Media Book 2 MEEZ MISA ELECTIONS MONITORING

ZAMBIA ELECTIONS MEDIA
MONITORING PROJECT (ZEMMP)
FINAL SUMMATIVE REPORT
FEBRUARY 2012

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ii
Executive Summary 1
1.1 Background and context 4
2.1 Monitoring design and methodology 6
2.2 Media houses 7
2.3 Content monitored 7
2.4 Data capture 9
2.5 Monitoring instruments 9
2.6 Monitoring challenges 9
3.1 Pre-election period 9
3.2 Election period findings 10
3.3 Post-election period findings 12
4.1 Introduction 14
4.2 Methodology 14
4.2.1 Audience focus groups 14
4.2.2 In-depth interviews 16
4.3 Focus group findings 17
4.4 Civil Society Organisations (CSO)
In-depth interview findings 19
1.0 Introduction 4
2.0 Media monitoring 6
3.0 Media monitoring findings 9
4.0 Community perceptions of election coverage by media 14
5.0 Conclusions & recommendations 20
ZAMBIA ELECTIONS MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT (ZEMMP)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The PressAssociation of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of SouthernAfrica (MISA)
- Zambia would like to acknowledge the following for their contribution to the ZEMMP
project and the compilation of this report:
Andrew Sakala -Chairperson (PAZA )
Patson Phiri - Board Member (PAZA )
Daniel Sikazwe -Chairperson (MISA Zambia)
Daniel Banda - Information and Research Officer (MISA Zambia)
Edna Chirwa Simwinga - Researcher (BBC MediaAction)
Herbert Macha - MEEZ Coordinator (BBC MediaAction)
The media houses, the civil society organisations, and the journalists who covered the
launches.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia.
This report was compiled byYoungson Ndawana (PAZA/MISA),HenryA.Muloongo (BBC
MediaAction) with support from Ed Pauker (BBC MediaAction) andAugusto Newell (BBC
MediaAction)
© PAZA & MISA Zambia (2012)
pazamedia@gmail.com
info@misazambia.org.zm
The Zambia Election Media Monitoring Project (ZEMMP) was supported with funding
from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
ii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
MEDIA MONITORING
ELECTION PERIOD
tPerformance of the Zambian media was characterized by extreme
polarization:
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This document is the final media monitoring report of the 'Zambia Elections
Media Monitoring Project (ZEMMP), a collaboration between the Press
Association of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa,
(MISA-Zambia) and supported by BBC MediaAction (formerly the BBCWorld
ServiceTrust) which set out to understand the quality of election-related news
coverage in the Zambian media.The media monitoring project was funded by
the UNDP.
Media monitoring, in the form of content analysis, was conducted at three
critical points;prior to the start of the electoral campaign,during the campaign
and election period, and after the elections. It is important to note that the
media monitoring provides a strong indication of the state of the media in
Zambia. However it does not give an all encompassing picture of the media
performance in Zambia. Across the lifespan of the project a total of 27 days of
media output were monitored. Top level key findings include:
The public media (both print and
broadcast) only reported positive
stories on the ruling party, the
Movement for Multi-party
Democracy (MMD) and negative
or no stories on the opposition
parties.
Muvi TV and Radio Phoenix
generally provided fair and
balanced coverage of the 2011
Elections.
The Post Newspaper primarily printed positive Patriotic Front
(PF) stories and negative MMD stories.
Government, political party officials and other elites
dominated coverage and sourcing with no critical analysis of
how stories affected the public.
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In general, the media
did not fulfil its duty
to provide the public
with balanced, fair
and equitable
information that
allows them to make
informed choices.

