against the Electoral Code of Conduct as regards media access by all political parties. Zambia’s Election Code of Conduct contains a specific section that deals with media relations. Among the various such provisions have been the following; …media will provide fair and balanced reporting of the campaigns, policies, meetings, rallies and press conferences of all registered political parties and candidates during the campaign period; provide news of the electoral process up to the declaration of results; report election news in an accurate…12 Instead of observing the guidelines, the public media’s coverage was favouring the ruling party. Other commentators on the dire state of media in Zambia expressed fear that the trend would have repercussions on the nation’s image and more so on donor confidence in as far as support towards the country’s economic development goals are concerned. One such is Professor Oliver Saasa. Professor Saasa states, “No responsible donor will put money in a country which has muzzled independent media.13 He observed that in the face of these governance challenges it would be difficult to extend aid to Zambia by several multilateral and bilateral institutions and states respectively. Prof. Saasa observed that democracy cannot thrive based on inaccurate information. Democracy cannot thrive with insufficient information for citizens to be able to make informed decisions. So if as a country we decide to shut out certain sections of the media which provide critical information, media that have the ability to analyse issues, then the electorate and general citizenry will have no capacity to demand of their leaders what is appropriate. He observes that a free and independent media is the most important as opposed to government media, because state media is generally expected to be a mouthpiece of the government. That a free media is not only important only in terms of meeting the expectations of the people but to inform even government to take corrective action is not in any doubt. Under the theory of a libertarian media, it is often commonplace to expect free media not to toe the line of the party in power. The media may actually intend to remove a government from power because it is a democracy where everyone has an interest. They cannot be neutral and it must be borne in the mind that this very lack of neutrality is what constitutes democracy since democracy is about the contestation of ideas. The fact of a free media criticising those in power is not that they hate them. Therefore, a nation cannot boast to have a democracy when they have removed an essential part of what constitutes it-an independent press. 12 Electoral Commission Code of Conduct 2006, Clause 12 (1) a 13 Professor Oliver Saasa, in The Post Newspaper, 27th September 2016 17