STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA President Edgar Lungu has urged his newly appointed Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Isaac Chipampe, to use his vast experience in the media industry to help end the habit by some journalists of publishing fake news. And President Lungu has advised Mr. Chipampe to always put official information in the public domain timely to stop media houses that are thriving in the industry by feeding the people with falsehoods. Mr Lungu said this yesterday when he swore in Mr Chipampe as his new Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations, replacing Amos Chanda who resigned from the position last week. The directive from the President if only focused on his Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations having to release information timely, is a move that will tackle rumours and speculation and contribute to the solving the problem of fake news. The move however, if extended to the media and tasking other wings of government to monitor the media for fake news, this may lead to an infringement on media freedoms. 7.0. Positive developments The Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services was possibly one of the most covered government officials in the Zambian media in the period under review. The PS in the quarter has dominated media coverage with his advice to the media on a number of issues. On 13th May ,2019 the Times of Zambia Publication carried a headline, “Kasolo calls for closer media, private sector ties” The paper reported that: Government has called for a closer inter-face between the media and the private sector to highlight a true picture of investments taking place in the country. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo, observes that the media is not given reasonable information to understand businesses and various sectors of the economy because the private sector tends to withhold valuable information. The paper further reported that: The PS stated that in more instances than few, there have been witnessed a one-way relationship between the media and business, where the media are only useful for the latest product launches or announcements, and too often, the media is not given room to understand the business,” he said. 30