STATE OF THE MEDIA REPORT QUARTER 3. 2020 governance in the country will be strengthened by encouraging these fundamental freedoms Also notable in the quarter was the launch of the ‘Trust in the media’ report, a baseline study conducted in three countries in the SADC region i.e. Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi to generate evidence on the state of trust in the media9. The report aimed to review the status of media products in relation to quality, diversity and reach as well as to establish media diversity in terms of variety of outlets, quality in terms of objectivity, accuracy, balance, diversification and credibility of sources. One of the notable findings of the report is that there is more trust in the private media over public media in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe because the public media is considered to be obsolete, bureaucratic and overly elitist. The report also found that with regard to political news, both private and public stations tend to take sides, with the private stations usually aligning themselves with the opposition political parties. This signals a state of political polarisation among media practitioners, a situation which is of serious concern and requires urgent attention if the media sector is to be deemed credible enough. As stated in the previous discussion on political violence and harassment, political polarisation has ripple effects and tends to affect the independence of media outlets 10 . This was also noted by one of the participants: Media is reminded of its crucial responsibility of ensuring people are well informed so that they do not only make intelligent and informed choices but are also protected against falsehoods, fake news, character assassination and other acts of disinformation as the country approaches the 2021 general elections…journalists should, at all times, observe and uphold the fundamental tenets of journalism namely truth, balance and objectivity. The journalist’s loyalty should be to the truth and to the people of Zambia and not to individuals and their narrow partisan interests. Media firms are further 9 10 The survey utilised a mixed methods approach which involved the administration of questionnaires in purposely sampled cities, focus group discussions, and panel discussions with media personnel. This was also found in Manchishi, K. (2017). Defamation of the President and the law’s effect on media performance. Unpublished master’s dissertation. Lusaka: UNZA. 16