Most other activities planned for under the programme could not be undertaken since they all hinged on the disposal of the case between the media and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services and the Attorney General whose hearing was scheduled for September 19 2006 in view of contempt possibilities. However, On 15 March 2007, this long awaited case came to an end when the Supreme Court finally upset an earlier ruling by the Lusaka High Court that quashed the decision of the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services to veto the names of board members nominated to sit of both the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) boards. In view of this, a stakeholders’ seminar was held on March 24, 2007 with five other media associations to determine the way forward. In July 2006, MISA Zambia commissioned a needs survey on the transformation of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) into a public service broadcaster. The study involved an analysis of past and current national campaigns by the MISA Zambia Chapter on transforming state broadcasting to public broadcasting – including an assessment on the degree to which campaign material has succeeded or not as well as investigate existing knowledge about public versus state broadcasting The idea was to prepare baseline information to inform future campaign direction. The study used in-depth interviews and content analysis. The consultant has submitted a report. In relation to the above MISA Zambia held on 24 August 2006 a national stakeholders’ conference to explore the possibility of transformation of ZNBC into a public service broadcaster especially within the context of the general elections. Between July and October 2006, MISA Zambia conducted a content monitoring of ZNBC radio and Television news to ascertain the organization’s level of fairness, objectivity and impartiality in the coverage of news in the run up to the tripartite elections of September 28 2006. Results from a detailed content analysis of both ZNBC 13:15 hours radio and 19:00 hours main news that ran everyday from July to October 2006 revealed bias in favor of the ruling movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) as compared to other contesting candidates from other opposition political parties. The study showed a systematic bias in coverage of both radio and television news in favour of the ruling Movement for Multi party Democracy (MMD). The study also found that during the post-election period, ZNBC continued to show bias in favour of the MMD. In this regard, more stories covered the MMD/government leadership. Fewer stories appeared to have been critical of the MMD/government than for the other political parties. On 27 September 2007, on the eve of the general elections, MISA Zambia held a press conference in Lusaka to announce the release of the preliminary findings of the study. MISA Zambia also participated in a roundtable national preparedness discussion on the Eastern African Cable Submarine System (EASSY) project organised by One World Africa on 16 May 2006. 3.3.9. Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings remains the sole broadcaster despite the enactment of the Broadcasting Services Act five years ago. The act allows for the licensing of private players to be licensed but nothing has been done to license private players despite parliamentary calls for new players to be licensed especially community broadcasters. MISA-Zimbabwe is also working on a campaign to transform the state broadcaster into a true and democratic public broadcaster. Annual Report 2006 29