ZAMBIA
By Martin Kapende, Business Editor, Zambia Daily Mail
24 February 2003

The newspaper industry is mainly dominated by three dailies, two of which are government owned, Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail and the privately owned Post Newspapers. There are however several weekly and bi-weekly newspapers dominated by the church-owned National Mirror and the Monitor which was born out of civil society initiative.

The Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail are broadsheets which have been in existence for over four decades initially established under private capital before they were taken over by government in the early 1970s. The two papers which mostly project government's position, also run Sunday editions. Both the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail have previously run financial editions, the Daily Mail's Financial Mail having been on the market for over ten years until recently while the Times' edition lasted for less than two years in the early 2000s.

The financial publications of the two dailies most probably wound up because of declining sales as a result of the poor economy and probably how the papers were managed. The poor economy has also adversely affected the general readership of all the newspapers currently on the market.

Of the so-called private media, the National Mirror is produced by Multimedia Zambia which is under the aegis of the Christian Council of Zambia comprising a number of religious organisations and has been in existence since 1972. It is critical coverage of political issues under the one party regime earned it a bad blood with the powers that be. The then head of state, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, at one time even ordered parastatal companies not to advertise in the newspaper in an effort to cripple it. This economic strangulation of newspapers was at one time also extended to the post under the Chiluba government although it now seems to enjoy somewhat improved relations with the current Mwanawasa-led government.

The Monitor was initiated by a Non-Governmental Organisation in the run up to the presidential and general elections in 2001 as an elections sensitisation publication which has since mutated into a fully fledged newspaper as a limited company. It has also stepped on the toes of politicians in government and outside and faces numerous libel suits as a result of its fearless reporting of issues and rarely does government advertise in the Monitor.

There are also a number of smaller publications including Today, the Star and Business and Leisure Times, an emergent financial and business publication. Most of these publications have largely been assisted by the Swedish government-assisted Media Trust Fund which has helped them get established. (MTF has also assisted government owned newspapers with equipment).

In terms of coverage, Zambian newspapers are not specialised per se, covering everything from politics to economics although the latter is given less prominence and journalist who have been on financial desks or financial newspapers get sort of "specialised" by attending various short economic reporting courses. Currently coverage of alleged economic plunder under the previous government of President Chiluba and the alleged rigging of elections that brought in President Mwanawasa into power is featuring prominently in all the newspapers.

But as in many aspects of "He who pays the pipers calls the tunes equally applies to both the privately owned newspapers and the government papers."

Economic Viability and readership The future of Zambian newspapers is somewhat bleak because, as stated above, readership has been declining due to the poor economy in the nation while at the same time the prices of the publications have been rising. Another factor affecting the newspaper industry is the high cost of inputs like newsprint and other production materials and high telecommunications bills. Meanwhile last year after extensive lobbying some members of parliament attempted to bring in media legislation to help improve operations of the media. One Bill was the Freedom of Information Bill which sought to allow access to information from public institutions.

The other Bill the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Amendment Bill sought to provide for the establishment of other institutions apart from the Zambia National Broadcasting Bill.

The Third Bill, the Independent Broadcasting Bill sought to remove the powers of licensing to an independent authority from the Ministry of Information. But afterwards, Government which had been dragging its feet despite promised media reforms twelve years ago moved in and instead introduced its own version of the three bills which have since been deferred to this year.

On Press Freedom, newspapers in Zambia enjoy quite some relative freedom of the press although access to certain types of information is sometimes fettered by bureaucracy and other archaic legislation which hinder publications. Some officials also tend to issue warning statements to newspapers perceived to very critical accusing them of gutter journalism. But despite this relative Freedom of the Press, self-censorship is evident especially in the government media despite lack of direct physical attacks on the press.