STATE OF THE MEDIA REPORT QUARTER 3. 2020 urged to place premium on retraining of their staff to avoid being at variance with other stakeholders. (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services) Similarly, Joy Chula, Chairperson of the Lusaka Press Club, noted that: The political environment continues to be volatile as media inclined to the party in Government are prone to harassment by the opposition political parties and vice versa for the media purported to be inclined to the opposition. However, the major thrust is the mistrust and suspicions around media and political parties. Of particular interest, though, is the lack of trust in public media. This is a dire state of affairs because public media are expected to serve the wider population and cater for divergent interests of society. This is because public media are chiefly funded by tax payers and are entitled to government support. Also, governance structures of public media are amenable to a public process of appointment and ratification. Chiefly, public media are expected to fulfil principles of diversity, independence and distinctiveness which are actually cardinal characteristics11. There is, therefore, need for a clear distinction between state-controlled media and public media. The former are usually remnant of the post-independence era and elements of the soviet-communist normative ideology that obtained in Zambia at the time. However, given various changes over time (such as enactment of Acts to turn state media into public media), it is important that the media houses begin to implement real reforms in their operations. For many years in Zambia, stakeholders have advocated for balanced coverage from public institutions such as ZNBC, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail to include divergent and dissenting views as opposed to only those favourable to the State12. This is even more critical during electoral contests such as the forthcoming elections in 2021, when citizens should be provided with varied viewpoints in order to make informed decision. see https://www.zambiadailynation.com/2016/06/15/ upnd-sues-znbc-for-rejecting-its-adverts/ . Prior to this, in 2014, the party obtained a court order compelling ZNBC to start attending and covering its President’s rallies ahead of the by-election in the same year, see https://zambianeye.com/upndgets-court-order-to-compel-znbc-to-cover-itscampaigns/ 11 According to the 2010 Zambia country edition of the AFRIMAP/OSISA Public broadcasting in Africa series which tracked the performance of public service broadcasters, including areas for improvement. 12 For example, the opposition UPND applied for judicial review in 2016 in the Lusaka High Court over ZNBC’s refusal of the party’s advertisements, 17