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POST-ELECTION PERIOD:
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COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS
In general,the media did not fulfil its duty to provide the public
with balanced, fair and equitable information that allows them
to make informed choices.
Public media has begun to diversify
their coverage beyond the
ruling party
Governance topics are being
covered in some depth, but
generally failed to provide specific
contextual information to
audiences.
We note reduced reliance on
government and/or party officials
as news sources.
There has been a noticeable improvement in balancing of news
in the public media.Overall,60% of all stories are now receiving
balanced treatment compared to 25% before the elections
(Media Monitoring Report PAZA/MISA 23/1/2012).
It is also evident that there is a shift towards reporting how
policies affect the ordinary citizen and a greater focus on
human interest stories. According to the Media Monitoring
Report published in January 2012,just 47% of all stories before
the general elections contained the human angle aspect whilst
this figure has now risen to 75%.
In an effort to triangulate the findings from the media monitoring,the ZEEMP
project team conducted qualitative research to find out what Zambian citizens
thought about the way the media reported the 2011 general elections.This
research included in-depth interviews with a sample of representatives from
Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and focus group discussions with
representatives of various communities across Zambia.Top level key findings
include:
2
According to the
Media Monitoring
Report published in
January 2012, just 47%
of all stories before
the general elections
contained the human
angle aspect whilst
this figure has now
risen to 75%.

AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS
CSO IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
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Participants in the focus groups were nearly unanimous in noting that media
coverage of different political groups was dependent on media ownership and
varied greatly depending on media house.
Concerns were raised about media sources in election-related stories
observing the focus was on people representing institutions or specific
political groups and the views of ordinary citizens were generally neglected.
This gave a sense that the media became a tool for party campaigning.
Participants noted some improvement in the way the public media reported
after the elections. Participants also noted that more news stories covered
opposition leaders and ordinary citizens.
Despite these changes,members of the public are cognisant of the limitations
present in the Zambian media and are eager for a space that provides news and
information reflecting the views and concerns of everyday citizens and not just
the leading political parties.
In general,CSO representatives:
Expressed a desire that the media widen their news coverage
of political parties and move beyond the main players.
Voiced concern over the function of the public media and its
duty to accurately report on national issues since they are
funded from taxpayers' money.
Felt that the ruling party at the time of the election had a strong
influence over public media election coverage.
Observed the need for the media to broaden the discussion
space about political and developmental issues to include
ordinary Zambians,especially those in the rural areas.
Noted a change in the way the public media reported
governance issues and an increase of opposition political
leaders featured in news items since the change of government.
Emphasised the importance that such changes in the media's
coverage of governance and election issues continue, and not
revert back to party-based reporting at the next election cycle.
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUNDAND CONTEXT
This report comprises the final media monitoring report of the ‘Zambia
Elections Media Monitoring Project’(ZEMMP), a collaboration between the
PressAssociation of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of SouthernAfrica
(MISA-Zambia), and supported by BBC Media Action (formerly the BBC
World Service Trust) which set out to understand the quality of election-
related news coverage in the Zambian media.
Media monitoring was part of a wider project, ‘Media for Ethical Election
Coverage in Zambia’ (MEEZ) project, which ran from July 2011 through
February 2012 and sought to contribute to a tangible shift towards issue-
based political reporting, with a more specific purpose to enhance the
Zambian media's capacity to provide balanced, ethical and issue-based
coverage of the September 2011 Zambia general elections and beyond.The
project was funded by the UNDP.
During the 1991 general elections, multi-party politics was reintroduced in
Zambia with the sweeping victory of the opposition party,the 'Movement for
Multi-party Democracy' (MMD). Since 1991 Zambia has had five general
elections each marked by relatively smooth transitions of power. Although
infringements of the Electoral Code of Conduct have occurred, overall,
elections have been judged free and fair since then.
Since the reinstitution of multi-party democracy in Zambia, the media
landscape has been liberalised and consequently there has been an enormous
increase in independent, commercial and community media (radio, print and
TV) across Zambia.This has also meant that access to different sources of
information (not just state media) has improved dramatically. An example of
this dramatic increase in media is the fact that there is now more than fifty (50)
community and private radio stations spread across Zambia offering
communities an alternative to the state broadcasters.The Zambia National
Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) broadcasts both TV and radio
programming, and government affiliated newspapers the Zambia Daily Mail
andTheTimes of Zambia are also relatively well distributed in Zambia.
4

