SECTOR 4 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: 1.5 (2005 = 1.4; 2007 = 1.8; 2009 = 2.1) 4.7 Journalists and media houses have integrity and are not corrupt. There is a sense that, although there are journalists who will report ethically, journalistic integrity has “been lost in recent years” and that Zambian journalists are susceptible to corruption, especially through cash (‘brown envelopes’). “...and the salaries are generally so low that journalists can be corrupted.” “As journalists, we’ve become accustomed to a culture where wherever we go to cover a story, we expect to get money or airtime or some other incentive.” It is felt that the government media are particularly prone to bribes offered by sources for favourable coverage, via money, food, transport and accommodation. It is common for journalists to be “embedded with the source”, especially for out-of-town stories, and this does result in a skewed and unobjective article. Private media journalists are also affected and could be compromised, professionally, as the economic situation has worsened for media houses, which may not have the money or the transport to send journalists to cover particular events beyond Lusaka. “Lots of journalists choose assignments and will only cover a particular event if they will get a ‘brown envelope’ at the end of it.” Some journalists are also known to demand a daily allowance to cover rural or out-of-Lusaka events, even though both the private and the state media pay subsistence fees in this regard. Others will attend workshops only for the travel allowance given afterwards. 62 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2011