STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA On 28th December 2019, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) issued a press statement with a heading, "IDC Restructures Times Printpak." In the statement, it was noted that IDC had directed the Zambia Daily Mail Limited Board of Directors to oversee the affairs of both companies (Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail) and appointed the Managing Director at the Zambia Daily Mail Limited, Mr. Nebat Mbewe, to oversee the day to day operations of Times Printpak Limited, in an acting capacity, in addition to his responsibilities at Zambia Daily Mail. The statement further stated that other functions like Finance, Legal, Human Resource, Production and Marketing in both companies will be overseen by a single management team. It was further noted that the Editorial team of Times Printpak Zambia Limited will continue to oversee the publication of the Times of Zambia so as to maintain the editorial independence of both the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail Newspapers. In terms of reasons advanced for the restructuring, it was interesting to note that the deteriorating financial situation at Times Printpak Zambia Limited, rendered the publisher of Times of Zambia Newspaper, unable to meet its key obligations as they fell due. Top on the reasons advanced, were that Times PrintPak had deteriorated to an extent of having outstanding statutory liabilities and letting its workers go unpaid for an extended period of time, in some cases up to 11 months in arrears. It was also stated that during the first nine (9) months of 2019 Times Printpak recorded an operating loss of K41.7m and had a Return On Assets (ROA) in the negatives of -49%. As regards the process of restructuring, it was noted that it would be done in phases with the medium-term objective of creating a consolidated media and newspaper publishing company under the IDC Group. It was stated that the first phase of restructuring would involve three strategic processes: the first being the recapitalisation of the Times PrintPak business to ensure it has the resources to undertake emergency reforms, the second being the making of changes at board and management level as well as liquidating all unpaid salary arrears owed to the workers. 6