Of the independent and commercial media houses in operation none truly
have a nation-wide presence but the Post enjoys a significant circulation, and
Radio Phoenix and Q-FM plus Muvi-TV can be picked up on the Copperbelt.
This increase in media houses and access to alternative information has helped
stimulate a lively and varied debate on current affairs and politics amongst
Zambians.
During recent years the media landscape in Zambia has become increasingly
polarised with media houses blatantly choosing sides (i.e. being clearly pro-
government or clearly pro-opposition).A certain amount of partisanship is
normal but unfortunately some of the leading media houses seem to have
abandoned all pretext of fair and unbiased reporting to support their chosen
party.This practice was already substantially curtailing the flow of reliable and
credible information to the Zambian public.
Along with the extreme polarisation of some of the leading media houses
another worrying trend was noted; namely a consistent move away from
reporting on real issues, policies and story content towards focusing on
personalities by using the increasingly shrill sound bites of different politicians.
PAZA and MISA-Zambia with support from BBC Media Action designed the
media monitoring to provide a robust analysis of the socio-political context
and the character of the media in Zambia today.
5
Journalists covering ballot counting during the 2011 elections in Lusaka

The rationale for this project emanated from a rapid situational analysis that
showed high levels of extreme media polarisation as perceived by the public.
And in the run-up to the September 2011 general elections,PAZA and MISA-
Zambia saw it as imperative to undertake this activity as a contribution to
enhancing media capacity in coverage of elections in Zambia.With both short
term and long term objectives,it was hoped that the evidence gathered from
the monitoring period as well as insights learnt from the project would greatly
contribute to achieving the stated objectives.
This report represents the final product of the ZEMMP project and is
presented in three main parts;
Media monitoring and;
Community perceptions of election coverage by the media
Conclusions and recommendations
Activities carried out as part of media monitoring called for the analysis of
content in the Zambian media at three critical points;prior to the start of the
electoral campaign, during the campaign and election period, and after the
elections. Its objective was to assess whether the Zambian media were
adhering to the Electoral Code of Conduct as well as to more general
journalistic principles and ethics in their reporting of election-related and
governance issues. Across the lifespan of the project, a total of 27 days of
media output were monitored. Table 1 shows the dates of all media
monitoring activities.
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2.0 MEDIA MONITORING
2.1 MONITORING DESIGNAND METHODOLOGY
Table 1:Media monitoring Schedule
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Phase Monitoring dates
Pre-election 31 July – 5 August, 2011
Pre-election
tracker
25-26 August, 2011
Election-period 14-26 September, 2011
Post-election (I) 2-5 November, 2011
Post-election (II) 5-8 December, 2011

