STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA It must be stated that the process of recapitalisation of the Times PrintPak Limited, is a welcome move and must be supported. However, emphasis and caution should be made and exercised on the process of termination of employment contracts for staff and the Board. The process of termination must be followed in a systematic manner to pave way for continuity and a smooth handover. In the case of the management of Times of Zambia PrintPak, because their employment contract termination were immediate, so many administrative processes were left hanging which brought in a number of challenges. 4.1.1 Social Media Regulation The regulation of social media is a subject of debate appearing in all the quarters under review in 2019. The media in the period under review was dominated by debates around the regulation of digital media platforms. For example, on 20th October, 2019 the Lusaka Times Online Newspaper carried a heading “Lusambo Wants ZICTA To Arrest People Scandalizing President Lungu On Social Media” It was reported by the paper that; Lusaka Province Minister, Mr. Bowman Lusambo had urged the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) and the Zambia Police to bring to book people using social media to scandalize President Edgar Lungu and other government officials. The paper reported that Mr. Lusambo had wondered why the institutions had taken long to arrest people abusing social media when they had the capacity to do so. The Minister was also quoted saying that he had invited ZICTA and the Lusaka Province Police Commissioner to discuss how they can curb social media abuse which he termed as rampant. It should be stated here that efforts aimed at regulating social media have been made, but so far there have been no tangible results. It must also be noted that the best measure at having sanity online is to have a robust sensitisation plan aimed at educating people on the responsible use of social media. 7