59 SOUTHERN AFRICA PRESS FREEDOM REPORT 2019-2020 ZAMBIA use hate speech and incite citizens to rise against a legitimately elected government. While the concerns on cyberbullying and criminality happening online are welcome, it is also important that this should not be taken advantage of to clamp down on critical voices or dissenting opinions expressed online mainly due to shrinking freedoms in the conventional space. (123) Despite internet data prices in Zambia being significantly lower than in other African countries, they remain unaffordable to the majority, with only 14% of the Zambian population using the Internet. (124) By Thomas Zulu IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC OVERVIEW The novel coronavirus outbreak was reported in Zambia in March 2020. (125) The progression of the pandemic prompted government to pass Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 22 of 2020 (126) which restricted public gatherings and in turn had a great impact on journalists who have to interact with news sources and guest contributors. The last four years were arguably the most turbulent period in the history of the media in Zambia in terms of state interference and outright violations against the media’s independence and freedom to conduct itself in a safe and conducive environment. This is due to the unprecedented heavy handedness by the state that resulted in the suspension of broadcasting licences for three broadcast stations by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 2016. (121) The country has continued to witness high levels of political intolerance towards media freedom and freedom of expression. There have been reports of media houses being attacked for featuring those with opposing views. MEDIA FREEDOM AND CENSORSHIP Growing government pressure on the media in recent years has led to increased selfcensorship among journalists, both online and offline. Journalists, social media users and bloggers increasingly write anonymously or pseudonymously to avoid harassment or the threat of legal action, (122) particularly on issues regarding politics and corruption involving government officials. In 2019, the Daily Nation newspaper reported on 2 August that the Inspector General of Police, Kakoma Kanganja had instructed all police commissioners to deal with people abusing their freedom of expression on the internet to insult, The health measures put in place, therefore, inhibited media activities as journalists had to work on a rotational basis while adjustments had to be made in terms of gathering information from sources. Unlike other workers, the media in Zambia were not classified as front-line workers, which could have enabled them to receive personal protective equipment as well as other resources to help in their day-to-day operations. MEDIA LEGISLATION Government called on the media to consider a law to allow for the fraternity to regulate itself for professional recognition. (127) This call came at a time when the media in Zambia was said to have a lot of media practitioners without a media background. On 29 January 2019, the then Information Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo gave the media an ultimatum of three months to come up with a self-regulatory framework or face statutory regulation. (128) The calls for self-regulation have culminated into the media overwhelmingly resolving to adopt a statutory self-regulatory framework after a twoday conference in Lusaka that drew participation from over 250 media personnel from across the