2.2 MEDIA HOUSES
Table 2:Monitored media houses
2.3 CONTENT MONITORED
Individual media houses were selected for monitoring due to whether they
were state (public),private, or community-owned media,and on the basis of
nation-wide circulation and regional representation.As far as possible given
the technical challenges of media monitoring, the same media houses were
monitored during each phase. A total of ten media houses were selected for
monitoring with state media represented by ZNBCTV,ZNBC Radio,Times of
Zambia, and The Zambia Daily Mail; private media by The Post Newspaper,
Radio Phoenix and Muvi TV; and community media by Radio Oblate Liseli,
Radio Mano and Radio Musi-o-Tunya (Table 2).
Community media were not included during the initial pre-election
monitoring. However, feedback from the initial monitoring report suggested
that it was necessary to include a sampling of community media to provide a
more complete picture of media reporting in Zambia. Oblate Radio Liseli and
Radio Musi-o-Tunya participated in both election-period monitoring and post-
election monitoring. Radio Mano was included in election period monitoring,
but did not participate in post-elections monitoring.
Monitoring focused specifically on the daily news output of the selected media
houses. For the broadcast media, the main daily news output was monitored.
Print publications were monitored in their entirety.
State/Public media Private media Community media
ZNBCTV Radio Phoenix Oblate Radio Liseli
ZNBC Radio MuviTV Radio Musi-o-Tunya
Zambia Daily Mail The Post Newspaper Radio Mano
Times of Zambia
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PRE-ELECTIONAND ELECTION PHASE
POST-ELECTION PHASE
During the pre-election and election-period, monitoring analysed only
‘election-related’ news items. Specific stories were deemed to be
election-related and selected for analysis on the basis of a two-step
definition.
First,each story had to include one of a selection of key words or phrases,
including Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), a party name, party
candidate or party official, or election. Second, the story also had to
substantially refer to the 2011 elections.Of the qualifying stories for each
station or publication on a given day of the monitoring period,a maximum
of five stories were randomly selected for analysis.
As in the previous two phases, post-election monitoring continued to
primarily focus on news output.In this phase,however,the methodology
was modified to take into consideration the expected shift in news
content in the sampled media houses as a result of the end of the election
period. In this manner the methodology ensured relevancy and ability to
capture the right sample for analysis.
To reflect the change on focus of stories, under this phase,‘governance’
related stories were sampled for analysis.A story was considered to be
‘governance’ related if it looked at issues relating to community livelihood,
service delivery, governance policy statements, national economic
decisions and general poverty alleviation. International stories were
excluded from the monitoring across all media.
For both the print and electronic media all local news items were
monitored, with the exception of sports, weather reports and feature
articles. For the print media a maximum of seven (7) stories were then
randomly selected for analysis. Under the electronic media all the
qualifying stories were analysed.
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2.4 DATA CAPTURE
2.5 MONITORING INSTRUMENTS
2.6 MONITORING CHALLENGES
3.0 MONITORING FINDINGS
3.1 PRE-ELECTION PERIOD
News bulletins from both radio andTV were captured using a device called the
‘TV Card’.This enabled the safe storage and retrieval at a later stage of the
media content for analysis.For print media,copies were purchased and stored
safely from which stories for analysis were sampled.
All data was coded using a standardised code-frame.All researchers analysing
content were trained in how to use and interpret the code-frame. Following
each phase of monitoring, the code-frame was reviewed and any possible
improvements made.
The ZEMMP project experienced several challenges in implementing media
monitoring. Many of these were technical in nature. Power cuts resulted in
some community radio stations struggling to capture and or send their media
content to the monitoring team. Further, back-ups of all electronic content
should be made as there was one instance where the electronic file containing
captured media content became corrupted and unusable. Finally, media
monitoring is a time and resource-heavy activity. Capturing media content,
managing the data, and analysing and reporting on it all requires careful
planning and implementation.
Between 31st July and 5thAugust,and again during 25th and 26thAugust 2011,
the Zambia Elections Media Monitoring Project team conducted media
monitoring of election-related news content from selected media houses
across Zambia.The objective of the monitoring was to understand the quality
of election-related coverage leading up to the 2011 elections. While no
reporting was intended from this round of preliminary activities, the
endeavour helped inform the process by which monitoring activities would be
conducted and allowed for pre-testing of methodology.
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3.2 ELECTION PERIOD MONITORING FINDINGS
tThe people featured in election stories change depending on whether
media is public,private or community-owned.
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tBoth public and private media stories included subjective treatment of
the political parties they covered.
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Between 14th and 26th September 2011, the Zambia Elections Media
Monitoring Project team conducted media monitoring of election-related
news content from ten media houses across Zambia. The objective of the
monitoring was to understand the quality of election-related coverage at the
height of the 2011 elections. Its main findings were:
Stories in the public media were more likely to feature MMD
candidates or officials,who appeared in more than one quarter
of all stories on ZNBCTV, The Zambia Daily Mail andTimes of
Zambia.
Stories in the private media were more likely to feature PF
candidates or officials, who appeared in 40% of all stories
published byThe Post Newspaper.
Stories from the community media were the most likely to
feature ordinary citizens, who appeared in 25% of all their
stories.
Of the stories in the public media featuring MMD candidates or
officials, one third (33%) of them treated the MMD explicitly
positively.
Of the stories in the private media (in particular the Post
newspaper) that featured PF candidates or officials, nearly
one half (48%) treated the PF explicitly positively.
With a divide in the parties appearing in the public and private
media and a degree of subjective treatment, only one third
(34%) of all stories were judged to have given an overall
balanced treatment of the topics they covered.
This was highest among the community media, where 54% of
the stories were judged to have provided an overall balanced
treatment.
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tStories tended to rely on a single source and their content was driven
by the statements and activities of two main political parties.
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tPublic media stories were skewed towards covering the ruling party,
whichever it might be.
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tStories focused on the upcoming vote, but did not provide citizens
with information on the policies and substantive issues that affect their
lives.
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More than half (54%) of all stories featured only a single source.
The two main parties in the recent elections,the MMD and PF,
were each the source of 19% of all stories.The UPND was a
source for only 6% of stories and other parties only 4%.
After the election results were announced, the use of MMD
officials as sources for stories in public media dropped from
61% to 19%.
The public media also featured PF candidates and officials more
frequently after the election result announcement.
Explicitly positive treatment of the PF officials appearing in
stories also increased in the public media,rising from 6% prior
to the election result announcement to 41% following it.
Agriculture and health issues were each the main topic of only
1% of all stories.
Less than half (47%) of all stories included information as to
how the topic covered would affect ordinary people.
Approximately one in ten (11%) stories included specific
information about policies espoused by the government or
political parties.
At the height of the 2011 elections, the
performance of the Zambian media was
characterised by extreme polarisation.With some
private media and in particular the Post
Newspaper supporting opposition voices and the
public media the views of the ruling party,
regardless of which, the media’s duty to provide
the public with information that allows them to make informed choices about
which candidates to support appears to have been lost.
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At the height of the
2011 elections, the
performance of the
Zambian media was
characterized by
extreme
polarisation.

