SECTOR 2 2.3 The editorial independence of print and online media published by a public authority is protected adequately against undue political interference The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) regards itself to be independent, with no cases of people “telling them what to do". There are never any directives directly from the Minister, for instance. Editorial content is controlled by the management, not the Minister. Nevertheless, there are issues of inadequate manpower and equipment to cover all stories. The IBA does not regulate ZNBC, but there are internal policies that deal with professionalism. For example, although ministers will sometimes request a reporter they want to work with on a story, this is not allowed under the ZNBC policy. The biggest problem is the polarisation of the media. The private media will look for one negative issue in a speech and focus on that. ZNBC will try to accurately reflect the full content of the speech. Elsewhere, young journalists with critical minds who work in the real world of the newsroom, start by writing stories that are never published. They are then ‘coached’ to write their stories and ideas in a certain way. This is how censorship is internalised in newsrooms. Because your productivity is often measured by the number of by-lines you generate each week, it creates insecurity amongst journalists if your stories don’t appear. Allegations were made that there are even ‘committees’ that ‘appoint journalists’ to cover certain ministers. These journalists are then also paid certain extra allowances, in some cases given in US dollars, to cover these events. Nevertheless, the president recently made it clear that no journalist should get any such ‘fringe benefits’ from ministers. 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: Score of previous years: 22 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2021 ✓✓ ✓ 2.1 2017 = 1.6 ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