STATE OF THE MEDIA REPORT QUARTER 4, 2020 Digital advancement entails increased revenue flow as media will be able to expand their reach as well as platforms which can be used for advertising. Further, such a move enhances access to information as more citizens will be equipped with the tools and technology for them to access information on demand on various subjects of interest. It is only hoped that such technology will be made affordable for the majority Zambians and particularly the media sector. Further, such technology will enhance information dissemination by the media even in such times of the COVID-19 pandemic which crippled media operations at its height in the previous quarter. Another issue worth noting is the call on the media by Information Permanent Secretary, Amos Malupenga, to increase reportage on science and technology. Mr. Malupenga observed that the media had concentrated their reporting on politics at the expense of various developmental programmes. Just as was noted in the Socio-political environment above, the media need to balance the issues they cover as part of their news and overall content. This further entails understanding the various nuances and respecting gender and other sensitive aspects such as cultural dynamics and so on. Indeed, and in this respect, there is need for the media to expand to other topics such as science and technology as observed by the Information PS. Some studies have shown that there is limited coverage of other issues such as health, among others, by Zambian media outlets32. It is important for media houses to ensure they widen their beats and put in place specific interventions to widen their coverage to other topics such as science, technology and health, among others. Another development worth noting in the technological environment for the quarter under review is the listing of Zambia among twenty-five governments allegedly doing business with a private surveillance firm that exploits mobile network vulnerabilities (SS7 protocols) to spy on calls, texts and location data33. The revelations arose from a report by Citizen Lab (a Canadian watchdog group) which used internet scanning and found a unique signature associated with the hostnames of Check Point 32 For example, a 2012 Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) study analysing the Zambian media overage of health issues found that coverage of such specialist topics is highly limited. See https://www.mediamonitoringafrica.org/images/uploads/Writing_It_Right_Final_Report.pdf 33 P a g e 35 | 56