STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA “TopStar will not switch off any station until all issues surrounding carriage fees are ironed out. This is according to Economic and Equity Party (EEP) President Chilufya Tayali who met Topstar Management on Tuesday. According to Mr. Tayali, TopStar is willing to engage stakeholders on favourable carriage fees. He adds that according to the Chinese digital TV service provider, the carriage fees were set by the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA).” How the transfer of signal carriage between ZNBC and TopStar happened also remains unclear. Apart from the two incidents, the national broadcaster in the quarter had a disgraceful moment when its workers protested over delayed salary payments. The protest showed failure of both management and government in the running of the corporation as the institution has the capacity to raise enough money to pay its workers. It is public knowledge that despite running adverts, the public broadcaster has employee salaries paid from the government treasury. Lastly, the year recorded a case in which Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services then Kampamba Mulenga refused to address ZNBC staff in the presence of the private media. 4.2 Economic and Technological Environment Economically, the first quarter saw a protest of ZNBC workers following a delay in payment of salaries. It was thereafter reported that the delayed salaries were then paid by funds raised from toll gate fees. The incident raises question of how the public broadcaster is run when in fact it has the capacity to raise funds on its own. On the other hand, Zambia Daily Mail reporters saw a seven percent (7%) increase in their salaries which was a welcome move among media personnel. Apart from such development, the media industry in Zambia remains one of the lowest paying sectors. This is despite the industry’s potential to offer great financial motivation to workers. It was observed from the period under review that some journalists are getting less than K1 500 as their monthly salaries. 10