Media Bodies in Zambia submit that self regulation remains the only alternative though in need of overhauling Zambian media bodies, requested to make submissions to the Parliament Committee on Information and Broadcasting on The role of the media in national stability and the efficacy of thKabwe said that though the mainstream media’s conduct and compliance with the Electoral Code of Conduct of 2006 was not adequate during the 2008 October presidential by-election, Zambia could not enact laws to regulate the ethical conduct of the media.
He stated that there were sufficient laws which govern media conduct and included aspects for redress when parties are aggrieved. He said parties that felt unfairly covered could have used their rights provided in the Electoral Code of Conduct of 2006 to seek redress through the Electoral Commission of Zambia or the Courts of Law.
He explained that if media were subjected to statutory regulation, the likelihood of the freedom of expression being gagged was high.
And making a submission on the same topic University of Zambia Mass Communication Department Lecturer Gerald Mwale echoed the same sentiments but added that there was need for MECOZ to return to the drawing board to rework its outreach strategy to win the confidence of society.
Mwale said there was need for MECOZ to convince the media that subscribing to it was of their own good. He said that the redrafted MECOZ constitution should address the weaknesses raised by journalists.
He urged MECOZ to support and join forces with journalists who desired to raise professional standards and thus strengthen the social standing of journalism.
Appearing before the same committee on 7 May, 2009, Catholic Media Services (CMS) Executive Director Fr Paul Samasumo, said that the fact that some media organisation were not part of the organisation was because MECOZ was still in its formative stage.
He said the onus was on MECOZ to sufficiently repackage and market itself to woo rather than beat organisations into submission. Fr Samasumo said even organisations that were not part of it saw value in the organisation.
He reminded the Parliamentarians that statutory regulation of the media should be avoided at all costs. He said standards of ethics were best developed and applied by the media fraternity.
Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) Morgan Chonya has described MECOZ as a cornerstone of the system of self regulation to which the industry had made a binding commitment.
He also advised the government to cease controlling the public media such as the Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail so that they could return viability. He said the two papers were not selling at present because of their content.
The two newspapers are not selling because of the content and people are not buying because of government censorship, interference in the running of the two papers, Chonya was quoted by The Post newspapers of 10 May, 2009.
In making their submission to the committee for the first time, The Post newspaper on 11 May, 2009 submitted that there seemed to be a confusion of purpose by the body. He said that MECOZ had taken a punitive stance as opposed to corrective approach. He said that this stance was against stated objective of promoting professionalism in the media.
Malupenga explained that media ethics bodies world over did not have a purpose of punishing but promotion of media accountability without prejudice or preoccupation whatsoever.
He said the extent to which MECOZ had succeeded to arbitrate complaints between the public and the media was very little since inception.
In answering the question on what needed to be done for MECOZ to be better placed in ensuring media professionalism in terms of ethics, Malupenga said it needed to be taken back to the drawing board. He said there was need for a new board to be constituted and for its membership to be reviewed. He added that there was need for MECOZ to state its mandate clearly and embrace accountability adding that membership should continue being voluntary.
The Zambia Media Women Association (ZAMWA) chairperson Margaret Chimanse has said that the MECOZ constitution is weak. She said the body needed some changes although its objectives were good.
Meanwhile, MECOZ board member Chibamba Kanyama has said the administration of MECOZ was highly compromised as the body had no funding to pay the secretariat. Kanyama admitted that MECOZ performance was below par.
He admitted that the board members had not been meeting and the organisation had financial difficulties that had affected operations.
In other words, the administration is highly compromised. And this affects governance. We haven’t been able to call for an AGM to report back to our members. We are not even able to account for our actions or inactions before our members. And this has impacted on the attainment of the mission, the vision and objectives of MECOZ, he explained.
And Board chairperson for MECOZ Sr Rose Nyondo said that there was need to tighten the constitution of MECOZ to ensure that all journalists were part of MECOZ. She said that MECOZ needed to be linked to donors to be funded for a minimum of three years to help the organisation’s administration to stabilise and ensure maximum publicity through programmes. She said such support would assist MECOZ to visit community media and expand on its number of offices.
And Sr Nyondo submitted that it has been discussing with the Ministry of Information to give it the mandate to register all journalists so that they could be part of the organisation. As discussed with the former Hon Minister Mike Mulongoti and the current Minister Hon Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha at the formal meeting where MECOZ made a courtesy visit, it was suggested that we give MECOZ the mandate of media journalists accreditation. In this way, no journalists or media house can practice without being a member of MECOZ. She submitted.
In preparing for the 2011 general elections, she said that MECOZ had outlined a number of workshops to train journalists in ethics.