STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA was polarised with the private media largely biased to the opposition and the public media being pro-ruling party.52 Media specialisation During the period under review there were several appeals to media practitioners and indirectly to media training institutions to increase coverage and publication of articles on selected subjectareas such as health,53 development54, business,55 nuclear,56 investigative reporting,57 national budget,58 and tourism.59 Although the appeals came from interested parties wanting to boost information on their respective sectors it is probable that the parties also identified some information gaps in the sectors. It is a message to media practitioners and media training institutions to consider some basic specialisation without necessarily such specialisation being exclusive. 4.6 Review of burning issues The State of the Media Report for the Third Quarter of 2017 highlighted a few topics that attracted wide and varied coverage by the print media. These topics included the procurement of fire tenders by the government, presidential decree on mandatory HIV testing for all persons that sought treatment at health institutions and high incidence of public markets being destroyed by inexplicable fires. During the subsequent quarter the media seems to have gone into a lull mode for there were comparatively very few follow up articles on what had been ‘burning’ issues. 52 ZDM Media fanning electoral violence? 6 December 2017 p.11 ZDM Report on health, media urged 14 October 2017 p.4 and ToZ Train journalists in health reporting 7 November 2017 p.2 54 ZDM Scribes challenged on development 9 December 2017 p. 55 ZDM Scribes prodded to report on business 16 November 2017 p. 56 ToZ Media urged to educate b public about nuclear energy 29 November 2017 p.13 57 The Mast Councillor challenges journalists to take up investigative reporting 27 November 2017 p.3 58 DN Track 2018 Budget, media urged 22 November 2017 p.5 The Mast Mwango urges media to follow budget process 8 December 2017 p.3 59 DN DC prods scribes to market tourist capital 24 October 2017 p.6 53 23