STATE OF THE MEDIA REPORT QUARTER 3. 2020 It is notable from this incident that there is need for increased protection of media practitioners and outlets. The current provision on freedom of the press in Article 20 (1) of the Constitution does very little to shield the media from such violent attacks as it is vague and laxly stated (without providing any explicit guarantee of press freedom) while there exist several clawback clauses in the same Article in addition to subsidiary legislation inimical to freedom of the press. The continued attacks on the media in the quarter under review were against the backdrop of a marked deterioration in the level of freedom of expression in the country, with US Charge d’Affaires, David Young, observing this in a widely shared speech. Mr Young stated that: It is unfortunate in Zambia today that it is frowned upon to say anything critical about seeing your government leaders or problems in government without risking being censored or even threatened with arrests. The first of reservists for freedoms is freedom of speech and in many ways, it is the foundational of civil and political rights. It is central to all freedoms, expression through the press, assembly, peaceful protests, belief. If you can’t say what you believe, you aren’t truly free. Today, freedom of speech is under threat around the world. In many countries, you risk imprisonment for simply voicing your opinion which is the violation of the basic tenet of liberty. Now freedom of speech is often difficult because at its, core it requires that people who decide to go into public life must tolerate criticism from all corners. Whether you are a mayor, a police chief, a diplomat or a national leader, democracy requires you to sign up for public criticism. If you want to have political power and influence and status and responsibilities of public office, you have to be willing to be criticized fairly and unfairly sometimes you might even be called names. Now, I am not an elected official, I am a career diplomat but I occupy a position of public trust from my country and that means I will be criticized for what I do or say and for the policies of my government which I represent. But I defend that criticism even when it is directed against me because that is freedom of speech, our utmost sacred right as free people, that is what freedom means. In the United States today, our commitment to freedom of speech is on television screens around the world. As the whole world knows we have some serious problems that need serious attention; racist violence and incidences of police brutality. 14