This research demonstrates that there is an on-going need to create public
spaces in the Zambian media that are unbiased and prioritise the needs of
citizens over that of either party.
3.3 POST-ELECTION MONITORING FINDINGS
tStories in the media focused on corruption and a variety of other
governance issues, but did not provide citizens with specific
information on policies.
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This monitoring phase covered media stories between 2nd and 5th November
2011and again from 5th to 8th December 2011 as part of the larger effort to
enhance the capacity of the Zambian media to provide balanced, ethical and
issue-based coverage in news stories. The objective of the post-election
monitoring was to understand the quality of governance-related coverage
after national elections held on 20th September 2011.Content from a total of
398 news stories from nine (9) media houses were analysed as part of this
endeavour.Its main findings were:
Corruption and anti-corruption was the most frequent central
topic of stories, accounting for 25% of all stories in the
monitoring period.
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Part of the audience and media personnel at a ZEMMP media breakfast, December 2011

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Many stories continued to have a single source and most still featured a
familiar group of national government, civil society and political party
officials – not average citizens.
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tWhile governance stories tended to present a fairly balanced
treatment of their subject matter, nearly half contained a single point
of view and few provided audiences with multiple perspectives on a topic.
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Three quarters (75%) of all stories provided information about
how the central topic affects ordinary people;an increase from
65% in November 2011 monitoring.
Despite this, less than a quarter (23%) of all stories included
specific information regarding policies of the government,
political parties or others; a slight decrease from November
2011 monitoring.
Approximately half of all stories (48%) had a single source.52%
of all stories had multiple sources.
Whether featuring multiple sources or just one, stories still
relied heavily on a small group of sources. 69% of all stories
from the public media used national government personnel as a
source, as did 47% of all private and community media stories.
MMD, PF, and UPND officials were also popular sources.
Only 14% of all stories included the voices of ordinary people.
Half of all stories (50%) featured a single viewpoint,while nearly
half (48%) of all stories included multiple points of view.
Overall,stories with points of view in opposition to each other
on the main topic consisted of less than one fifth of all stories
(18%).
While presenters and journalists tended not to explicitly
support a point of view, some stories were covered in a way
that created the impression of support for a particular political
party.
Overall, 60% of all stories were deemed to have provided a
balanced treatment of the subject matter they covered.But this
varied widely among media houses, with 88% of Muvi TV and
86% Zambia Daily Mail stories balanced. Only 20% of ZNBC
Radio and 21% of stories in The Post Newspaper were
balanced.
t
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Based on two rounds of post-election media monitoring since the September
2011 elections, certain trends in the media’s coverage of governance issues
became apparent. Governance topics were covered in some depth, but
generally failed to provide specific contextual information to audiences.
Government officials, political party officials and other elites continued to
dominate coverage and sourcing although there has been an improvement
with more stories with a human interest angle. Stories presented only a
limited perspective on the subject matter and despite little explicit support for
particular parties, the balance with which governance issues were covered
varied widely. The public media showed a significant improvement in terms of
balance. MuviTV also showed a consistent balance in their reporting.
In an effort to triangulate the findings from the media monitoring regarding the
quality of election coverage, the ZEEMP project team conducted qualitative
research to find out what Zambian citizens thought about the way the media
reported the 2011 general elections.This research included six (6) in-depth
interviews with a sample of representatives from Civil Society Organisations
and sixteen (16) focus group discussions with representatives of various
communities across Zambia. This section of the final report presents the main
findings of such research.
The qualitative research conducted comprised of 16 focus group
discussions with members of the public.Focus group discussions allowed
for detailed exploration of participants’ views on media coverage of
elections and governance issues. Focus group discussions also enabled
the research to capture a variety of perspectives from Zambian citizens of
