STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBA safety and protection ensures that they provide timely and quality information to society to inform their choices and decisions. Media bodies should continue calling upon government and other stakeholders to be generous enough and ensure that those liberal media environment is achieved through the enactment of laws such as the Access to Information bill. 9.0 Recommendations The following are the recommendations drawn from the review; a) Enactment of the ATI - It is recommended that government keeps its word on the enactment of this very important piece of legislation to enhance access to information by the general public about the way the country is run. This will enhance the fight against corruption as well as improve accountability among those that hold public office. b) IBA enhanced legislation-IBA must seek to be given legislated powers to regulate ZNBC as one of the major players in the broadcast industry in order to level the playing field for all industry players. There must be only one law to apply to all institutions regardless of ownership or otherwise. This will be a fairer way of regulating the sector. c) Protection of journalists - Government and all other stakeholders are urged to ensure that the rights of journalists are not only recognised but vehemently protected to guarantee them a safe operating environment. The safety of the journalist will ensure that they gather quality information that is disseminated in a timely manner. Journalists for their part should strive to be professional and responsible in their work to reduce the risks involved in the job. d) Liberating of state media - There has been marked eroding of past gains towards freeing of public media from government interference. Government should do more and move in the direction of making these institutions truly public as opposed to state owned, run and controlled. This will tremendously improve their capacity, credibility and ultimately impact positively on the media fraternity in general in the country e) Repeal of all undemocratic archaic pieces of legislation hostile to media - The call to repeal certain pieces of outdated legislation is still something we continue to urge lawmakers to seriously look into. Stakeholders should take the opportunity presented by the constitution review process to ensure that this is achieved. f) Advocacy activities - All concerned stakeholders are urged to continue with advocacy activities on all situations, processes and areas that negatively affect the work of 31 | P a g e