SECTOR 4

fellow minister, who is also MMD chairperson for youth acknowledged that the
assailants were MMD party members. Private mainstream newspapers generally
will not publish positive articles in support of Zambia’s president.
“Journalists know what kind of stories editors expect and so they deliver these
censoring their writing so as not to upset their editors and ultimately the powersthat-be, be they private or state.”

Scores:
Individual scores:
1

Country does not meet indicator

2

Country meets only a few aspects of indicator

3

Country meets some aspects of indicator

4

Country meets most aspects of indicator.

5

Country meets all aspects of the indicator

Average score:

1.6 (2005 = 1.4; 2007 = 2.0; 2009 = 2.0)

4.6
Owners of established mainstream private
media do not interfere with editorial independence.
There are attempts within the private mainstream media to avoid the interference
of the owner in editorial issues, but however this does not often happen. A good
example is The Post, where the owner (Managing Director), Fred M’membe, is
also the editor-in-chief. In such a situations, no-interference is almost impossible.
“To a certain degree, the owner’s agenda will always influence editorial decisions,
it’s just the degree of the interference that differs.”

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2011

61

Select target paragraph3