CSOs Concerned On Election Media Coverage As IBA Warns Muvi
Transparency International-Zambia (TI-Z) has called on public media to cover all political parties fairly ahead of the 2021 elections.
“TI-Z has however observed with concern the tendency by public media houses to not cover all political players in some form of equal measure. It is apparent that political players that are aligned to the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) have continued to enjoy near unlimited coverage in the public media, while the same can hardly be said for those with an inclination to opposition political parties,” TI-Z Executive Director Maurice K. Nyambe has stated.
“The few times where opposition parties have been covered in the public media have been cases of negative coverage,” he continued.
Nyambe urged public media houses to introspect and take a principled stand to cover all political players in an equal and objective manner. He also called on the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) “to give a public assurance that employees of public media houses will be protected from any potential retribution that may arise from their being objective in covering different political players, particularly those from opposition political parties.”
The comments follow a recent incident in which the IBA summoned Muvi Television over alleged unprofessional conduct. The television station has come under criticism from IBA Director General Josephine Mapoma after it hosted Economic and Equity Party President Mr. Chilufya Tayali on its Special Assignment Programme.
“Barely three weeks ago, Muvi TV was cautioned by the IBA for unprofessional conduct when it featured Poor People’s Party President Mr. Alex Muliokela. The Station was directed to exercise good judgement and take ethical considerations seriously, regardless of whether a programme is paid for or not,” Ms Mapoma has stated.
She expressed concern that Muvi TV does not seem to observe the highest professional standards in accordance with Section 24 (1) (e) of the IBA (Amendment) Act number 26 of 2010 which states that the programming provided by Commercial Stations must meet the highest standards of journalistic professionalism.
Mrs Mapoma said IBA will not hesitate to invoke Section 29 of the IBA (Amendment) Act Number 26 of 2010, which gives the Board the power to suspend, revoke or cancel any broadcasting licence issued under the Act.
“To this effect, the Authority wishes to remind Muvi TV and other broadcasting stations to exercise professionalism in order to avoid contravening the law and face consequences. Meanwhile, the public may wish to know that Muvi TV has since been summoned to appear before the Authority to attend to specific concerns,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission chief investigations and legal services officer Kims Banda has also stressed the importance of media in the upcoming polls, describing it as “the fuel of a functional democracy.”
Banda has been quoted as stating that democracy cannot be operational without a free, independent and vibrant media.
“The free will of the people must prevail in order to guarantee a free, fair and credible election. And this is only attained by engaging the media, which apparently is the Fourth Estate of government. As a [Human Rights] Commission, we take cognisant of the fact that the media plays a critical role in informing, civic education and sensitisation of the citizenry. This is because we strongly believe that the media is the fuel of a functional democracy,” Banda stated.
Banda also said the Human Rights Commission wanted to see a level playing field ahead of the August polls. He said that the Human Rights Commission was concerned that media personnel in Zambia had been victims of political violence before, during and after elections.