different backgrounds and interests.
4.0 COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS OF
MEDIA COVERAGE OFTHE ELECTIONS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 METHODOLOGY
4.2.1 FOCUS GROUPS
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To capture a variety of perspectives, research divided the country into
three geographical zones:Northern,Central and Southern.The Northern
zone represents Luapula, Northern, North-western and the Copperbelt
provinces. The Central zone consists of Central, Lusaka and Eastern
provinces, and the Southern zone consists of Western and Southern
Provinces. Each zone was structured considering the similarities in
cultural and ethnic groupings among the provinces within the zone.
Due to the topic of the research, only individuals who are regular media
consumers were recruited to each focus group. This media consumption
parameter required that a participant either listened to the radio or
watchedTV three or more days in an average week.
To enable conversation and to encourage free-flowing discussion,age and
gender were also taken into account when recruiting participants. In
terms of age, participation was limited to people of voting age (18 years
and above).Groups were divided into two different age ranges:18-35 and
36 year of age and older, with a diversity of ages within each group. Each
group included individuals with a variety of different income levels,with a
requirement that each participant earns a minimum income of some form
equivalent to K200,000 per month. A complete breakdown of each of the
16 focus groups by location,gender and age follows:
Locality
Urban Rural
Lusaka Choma
Kitwe Kapiri
Mposhi
Geographic Zone
Northern Central Southern
Kitwe Lusaka Choma
Kapiri Mposhi
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Each focus group was conducted using the same discussion guide to
enable direct comparison of findings between groups.
In addition to the focus group discussions,a series of in-depth interviews
were conducted with civil society stakeholders to understand their views
of how the media performed in reporting elections and governance issues.
These interviews were conducted with the following six (6)
representatives of civil society who participated in the studio audience
during the Muvi television 2011 presidential debates:
1. Sheik Chifuwe, Chairperson, Press Freedom Committee of the Post
Newspaper
2. Horace Chilando, Executive Director, Zambia Centre for Inter-party
Dialogue (ZCID)
3. Goodwell Lungu, Executive Director, Transparency International
Zambia (TIZ)
4. Ifoma Mulewa, Information and Programmes Officer, Caritas Zambia
5. Engwase Mwale, Executive Director, Non-governmental Organisation
Coordinating Council (NGOCC)
6. William Mweemba, Past President,LawAssociation of Zambia (LAZ)
4.2.2 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
Choma Lusaka
Male, 18-35 Female, 18-35 Male, 18-35 Female, 18-
35
Male, 36 + Female, 36 + Male, 36 + Female, 36 +
Kapiri Kitwe
Male, 18-35 Female, 18-35 Male, 18-35 Female, 18-
35
Male, 36 + Female, 36 + Male, 36 + Female, 36 +
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4.3 AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS
Media monitoring before, during and after the elections demonstrated that
media coverage of different political groups was dependent on media
ownership and varied greatly depending on
the individual media house. Participants in
the focus groups were nearly unanimous in
supporting these findings. Focus group
participants described how the state-
owned media houses tended to report
more about activities that involved the
ruling party, which at the time of the
election was the Movement for Multiparty
Democracy (MMD). Participants cited ZNBC, Times of Zambia and the
Zambia Daily Mail as having been biased towards the Movement for Multiparty
Democracy (MMD) to the exclusion of the Patriotic Front (PF) and the United
Party for National Development (UPND).
Participants said that there was simply no difference between the ruling party
and government activities when it comes to the way state media houses
reported.
Participants recognized that this was not
the ideal way that media should conduct
itself. They complained about what they
called 'bad journalism.' One of the
participants described the situation:
As can be seen from the quote, participants did not limit their criticism to the
public media.They said some private media houses also demonstrated clear
allegiances to particular parties in their coverage.
“Journalists lack(ed) objectivity in the way they covered the elections,
especially The Post for Sata and ZNBC for RB (Rupiah Banda).This is
very bad for professional journalism.The Post covered negatively all the
other candidates which is very bad.The MMD using ZNBC were also
bent on destroying the PF through Chanda Chimba's programmes
(Stand up for Zambia)”.
Male, 36+, Choma
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"ZNBC Radio had too
much MMD messages and
de-campaigning PF."
Female, 18-35, Kitwe
“ZNBC TV was biased
towards MMD prior to
the elections. The PF and
UPND were not covered
at all”
Male, 36+, Kapiri Mposhi

