The Media Liaison Committee is calling on the Zambia Police Service to stop harassing journalists by summoning them to police stations on flimsy accusations.
On Monday this week, Lusaka based journalist JaJah Coulibaly was summoned to report himself to Kabwe Police in Central Province on a charge of defamation but on arrival at Kabwe Central Police station, a warn and caution statement was recorded from him even after it emerged that police had nothing to link the journalist to the case in question.
Media Liaison Committee Chairperson Enock Ngoma says it was established that the purported defamation story which was carried online, was authored by someone else whose name was even on the story and police only asked Mr Coulibaly if he had given any information to the author of the said story.
Mr Ngoma has advised the Government, through Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya to recognise that hostility towards the media in Zambia is on the increase and this has steadily reduced journalists’ freedoms and suffocated their working space.
Mr Ngoma says the latest case involving Mr Coulibaly is a clear indication on how the State is using the Police to clamp down on the media.
He has called for the immediate stop for the police to be used to witch-hunt in the media industry making journalists targets of unfounded suspicion and making us doubt the proclaimed professionalism in the Zambia Police Service.
Mr Ngoma said Mr Coulibaly travelled to Kabwe at a high cost.
“We believe Honourable Siliya can do a bit better to help bring sanity and help protect the journalist who has now become endangered species in Zambia by liaising with her counterparts in relevant Government Ministries to ensure the operating environment for the journalist is conducive”, he added.
He has appealed to the Inspector General of police and his rank and file to work towards protecting the journalist rather than harass the scribes in their line of duty.
Mr Ngoma has however urged media practitioners to continue being brave and courageous in giving coverage to all Zambians in their pursuit of duty as long as they are professional and ethical in their reporting.
“We further note that we are coming from a background where operating licences for private broadcasting stations have frequently been suspended or withdrawn because Government has disagreed with certain broadcasts, as evidenced by the recent closure of Prime Television for reasons that could have been dealt with amicably. Political party thugs have on many occasions stormed media houses damaging equipment and harassing media personnel for no apparent reason other than featuring opposition politicians on programmes”, Mr Ngoma has said.
He expressed hope that Ms Siliya who herself has a media background, will appreciate this increasingly unhealthy scenario and act to meaningfully enhance the media environment in Zambia than allowing security wings to keep harassing the media.
Journalists must behave and realise that they have no right to use the power of the pen to mislead the nation. They do not have the right to insult people just because they are journalists. Journalist must report without bias and stop advocating regime change. And lastly Journalist who are fond of giving false reporting for few Kwachas must stop it.
Its just instructions from frightened little men that journalists are being harrassed like this, but the spirit of the current Zambian musicians will stop all this.
Just report those who are not meeting the standards to IBA.
Journalist are just like any other Zambian citizens and should be accountable to their actions. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech is not a does not mean insulting, telling lies or being malicious. Journalists should write about something they are able to prove when challenged.
Mr Ngoma before you blame the police first address your member s on how they should conduct the bussiness. In Zambia now each and every so called journalists can workeup and start insulting people also giving false information that suites their sponsors. Old journalists had ethics and they know what to report and not to report. This freedom of expression has destroyed the journalism in Zambia and War will errupt soon in Zambia because of the same STUPID journalists.
If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
Hypocrites get offended by the truth.
“If you’re not going to use your free speech to criticise your own government, then what the hell is the point of having it?”
MT
September 2021 both the Post newspapers and Prime TV are reopened. Phew….. I cant wait
If it was not for the journalists being condemned by the rats above , we would have been in the dark about 48/48 , 48 mansions building themselves , mukula , 1000 njingaz worth $100,000 being billed at $700,000 , lungus enswatini land ……..if it were not for the patriotic journos we would not have known PF was behind the gassing of our people…..
This is an ongoing scheme of clamping down on the media and harassing journalist s so that they only write favorable stories about the PF as we go towards 2021.
This is slavery you are so right. On whom are we supposed to exercise our freedom of speech if not on the people WE ELECTED? Why should someone come begging for my vote so that he can later lock me up just for criticising him? Democracy politics is about criticism and some of it may sound insulting depending on where you are