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Time Posted: May 15, 2014 2:14 pm

Reports that President Michael Sata is now personally phoning privately owned media houses to harass them over the stories they carry is a serious threat to media and free expression in Zambia.

We are aware that President Sata is very intolerant to opposing views, but the idea of him now personally phoning private media houses, like he is reported to have done to Daily Nation to harass them over the story they carried regarding his impasse with the Paramount Chief Chitimukulu of the Bemba-speaking people makes sad reading.

If the entire Head of State can phone a privately owned media houses to intimidate them about a news story, we wonder how much he personally phones and interferes with government owned media houses to control their editorial content.

We know that this is not the first time he has done such a thing as he recently phoned Joy FM radio to intimidate them when they were having a live programme featuring an opposition leader.

As UPND, we have always said Mr. Sata pre-occupied himself with very petty issues at the expense of important national issues of the economy and unprecedented high poverty levels among our people.

We are also wondering why Mr. Sata is involving himself with issues to do with chiefdoms and traditional affairs when he has limited or no jurisdiction as these can ably be handled by the local traditional leadership themselves or through the House of Chiefs.

As UPND on this matter involving installation of the Paramount Chief Chitimukulu, we stand by the processes and position taken by the Council of of the Bemba Royal Establishment that the recognised Chief Chitimukulu is Henry Kanyanta Sosala, who is formerly Chief Mwamba.

We believe that whether Mr. Sata and his government recognise him or not, the traditional authorities are much older than any Zambian government and hence government recognition is merely ceremonial and purely a formality.

Zambians expect Mr. Sata and his PF government to be seriously dealing with reducing the price of mealie meal, reducing fuel costs, addressing the depreciation of the Kwacha, the high cost of living and delivering a people driven constitution than dwelling on matters of traditional affairs.

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UPND questions to what purpose President Sata is personally phoning media houses

WHAT does it tell you about the state of a countrys media when the latter fails to protest in solidarity against the murder of colleagues? There is little safety in isolation.

This is the same media corps that had come together in the past after fighting off dangers to its values. But now, attacks on and the killing of Pakistani journalists have failed to elicit a collective response from within the press and from influential media house owners who appear to have prioritised corporate interests and have rivalries with competitors. That is why the government is not pressed about taking meaningful action against the mounting dangers to journalists.

Not only is the media divided in its approach, the bodies representing it have yet to act jointly through government lobbying, or even publishing an endorsed editorial demanding press protection and justice. In the ratings game, rival television channels spew hate almost in the manner of some religious extremists who incite their flock against denominations different from their own. The anchors dont realise that public opinion is moulded during their one-hour slot.

When dissenting voices speaking out against extremism are silenced, something needs to give. Minimising risks to the media, a joint approach (a code of ethics) supported by media house owners is required. Unfortunately, differences have come in the way of evolving a common strategy to actively engage the government in investigating the cases of murdered journalists.

Prosecuting murder cases will not fix the more complex reasons for why journalists have become easy targets, but it will act as a deterrent. Pakistans independent media, having won its freedom after huge sacrifices, is at the risk of losing its voice, not only from its usual detractors, but from vested business and political interests within.

After meeting with a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists in March, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hasnt followed through on his governments commitments to protect journalists or journalism for that matter. (Two Indian journalists have been given a weeks notice to leave the country: their visas were refused, despite pledges to make Pakistan accessible to journalists.)

Addressing the protection of journalists as a negotiating point with the Pakistani Taliban, the media must work without having to appease dangerous frenemies. Safeguards include having an active media complaints commission and a joint government -journalists commission as well as appointing special provincial prosecutors to investigate attacks. The government could also be collectively approached for instituting a national training institute for mandatory safety training for journalists.

According to Amnesty International, 34 Pakistani journalists have been killed since 2008 others have been threatened, tortured and have barely escaped assassinations attempts. In hardly any have the perpetrators been brought to justice.

Investigating 70 cases, an AI report, A bullet has been chosen for you: attacks on journalists in Pakistan, looking into complaints of harassment and attacks many allegedly connected to the intelligence, establishes that any sensitive story could put journalists at risk. Attacks on the media should be examined in the larger context of violence stoked by religious extremism, political rivalries and sectarianism, reminding us that the war on terror has multiplied strains between civilian and military institutions.

Threats from state and non-state actors to censor and control coverage come from intelligence services, political parties, armed sectarian groups, Baloch separatist groups and the Taliban more frequently after 2007, when the media stood by civil activists to create public opinion favouring the lawyers movement.

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