SECTOR 4 “Media outlets have been used as pawns in encouraging violence and hate speech especially during elections.” “You tend to expect a person will cover party A and B and when they are arguing in a way that promotes hate speech and or violence bring in a third voice to balance the story … to say hate speech is wrong, (...) to bring in the peace.” But the media will present this third voice as not being objective but instead being party affiliated and hence “undermine the voice of harmony.” An objective statement made by a civil society leader about the death of a Zambian girl was taken out of context and aired on a radio station as an advert to promote a specific political party. With such behaviour, the media is “compromising nonpartisan people.” Given the above, there is a sector of “the public [that] has little trust in the media.” While other members of “the public have faith in a particular media, the one that is more aligned to their thinking.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.3 (2013:2.3; 2011:2.2; 2009:2.5; 2007:2.8; 2005:2.5) 4.2 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by independent/nonstatutory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. The Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) is a non-statutory self-regulating body promoting a media code of ethics. The Council has a constitution, a code of ethics and an enforcement mechanism has been developed, but in reality, it has not been properly institutionalised, so “ZAMEC isn’t existing.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2017 57