STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA Corporation (ZNBC). This was published in the Times of Zambia’s 15th March 2019 edition, under the heading “Government law to empower IBA to regulate ZNBC.” In his speech, Mr. Kasolo said IBA did not monitor ZNBC because the law did not allow the authority to do so. He said the 2002 IBA Act gave the authority powers to monitor ZNBC but the MMD government changed it in 2010 and pulled out ZNBC from being covered by the IBA. “we are changing the law and will include ZNBC to the Act so that it can be subjected to the same scrutiny that other media institutions go through… the idea was to make ZNBC trusted again by Zambians as it was a public media” Mr Kasolo said. Meanwhile, on 28th January 2019, a then newly launched media body in its maiden speech by interim President Mr. Jajah Coulibaly stated that there was need to amend the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s Act to give more independence on media regulation. ZIIMA’s argument was that in its current state, IBA could not manage to regulate ZNBC and that for this to change political will from authorities was needed. “We have noted the interest by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo to have ZNBC regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority – IBA… While PS Kasolo’s statement reflects a radiant hope, the regulation of ZNBC by IBA requires serious political will… For this to bear fruit, our lawmakers will have to amend both the ZNBC and IBA Acts so as to give IBA the legal powers to regulate ZNBC, just like any other broadcasting player in Zambia,” Mr. Coulibaly stated. To date, the debate on the need for IBA to regulate ZNBC still rages on. 4.1.4. Cyberspace Regulation There has been a lot of talk of cyberspace regulation especially in relation to fake news. Government has been in the fore front advocating for the regulation of the cyberspace. On 19 th March, the Minister of Transport and Communication Dr. Brian Mushimba reiterated that the government was determined to curtail cybercrimes in the country. The Daily Mail reported that: 13