STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA STATE OF THE MEDIA IN ZAMBIA “Zambia can only benefit from the plurality of media voices. The suspension of Prime TV is a ploy to muzzle independent media voices in Zambia and to undermine the right to freedom of expression and media freedom. It is clearly intended to send a chilling message that journalists need to self-censor or face dire consequences,” he said. The suspension of Prime TVs broadcasting licence dominated most of the news in the period under review until its lifting of the suspension on 3rd April, 2019. During the suspension period, the TV station was ordered to conduct in-house training on basic journalism ethics and news script writing. 4.3.2 Lawsuits Prior to the suspension of the broadcast licence for Prime Television on 4 th March 2019, the News Diggers Publication on 1st March 2019, carried a headline, “IBA threatens to take Prime TV to court if doesn’t apologise to Mwila.” The paper reported that: IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma has threatened to take the conflict between Prime Television and PF Secretary General Davies Mwila to the High Court should the TV station fail to apologise to the complainant within 14 days. This decision reported in the newspaper came after Mr. Mwila had written to the Authority complaining about Prime TV’s "biased coverage and unethical reporting of political opinions and beliefs disguised as news during a broadcast of the TV’s main news on Saturday February 9, 2019". According to the correspondence between Prime TV and IBA, the TV station had requested that the hearing be moved to the following week, which the Authority had quashed. The paper quoted Ms. Mapoma cautioning Prime TV saying: “We are in receipt of your letter dated 28th February, 2019, where you propose to defer the meeting to next week. We are not deferring the Hearing. Therefore, we expect you to appear today (Friday) at 14:30 hours as per our earlier correspondence. We urge you to begin preparing your responses for the hearing. Take note that if you do not appear this afternoon, the Board will proceed to resolve this issue based on the report furnished to yourselves.” It was further reported that the Authority would take the matter to the High Court if Prime TV failed to comply with its directive to apologise to Mwila. 23