Some described how The Post Newspaper covered the UPND and the PF
when the two parties were in a political pact, but with the dissolution of the
political pactThe Post focussed on reporting the PF campaign activities to the
exclusion of the UPND.When the UPND and the MMD were covered inThe
Post Newspaper they were usually covered negatively. A participant from
Choma summed up the perceptions of many in saying,“the private media ...went
to extremes to lie just like the public media did in their coverage of the run-up to the
elections.”
Several participants also raised concerns about the people the media used as
sources in election related stories.They felt that the media focused on covering
people representing institutions and those aligned with specific political groups
in particular. Ordinary persons were neglected and their views not
represented in the media's coverage of the elections.
Participants called for the media to seriously consider incorporating the views
of members of the public in their coverage of elections and other
developmental issues.
Participants felt that the media created a scenario where the same set of
individuals were used as sources of news or to comment on news issues. These
individuals were known to the public to have had clear political allegiances,
which diminished the value of what they had to say. Focus
groups participants said that the media should take more
responsibility for reporting unbiased data and put more
effort into reporting issues in detail, accurately and
without relying on a known battery of sources. They said
that the result of this dynamic situation was that the
media propagated the views of specific political parties
and became a tool for party campaigning.
Some participants noted improvements in the way the public media reported
after the elections. They said the public media now included opposition leaders
and ordinary citizens more in the news stories. As a young man from Choma
stated, “...I never used to watch ZNBCTV before elections.” This shift in how the
public media covered different political parties was also evident in the media
monitoring.
18
“...I never used
to watch
ZNBC TV
before
elections.”
Male 18 - 35, Choma

