12 elections3, private media coverage did not remedy the overall imbalance between the time allocated to the ruling party and other contenders by state media4, even if those broadcasters gave higher exposure to a few prominent opposition figures5. Concerns on the unfair allocation of public media coverage were also raised by some interview participants. The coverage accorded by public media is discussed further in the legal environment in 3.2 below. It is no wonder that one of the promises made by President Hakainde Hichilema in his victory address included the prioritisation of reforms in the operations of the country’s public media6. Among the major challenges faced by media practitioners during the 2021 general elections, as indicated by the survey respondents were inadequate financial resources to effectively cover the elections, lack of transport and other logistical requirements, intermittent internet connectivity particularly during a social media blockade on 12th August7 as well as preventive restrictions under the COVID pandemic as indicated in the representative word cloud below. 3 Available at https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ps_zambia_final.pdf In July, Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Fr Emmanuel Chikoya expressed concern over continued poor coverage of opposition candidates on the national broadcaster ahead of the August polls. See https://diggers.news/local/2021/07/13/poor-coverage-of-opposition-parties-on-znbc-worries-council-ofchurches/ 5 For example, in June, 2021, the UPND was granted leave by the Ndola High Court to apply for judicial review challenging the failure by the Electoral Commission of Zambia to prescribe the amount of airtime allocated to participating political parties on public television and radio media platforms. 4 6 7 The speeches can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hakainde%20hichilema This is discussed further in the Technological Environment in 3.4 below 15