STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA As media practitioners we shall remain resolute towards promoting professionalism, media freedom and are determined to regain the lost public confidence. We stand ready to work closely with Ministry of information and Broadcasting Services in the process of enacting this Bill into law. We urge members of public to take keen interest in this process and the bill that media has just adopted and ensure that this Bill is enacted into law as soon as possible and in the manner that the media have today unanimously adopted. The media is desirous to work with the government and the members of the public to ensure that freedom of expression, freedom of the media is protected and that there is informed free flow of information in Zambia. 4.2 Economical and Technological Environment The state of the media in the fourth quarter was dominated by reports on the advancement of technologies in the media industry. Top on the agenda for the quarter were debates on the digital migration and the ICT development recorded in the quarter. 4.2.1 Digital Migration In the first quarter of 2019 it was reported that the monetisation of digital technologies was a subject of great interest and government was investing heavily in realising that it taps into the potential. Just a brief on digital migration, it can be stated that analogue terrestrial television has been in existence since the 1940’s. The advancement in technology has rendered analogue television obsolete due to its inefficient use of the frequency spectrum which is a limited resource. Whereas Analogue Terrestrial Television uses one frequency to carry one programme channel, Digital Terrestrial Television can use one frequency to carry multiple programme channels thereby allowing for transmission of many television programmes using one frequency channel and at a lower cost. 14