transformed from simply relaying the current news to a small audience that is confined within a small geographical area to having extended broadband width and range allowing for news to be received throughout the entire country and sometime beyond,[6] as well as radio stations adding the ability for average citizens to engage, participate, and interact with a live broadcast.[6]

The newly heightend ability of the citizenry to activly participate in a live broadcast from a popular radio station has hightened the voice of the population tremendously. Zambian's actively participate through the help of "new media," such as the Internet and Mobile Phones. This then allows Zambians to utilize "new media" technology, by means of text messaging, emails, phoning in, and even utilizing apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, etc.[6] to not only actively engage with the radio station, but also other average Zambians throughout the country, as well as important interviewees, such as political leaders, prominent businessmen, and other elites within the state. This ultimately creates a space for dialog to occur between elites and non-elities. This occurs on multiple radio stations platforms, such as, The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation's, "Government Forum," a public broadcaster; Radio Pheonix's, "Let The People Talk," Q FM's, "Monday Night Live" and "Public's Last Say," and Flava FM, three commercial radio stations; Radio Icengelo's, "Face to Face with the Community," and Sky FM's, "Sky Forum" and "Face the Media," both community radio stations.[6]

Television in Zambia includes media developed and distributed by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.[7]

Newspapers in Zambia include the Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail, and The Post.

Partners Guide is a leading magazine discussing business and economic issues which is available online.[8][9] The Bulletin & Record is an established magazine discussing political issues.

The Zambian Watchdog was a newspaper publication which eventually changed its media into an internet news website.

Freedoms of expression and of the press are constitutionally guaranteed in Zambia, but the government frequently restricts these rights in practice.[10] Although the ruling Patriotic Front has pledged to free state-owned media—consisting of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and the widely circulated Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia—from government editorial control, these outlets have generally continued to report along pro-government lines. Many journalists reportedly practice self-censorship since most government newspapers do have prepublication review.[10] The ZNBC dominates the broadcast media, though several private stations have the capacity to reach large portions of the population.

The rights group Freedom House, which publishes annual country reports on press freedom status, has ranked Zambia’s press as “Not Free” even in 2016.[11]

• Telecommunications in Zambia