vember 2002, citing the events of 9/11 as a reason. It has not been re-tabled despite ongoing pressure from media associations and some sections of civil society. As recently as 2006, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services still talked about “ongoing consultation”, but nobody knows who the government might have been consulting with. The State Security Act still prohibits disclosure of government-held information. As a result government operations are, for the most part, shrouded in secrecy. Access to government-held information is not seen as a right but a privilege. Government’s policy is still based on the principle of need-to-know. Unorthodox means of information gathering put journalists in danger of violating the law: an impediment to investigative journalism. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 1.7 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2 1.2 (2005 = 1.0) Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom. ANALYSIS: Since the introduction of multi-party democracy in Zambia in 1991, in addition to the then only media lobby group Press Association of Zambia (PAZA), several others have come into being. The first was the Zambia chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) which represents independent media. Other organisations are the Zambia Media Women’s Association (ZAMWA), the Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ), the Press Freedom Committee within the Post media house and the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) Zambia Chapter. PAZA and the Post’s Press Freedom Committee recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding, designed to help PAZA out of its financial straights, in which the two parties agree on close cooperation in various fields. Overall, there is a high degree of collaboration and mutual trust on media freedom issues amongst all six organisations. All of them, for example, are opposed to any statutory regulation of the media and lobby for self regulation (although for different models). They staged a successful joint campaign against the planned introduction of Value Added Tax (TAX) on newspapers in 2006. They jointly took legal action to enforce implementation of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (Amendments) Acts, made a joint submission to the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) and continue to jointly push for general media law reform. There is, however, still need for improved and focused co-ordination, collaboration and closer linkages between civil society (including churches) and the media on issues of common concern. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 5, 4, 5, 4, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5 4.3 (2005 = 3.9) Overall score for sector 1: So This Is Democracy? 2007 2.5 (2005 = 2.3) -255- Media Institute of Southern Africa