SECTOR 4 The media practise high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. The standard of reporting, it is believed, hardly follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. In Zambia, you “find the same story in five different papers” and in each of them, the same incident is presented in completely different ways. The reporting is done primarily along ‘party lines.’ A conference or workshop conducted about checks and balances on the government may be covered by public media, but in a biased way, “to not bite the hand that feeds them.” “You’d rather be politically right than being objective and independent.” In general, “people don’t declare conflict of interest anymore.” By and large, media houses may refuse to cover a person, an organisation or an event because of assumed party affiliations. Sources which could provide another side to a story will not be interviewed, as “an effort to black out the other side.” “The other side of the story shouldn’t be heard.” Sometimes, journalists are simply not invited or are refused entry to an event because of the media house they work for. “Quality of coverage doesn’t reflect the fairness that it should because you are not allowed to be there [at a certain event].” “I pick information from different sources,” one panellist remarked, “to be able to put the [real] story together.” “Media houses … almost all the media houses have agendas.” In this, ownership plays an important role. “He who pays the piper plays the tune.” “Once a story comes, they have to scrutinise it,” and in the process, adjust it, “to suit their agenda.” Such a practice is very likely to cause inaccuracies. Others thought that “there is nothing wrong with media houses having agendas,” but were, “concerned about accuracy.” During the election period, “media heads were called” by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), “because there was this outcry that the level of reporting was …unacceptable.” 56 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2017