Zambia Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 24, 2013
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country's media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and began studying Africa in 2006.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download Complete Zambia Chapter (PDF): 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7
MSI Zambia-2012 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.84
The overall country score for Zambia remained virtually unchanged from 2010, with a small increase from 1.77 to 1.84. Media continue to face political interference, and journalists continue to deal with the kinds of challenges identified in the 2010 MSI. Oppressive media laws are still being enforced, and the country still lacks legislation governing access to information.
However, since the Patriotic Front (PF) took over control of the government from the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) in September 2011, there have been three significant changes. First, state-owned media have been given more freedom. Second, a non-statutory, self-regulating body called the Zambian Media Council was established on July 6, 2012. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Labour (known still by the old acronym for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, MIBS, its name until February 2012) has given it conditional backing but will be watching progress closely to assess whether media organizations are effectively regulating themselves. The council is not yet fully functional
Third, Zambia is engaged in the process of drafting a new constitution, led by a technical committee appointed by President Michael Sata. The first draft of the constitution, which was published on April 30, 2012, guarantees the “freedom and independence of electronic, print, and other types of media.” The draft prohibits the state from exercising control over “any person engaged in [the] broadcasting, production, or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium.” It also upholds the right of individuals to broadcast and publish their opinions without fear of penalty. Furthermore, the licensing of broadcast media is limited to matters of signal distribution and must be free from political or commercial interference. State-owned media must provide for a divergence of views, be impartial, and be allowed to independently determine the content of their broadcasts.
The draft constitution also gives citizens the right to access information held by the state and obliges the government to publicize “any information that is in the public interest or affects the welfare of the nation.” The draft also guarantees freedom of expression, which includes the right to hold an opinion, to receive and impart information or ideas, and to exercise the rights to artistic creativity, academic freedom, and freedom of scientific research.
The new constitution is expected to be put to a nationwide referendum in 2013. Justice Annel Silungwe, chairman of the Technical Committee on the Drafting of the Zambian Constitution, said his committee has proposed that the government appoint a National Referendum Commission to lay out a procedure for voting.
Panelists suggested that many Zambians are cautiously optimistic about the possibilities for enhanced freedoms associated with the new constitution, but they are also somewhat cynical, having witnessed other potentially progressive developments become mired in bureaucracy and competing political interests.