It remains clear however, from both the findings of the monitoring and
discussions with focus group participants, that despite these changes,
members of the public are cognisant of the limitations present in the Zambian
media and are eager for a space that provides them with news and information
that reflects the views and concerns of everyday citizens and not just the
leading political parties.
A majority of CSO representatives expressed a desire that the media widen
their news coverage of political parties beyond the main players. Most
representatives were also concerned about the function of the public media,
which they said had a duty to accurately report on national issues since they
are funded from taxpayers' money. Similar to the focus group participants,
CSO representatives felt that the ruling party at the time of the election had a
strong influence in the way the public media covered political parties and the
election campaigns. Goodwell Lungu, Executive Director of Transparency
International Zambia (TIZ) noted:
Interviewees suggested that the public media should be free from direct
operational control of the government and more able to provide independent
programming and news. Similar concerns
were raised about the performance of
private media.
In addition to their criticism regarding the
media's coverage of the elections, CSO
representatives were also concerned
about the types of issues and nature of
media coverage of governance and general
development topics.
4.4 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS (CSO) IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
FINDINGS
“...The public media were extremely biased in that they gave the MMD
more coverage.They even blocked some stakeholder views which they
felt were anti-government or anti- MMD. For example, TIZ had a
running programme on ZNBC which was blocked even when it was fully
paid for.They even refunded the money we had paid. They went into
defaming all those perceived to be anti-government”.
19
“The private media,
especially The Post, gave
too much coverage to the
Patriotic Front, [more]
than anyone else”
William Mweemba, Past President,
Law Association of Zambia (LAZ)

They said that the media needed to devote more time to covering the sorts of
issues that citizens were concerned with and give less focus to “character
assassination” of political leaders.
Similar to the focus group participants, CSO representatives observed the
need for the media to broaden the discussion space about political and
developmental issues to include ordinary Zambians, especially those in the
rural areas.
Since the change of government, however, some CSO representatives felt
there had been a change in the way the public media reported governance
issues. They described how they felt there was an improved number of
opposition political leaders featured in news items. Finally, interviewees
expressed how important it was that such changes in the media's coverage of
governance and election issues continue, and not revert back to party-based
reporting at the next election cycle.
This research conducted under the auspices of the 'Zambia Elections Media
Monitoring Project' (ZEMMP),a collaboration between the PressAssociation
of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of SouthernAfrica in Zambia (MISA-
Zambia), and supported by BBC Media Action (formerly the BBC World
Service Trust) has demonstrated that there is an on-going need to create
public spaces in the Zambian media that are unbiased,and prioritise the needs
of citizens over that of whichever party is in power.
The public had expressed little faith in the media coverage of the politicians
prior to the 2011 elections.They now say they are seeing positive changes in
the way the media, especially pubic media, is reporting on governance issues.
This indicates that capacity building activities around impartiality of media and
public service broadcasting values with journalists and media houses can have
a positive effect and that these can actually report fairly and accurately once
they are provided with the training and the political space to do so.
5.0 CONCLUSIONSAND RECOMMENDATIONS
(THE WAY FORWARD)
20

PAZA and MISA-Zambia recommend the following steps to ensure that the
positive changes that are beginning to take shape continue:
?
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There is need to introduce legislation that would de-link the
ruling party from operations of the public media.
Government should recapitalise the public media to improve
the production capacity.
There is a need to invest in building up a media monitoring
framework that continuously monitors the quality of media
output in Zambia.
There is a need for the major public and private media houses
to institutionalise general public service broadcasting values
and ethics,and a greater appreciation of engaging and valuing
audiences.
There is a need for continued training and retraining of
journalists to enhance their journalistic skills with a particular
focus on editorial values.
A broad representation of Zambian citizens should be
included in discussions on how the media, and in particular
the public media,can contribute to an improved public space
for discussion and deliberation of governance issues beyond
the electoral cycle.
Government must consider amending or totally repealing
antiquated laws that impede press freedom such as laws
on criminal libel and prohibited publications.
There is a need to enact the Freedom of Information Bill
urgently.
The appointment of the Independent BroadcastingAuthority
must be done as soon as possible. The appointment should
not be done by the Minister, but rather through a public,
consultative process.
There is need to expedite the establishment of a media self-
regulatory body.
There is need to strengthen internal self-regulatory systems
such as application of editorial and debate guidelines, within
media outlets.
Government must not appoint heads of public media.
21

Media Book 2 MEEZ MISA ELECTIONS MONITORING

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