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 174.4 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)FINAL SUMMATIVE REPORT

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (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 Media Action)Herbert Macha - MEEZ Coordinator (BBC Media Action)The media houses, the civil society organisations, and the journalists who covered the launches. The Electoral Commission of Zambia.

This report was compiled by Youngson Ndawana (PAZA/MISA), Henry A. Muloongo (BBC Media Action) with support from Ed Pauker (BBC Media Action) and Augusto Newell (BBC Media Action)

© PAZA & MISA Zambia (2012) [email protected] [email protected]

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:?

?

?

?

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 Media Action (formerly the BBC World Service Trust) 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 Mult i -par ty 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.

1

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.


?

POST-ELECTION PERIOD:

?

?

?

?

?

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 partyGovernance topics are being covered in some depth, but generally failed to provide specific contextua l in format ion 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

?

?

?

?

?

?

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.

3


1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

This report comprises 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 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 and The Times 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 mediaConclusions 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.

???

2.0 MEDIA MONITORING

2.1 MONITORING DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Table 1: Media monitoring Schedule

Phase Monitoring dates

Pre-election 31 July – 5 Aug, 2011 Pre-election tracker

25-26 Aug., 2011

Election-period 14-26 Sept, 2011 Post-election (I) 2-5 Nov, 2011 Post-election (II) 5-8 Dec, 2011

6

Phase

Monitoring dates

Pre-election

31 July –

5 August, 2011

Pre-election tracker

25-26 August, 2011

Election-period 14-26 September, 2011Post-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 ZNBC TV, 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

ZNBC TV

Radio Phoenix

Oblate Radio LiseliZNBC Radio

Muvi TV

Radio Musi-o-Tunya

Zambia Daily Mail

The Post Newspaper

Radio Mano

Times of Zambia

7


PRE-ELECTION AND 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.

8


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 and TV 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 5th August, and again during 25th and 26th August 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.

9


3.2 ELECTION PERIOD MONITORING FINDINGS

tThe people featured in election stories change depending on whether media is public, private or community-owned.?

?

?

tBoth public and private media stories included subjective treatment of the political parties they covered.?

?

?

?

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 ZNBC TV, The Zambia Daily Mail and Times of Zambia.Stories in the private media were more likely to feature PF candidates or officials, who appeared in 40% of all stories published by The 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.

10


tStories tended to rely on a single source and their content was driven by the statements and activities of two main political parties.?

?

tPublic media stories were skewed towards covering the ruling party, whichever it might be. ?

?

?

tStories focused on the upcoming vote, but did not provide citizens with information on the policies and substantive issues that affect their lives. ?

?

?

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.

11

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.?

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.

12

Part of the audience and media personnel at a ZEMMP media breakfast, December 2011


?

?

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.?

?

??

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. ?

?

?

?

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

13



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. Muvi TV 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 OF THE ELECTIONS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

4.2 METHODOLOGY

4.2.1 FOCUS GROUPS

14



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 watched TV 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:

LocalityUrban RuralLusaka Choma

Kitwe KapiriMposhi

Geographic Zone Northern

Central Southern

Kitwe Lusaka Choma

Kapiri Mposhi

15



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 Zambia5. Engwase Mwale, Executive Director, Non-governmental Organisation

Coordinating Council (NGOCC)6. William Mweemba, Past President, Law Association of Zambia (LAZ)

4.2.2 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

Choma Lusaka

Male, 18-35

Female, 18-35

Male, 18 -35 Female, 18-

35Male, 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 +

16


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

17

"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 pact The Post focussed on reporting the PF campaign activities to the exclusion of the UPND. When the UPND and the MMD were covered in The 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 ZNBC TV 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 Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa 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 CONCLUSIONS AND 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:

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

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 Broadcasting Authority 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

Documents