Better Fewer Laws, But Better, M’membe Warns Against State Control of the Media

Better Fewer Laws, But Better, M’membe Warns Against State Control of the Media

Mr Hakainde Hichilema’s Journalism Bill is not only regressive, it is also sinister  a dagger directed at the very soul of press freedom and media autonomy in Zambia. This bill must be resisted with clarity, courage, and consistency. If not stopped, it will kill journalism before journalism can speak its truth. It must be interred before it entombs our democracy.

What is Mr Hichilema attempting to do that Mr Frederick Chiluba was not able to do in 1995?

Actually, Mr Chiluba tried to muzzle the press using the same draconian bill. But the High Court, whose conscience rang louder than political hubris, ruled it unconstitutional and tossed it out. Nothing has changed except the face in State House and the name on the bill. The principle is the same. The threat is the same. The resistance must be the same.

Dickson Jere, having so ably reminded us of that episode in our media and legal history, is to be listened to. What he has to say is not only recollection  it is admonition. [See: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16G6HHSKYd/?mibextid=wwXIfr]

Stringent statutory regulation of the press will not heal the sicknesses of our media. It will rather stifle the very breath out of democratic discussion. Journalism is not a crime. It is not a sin. And it is definitely not a licensed vocation like law or medicine. To try to turn it into one is to deny the people their right to speak, write, and disagree.

Journalism is  in essence  the free, and all too often thankless, exercise of the more general human right of freedom of expression. It is not a privilege granted by the state; it is a right we possess by virtue of our humanity. Journalism has to be an open profession, one open to anyone who feels the urge to speak, to question, and to expose. Paid or unpaid, trained or self-trained, no one should have to ask the permission of the state to practice journalism.

To establish a regime where a journalist can be “struck off,” or refused a press card for violating an imposed code, is to revert to the era of censorship and official propaganda. Not only is this unconstitutional,it is wrong. What we require is professional journalism, yes but not government journalism. Never journalism by consent.

Zambia already has more than enough laws that touch, regulate, and too often harass the media. We don’t need more. We need fewer, but better. As it is, the media in Zambia operates under a dense jungle of legal threats. Adding one more punitive law will not encourage professionalism  it will entrench fear and compliance.

There can be no law to specially persecute the media. No law to criminalize the everyday act of reporting and publishing news. No law to gag the voice of the voiceless. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution puts it best and we would do well to follow: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

Let it be stated clearly: these attempts by Mr Hichilema are the most insidious attacks on free expression and media freedom we have witnessed in Zambia since independence. They smell of authoritarianism cloaked as reform. They need to be dismissed without apology.

Democracy requires disagreement. Liberty requires discomfort. We are not likely to construct a democratic republic by suppressing criticism or sanitizing reality. Tolerance does not mean hearing opinions you don’t like. And democracy does not mean stopping individuals from speaking their truth even though you think they are wrong. In free society, the antidote for bad speech is good speech and not censorship. Our best defense is always discourse founded on reason  and not suppression.
Let us now speak out. Let us oppose this bill. Let us uphold the right to speak, to write, to expose  without fear.

Dr. Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party
World Press Freedom Hero – International Press Institute