STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA conclude that Mr. Mawere was fired as a result of the altercation with the journalist but the fact still stands that the Minister was wrong in giving warning to a journalist for doing his job. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of expression is the right of every individual to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. In what may seem as a step towards protecting citizen’s rights to freedom of expression, the Daily Nation Newspaper Publication on 6th June, 2019, carried a headline, “Government calls for anti-phone taping measures.” The publication reported that: Government has directed the cybercrime squad and other law enforcement agencies to ensure they stop the tapping of private phone calls and the ‘rampant’ victimization of innocent people on social media. The paper added that: The Minister of Transport and Communication, Brian Mushimba warned that government would be forced to shut down social media if the situation does not improve. “this madness certainly is getting out of control under the disguise of rights,” he said it was sad that private calls were now being tapped and that fake statements aimed at injuring others had become the order of the day. In line with the Minister’s views above, it can be stated that dealing with social media abuse is not by shutting down social media in the country, but by sensitising people on responsible use of social media. Meanwhile, it can be stated that while media freedoms, may not only be perpetuated by attacks on the media, media freedoms may also be infringed upon through acts such as confiscation of broadcasting equipment. This may be the case with Falls FM who in May, 2019 were switched off for non-payment of contractual obligations with NAPSA. While it is unfortunate that broadcast stations get their media freedoms infringed upon through confiscation of equipment, it is also broadcast management’s responsibility to ensure that their operations are not affected in any way by ensuring that all contractual obligations with suppliers are settled to avoid distress. 5.1 Economic, Health and Technological Environment The state of the media in the second quarter was also dominated by reports on the advancement of technologies in the media industry. On 26th June, 2019 The Mast Newspaper publication carried a headline, “AZURI technologies launch 24inch solar satellite TV” The paper reported that: 26