The UPND District Officials visited the Radio Station to tender an official apology onair the following day and that is how the issue ended. The second incident was that of a violent attack on Walamo Community Radio by community members on 17th December following a programme that featured a Police official on a programme dubbed Police and the community where he warned the community against witchcleansing being conducted by foreign herbalists in the area 3. Above: Part of the damage caused in the attack on Walamo Community Radio. Picture courtesy of Walamo Radio Facebook Page The trend of political attacks against media houses has been a highlight of several editions of the State of the Media Report released in the past twelve months, much to the dismay of stakeholders and media freedom activists. In some of the incidents there was damage to property and even harm on individual journalists. This trend is a threat to the media for several reasons. Firstly, the net effect of the attacks is instilment of fear in journalists, who will not exercise independent judgment or host individuals considered to be critical of the state (or even the community as in the Walamo Radio incident) for fear of political retribution. In essence, this 3 According to a report by Walamo Community Radio as verified by MISA 12