STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA It was reported that the initiative of establishing Radio listening clubs has potential to contribute to the promotion and enhancement of democracy and the act of making civic leaders accountable to the needs and aspirations of the communities that they are supposed to lead. The project which is aimed at increasing awareness of good governance and encouraging communities to take a leading role in holding civic leaders accountable, was reported in the paper to have been received well by community members. The paper reported that as a result of the Radio listening club project: “community members meet every Monday to listen to the radio programme that features civic leaders. After that, they pick topics that are relevant to their situation and dissect whether or not their interests are being represented. The community members are also empowered with phones to call in on the radio programmes so as to hold the leaders accountable. Where they can, they applaud them and where they want them to do more, they tell them through phoning in to the programme.” 6.0. Other Developments 6.1. Media Ethics and Ethical Conduct Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. In the period under review, the News Diggers! publication carried a heading “Editors, Journalists reaffirm importance of ethical conduct”. The paper reported on 30th September that: The Zambia Media Freedom Committee of the World Association of Newspapers and Publishers, (WAN-IRFA) has reminded Journalists to always remember the importance of ethics in their practice. During a one-day workshop on media ethics organized by Zambia Media Freedom Committee of the WAN-IFRA, Journalists and News Editors agreed to defend the integrity of the journalism profession. Issues of media ethics and how important they were in the practice of journalism were championed by those in attendance. The paper further reported that journalists agreed to draft guidelines for themselves in a communique. The communique read in apart as follows: 25