fice to say that in 2017 something close to what transpired in Zambia seemed to have occurred in the United States of America as reported by the Washington Examiner. The publication reported that” an Oregon man who threatened on social media to kill former President Barack Obama and shoot FBI agents was sentenced Friday to 63 months in federal prison”3. What started as a pipe dream for many in Zambia was finally achieved in 2017. On 1 October 2017, Zambia switched over from analogue to digital broadcasting in most parts of the country without any hitch. During another incident in April, police stopped a UPND political rally in Kanyama Township in the capital, Lusaka, on “security” grounds. Although the UPND had notified the police in advance of the rally, they unlawfully dispersed the rally, shooting 20-year-old Stephen Kalipa, one of the protesters. He died later from gunshot wounds at the hospital. An 3 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/manwho-threatened-obamas-life-on-social-mediasentenced-to-63-months-in-federal-prison 122 So This is Democracy? 2017 investigation was opened, but no one had been arrested in connection with the incident by the end of the year. The police claimed that he died of knife stab wounds at the hands of an unidentified assailant. On 23 June, police arrested senior UPND officials on charges of unlawful assembly alleging that they held a press briefing at the UPND’s secretariat offices without obtaining prior authorisation. On 24 August, police dispersed a prayer meeting convened to welcome Hakainde Hichilema’s release from Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison in Kabwe – the city where he had been held for four months on charges of treason. On 29 September, police arrested six human rights defenders who gathered outside Parliament and protested peacefully against the government’s purchase of 42 fire engines, at a cost of US$42 million. The cost was being protested because it was strongly suspected of being inflated. The protesters who were beaten during the protest by members of the ruling Patriotic Front were charged with refusing to obey police orders. BROADCASTING Policy and Statutory Framework The media in Zambia operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services and is also guided by occasional policy pronouncements and/or changes under existing legislation or statutory instruments. During the year, there was a proposal to amend a provision in both, the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act and Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Acts. The amendment was passed by Parliament during its sitting in the fourth quarter of 2018 and subsequently