SECTOR 3 An interesting development is Parliament TV, a television channel operated directly by the Zambian parliament. The majority of staff are employed full-time directly by parliament. It has national coverage through the DSTV and TopStar carriers and also uses one of the ZNBC channels. 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: ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 1.6 2017 = 1.4 3.6 The state/public broadcaster is adequately funded in a manner that protects it from political interference through its budget and from commercial pressure Income from advertising is insufficient to cover the operational budget at ZNBC. In addition, the television levy provides for less than 10% of ZNBC’s financial requirements. ZNBC salaries are generally paid through commercial income and, to some extent, the television levy. In fact, since 1991, when ZNBC changed from being a government department to a state-owned enterprise, there has been no provision in the annual national budget for funding ZNBC, although, by law, they should still be receiving a grant. However, because of Covid, ZNBC does now get a government grant to ensure coverage on the pandemic. ZNBC also receives an income from masts that are rented out to commercial and community broadcasters. There are, however, still large debts owed by ZNBC, and these are annually written off by parliament or are treated as ‘debt swaps'. And, despite ZNBC pleading poverty, in one case, a political party who wanted to advertise on ZNBC had to get a court order to force ZNBC to accept money for the advertisement. The government, however, does fund capital projects. Therefore, ZNBC has new well equipped studios, funded by the government. The television levy is supposed to develop the broadcast industry in Zambia and not just ZNBC. 36 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2021