State of the media report Q1-2021 after a number of intimidating comments made against the newspaper. A letter addressed to one of the regulatory agencies read in part as follows5: “We therefore request that you kindly verify for us if such a publication is in fact compliant to its statutory obligations such as Value Added Tax (herein referred to as VAT), company registration, Pay as You Earn (herein referred to as PAYE) whether they are up to date with all payments, whether they have remitted the correct amounts of tax to the tax collector. We further request that you kindly avail us with a statement of their accounts showing their payments for the last 12 months. The purpose of the print out is to analyse and critically analyse the ability by the News Diggers Newspapers to settle any judgment sums that may arise against them following the several courts actions that they are likely to face in line with their defamatory remarks against Honeybee Pharmacy and many others. We humbly request that you furnish us with the above information as it is very critical and vital to our clients. Your quickest response to our letter will be highly appreciated.” The Zambia Revenue Authority, however, declined to release the requested compliance information, stating that this could only be done under a court order or with written consent of the taxpayer, in this case News Diggers Limited. This action by ZRA is commendable. While media houses must be amenable to compliance checks, this must not be used as a tool for intimidation especially when such media houses engage in publication of stories considered to be critical of the State or other identified parties. A media house must be held accountable using the due process of the law. As elucidated in the 2020 second quarter state of the media report, intimidation of media houses using statutory bodies was also observed in the closure of Prime Television as well as the Post Newspaper in 2016. On the social front, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects continued to inhibit media operations. At the beginning of the quarter, the country experienced a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with a sharp rise in the number of cases recorded, thereby creating apprehension due to an anticipated tightening of measures aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. However, the government maintained relaxed measures proclaimed in the previous year6. By the close of the quarter, there was a marked decline in the number of cases and media houses were conducting their operations as usual. 5 As carried in a News Diggers newspaper report on 26th January, 2021. See https://diggers.news/local/2021/01/26/honeybee-runs-to-zra-napsa-seeking-to-close-news-diggers-using-taxcompliance/#:~:text=HONEYBEE%20Pharmacy%20Limited%2C%20the%20company,revelations%20contained %20in%20its%20investigation. 6 In a statement issued on 13th January, 2021, President Edgar said measures he announced in 2020 to stem the spread of covid-19 were still in force and all citizens were to comply, warning that if they did not, he would announce stringent measures to protect the population from the pandemic. President Lungu emphasised 16