During the Lunga era, government was used to arresting critical voices leading to a culture of self censorship. MEDIA PLURALISM AND DIVERSITY Zambia has a plural media system with private and State owned print and broadcasting media houses. The country boasts of 150 non-public radio stations and over 45 TV stations across the provinces. There are also about 50 different newspapers circulating in the country ranging from dailies to weeklies. All these media houses have different sustainability challenges, but uniform among them include commercial, financial, regulatory and human resource problems. Party ahead of by-elections. The government initially tried to discredit the audio as ‘fake’ when reacting to the ensuing public backlash before accusing the journalists of having tapped the officials’ telephone conversation. Police went on to arrest the journalists behind the report. Hichilema’s government has remained silent about the arrests. Authorities have also issued verbal threats against journalists from the privately owned media. Ruling party legislator Heartson Mabeta threatened NewsDiggers — one of the most popular print publications in Zambia — with closure, after the newspaper ran a story quoting the United Party for National Development (UNDP) as saying the party did not sign any contract with anyone to guarantee them employment. Hichilema’s party was elected on campaign promises of job creation. The statements were met with a huge backlash after NewsDiggers published an audio of Mabeta making the statements. JOURNALISTS SAFETY AND PROTECTION Mabeta charged that the paper faced closure if it did not change course. President Hichilema’s government has continued with the previous administration’s culture of harassing the private media. The government and the ruling party did not distance themselves from the statements and this suggested that they endorsed them. In January 2022, the privately owned KBN television station aired a leaked audio conversation between presidential aide Levy Ngoma and presidential political aide Joseph Akafumba where they were discussing ways of undermining the operations of the opposition Democratic The new government is perpetuating the culture of harassment of the private media that started in the Lungu era. Attacks against the media intensified in the run-up to last year’s elections. On February 21, 2021, the then ruling Patriotic Front (PF) supporters also allegedly attacked Luswepo Radio in northern Mbala district after the community radio station featured an opposition activist on one of its programmes. (3) The PF supporters, who were armed with machetes and stones, damaged a wire fence to gain entry into the station. They dispersed after police fired five warning shots, while a few were arrested and later released. In another incident, on March 10, 2021, Patriotic Front supporters tear gassed Chete FM in the northern district of Nakonde during a broadcast featuring members of the other opposition UNDP. (4) The PF supporters then disrupted the radio programme by pepper-spraying the station, making it hard for staff members to breathe, and beating opposition members taking part in the programme. MEDIA INDEPENDENCE In April 2020, the government revoked the broadcasting license of the country’s leading private television station, Prime TV. No specific reasons were given for the action , but the Independent Broadcasting Authority stated that the move had been taken in the public interest. Prime TV returned to the airwaves soon after Hichilema was sworn in after his August 2021 election victory, raising hopes that the new administration was going to keep its promise to improve the media environment in Zambia. STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 53 use of the law on defamation of the president, which makes it an offense punishable by up to three years in jail to publish any defamatory or insulting matter bringing the president into hatred, ridicule, or contempt.