Issue-based stories rarely get lead-story treatment. This is especially true of the front pages and news bulletins of the mainstream media. A fuller spectrum of issues is covered on the inner pages, although grassroots activities, women and elders hardly get any mention. Community media do a lot better in this respect. They go out of their way to cover business, economic, cultural and other issues of relevance to their respective local communities. Mainstream newspapers are businesses and therefore focus on stories which sell. Readers/listeners are said to be preferring personalized over issue-based stories. There is a tendency in the media to cover only those events officiated by ministers and other senior government officials to the almost complete exclusion of those organised and run by non-governmental groups or private citizens. No minister, no coverage, seems to be the rule of thumb, and whenever there is a minister only what he/she says will be reported. As a result ordinary people do not see themselves reflected in the media. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 4.4 3, 2, 4, 2, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4 3.2 (2005 = 2.5) Gender mainstreaming is promoted in terms of equal participation of both sexes in the production process. ANALYSIS: No precise statistics are available, but there appear to be more women than men working in the Zambian media today. All media recognize the need for gender mainstreaming and have various policies and practices to promote it. This is largely “work in progress.” So far, some positive strides have been made and there have been significant advances. For example, out of nine line editors at the Zambia Daily Mail, four are women. The Times of Zambia has a gender policy in the workplace and the Post is also an equal opportunity employer. In radio and television stations women also make up a large part of the workforce in various production roles. Gender mainstreaming should not mean just giving preference to women as such but also be linked to the ability to meet set qualification standards and to deliver the work requirements. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 4.5 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 3 3.1 (2005 = 3.0) Gender mainstreaming is reflected in the editorial content. ANALYSIS: Coverage in most media is slowly moving away from concentrating on high profile females, such as ministers and civil society activists, in favour of women on the ground. Community media are taking the lead in this respect. Given their growing presence and spread this could prove the trigger for better overall gender reflective coverage. The Guardian is also making a conscious effort to look out for female sources in its coverage. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -268- Media Institute of Southern Africa