Government assures journalists in the country that it believes in freedom of the press Government has reassured journalists in the country that it believes in freedom of the press as a tenet for democracy but urged the media fraternity to be responsible in their reporting. Chief Government Spokesperson and Information Minister, Joseph Katema, says the media has been invaded by people who do not respect ethics and were taking advantage of the current free working environment to verbally abuse innocent people. Dr Katema said this when he met the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Zambian Chapter at his office at the Government Complex in Lusaka yesterday. This iscontained in a statement made available to ZANIS by the Ministry of Information, Press and Public Relations Unit. The agenda of the meeting was to dialogue over laws that MISA feels could be restricting freedom of expression and encumbering the work of the media in Zambia. The MISA delegation raised concern over certain sections of the Penal Code which they said were an affront on the free media. The delegation said Section 67 of the Penal Code, which prohibits publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public, should be deleted from statute books because publishing false news was an ethical issue and not a legal matter. They further told the Minister that Section 177 of the Penal Code, which criminalises having, producing, conveying, distributing or displaying any obscene matters which tend to corrupt morals, should be amended to adequately define what constitutes obscenity. The delegation argued that this piece of legislation was not helpful because it was vague in all aspects, making it almost impossible to enforce. They said as MISA they were against the amendments made to the ZNBC and IBA Acts where Ad-hoc appointment committees were removed from the provisions because the removal of the appointment committees meant that ZNBC and IBA could remain undergovernment control since the Minister of Information remains solely responsible for the appointment of board members. The delegation also raised concern over the delayed appointment of board members for the IBA and enactment of the Access to Information Bill. And the delegation further requested the Minister to protect media houses and journalists from harassment perpetuated by political party cadres. And in response, Dr Katema assured MISA that as the Chief Government Spokesperson he will always speak against harassment perpetuated by cadres from any political party but also urged journalists to be responsible in their reporting. “The PF Government is for media freedom and we shall not move away from that principle. But what we are also saying is that even with this freedom, journalists should practise with responsibility. For example, right now we are seeing insults directed at innocent people; that should be condemned even by MISA,” he said. He said the appointment of the IBA Board was in progress while the process towards the enactment of the Access to Information Bill had also reached an advanced stage. The minister told the delegation that the Ministry will study the MISA’s submissions. The Ministry invited MISA for dialogue after a press advertisement to the effect that the Law Review Commission was in the process of reviewing the Penal Code and was asking for inputs from stakeholders. The MISA delegation comprised the Acting National Director Jane Chirwa, the Chairperson Helen Mwale, Vice Chairperson Elizabeth Mweene Chanda and Board Member Wilson Mpondamali.
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 09:12:12 +0000