SECTOR 4 The media practise high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by self–regulatory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. While all major media houses in Zambia, excluding The Post, used to be members of the voluntary Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ), this self-regulatory body collapsed in 2010. MECOZ had a code of ethics and conduct for the print and broadcasting media. One problem with MECOZ was that the state media refused to abide by some of its recommendations and it was seen as a weak body, as the most it could do was demand that a media house guilty of defamation, for example, issue a public apology. “The ministry perceives that ZAMEC will allow The Post newspaper off the hook, so they don’t want to be part of it...” Attempts have been made to establish a new self-regulatory body, the Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) but at the time of writing in July 2011, this process had stalled. This process was being driven by the Media Liaison Committee, representing all media organisations, such as MISA Zambia and PAZA, and all media bodies have agreed to subscribe to its provisions. The problem appears to stem from the hostilities between the state and the private media over self-regulation. While members of the government media subscribe to ZAMEC and its code of ethics, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services is reportedly stalling the process. Government has long been talking about introducing statutory regulation. “The ministry perceives that ZAMEC will allow The Post newspaper off the hook, so they don’t want to be part of it, and vice versa. It’s like Tom and Jerry.” Discussions are ongoing in this regard, however. The Post has long been seen in opposition to the ruling party. Thus, at the moment, there is no general code of ethics in place for the Zambian media and each media house has its own individual code. 56 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2011