The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) distances itself from the recently held ‘Zambia Radio Awards’ at a shopping mall in Lusaka on Friday, 16th December, 2016.
It has come to our attention that award recipients were given an impression of the awards being organised in partnership with MISA, with some award recipients still awaiting certificates to be purportedly issued by MISA Zambia.
We are also in receipt of complaint letters from some of the award recipients regarding the award ceremony and adjudication process, with some of the recipients returning the awards presented to them.
At no point was MISA involved in the organisation or adjudication of the said awards as the only awards the institution runs are the annual MISA Zambia Media Awards, which are a flagship of the organisation held every year in April since 2002 at a national event which is widely publicised with transparent adjudication and partnerships with major stakeholders.
The institution therefore indemnifies itself from any alleged obligations as intimated by some award recipients given the false impression created at the Zambia Radio Awards.
We wish to call on all organisations looking to hold media awards to undertake serious consultations and partnerships to avoid sowing division and embarrassing the entire media fraternity in the country. In future, it will be important for the media fraternity to consider a comprehensive awards ceremony that encompasses all media awards ceremony as opposed to the current situation where some organisations still hold their own awards for a single category.
Our interest is the promotion of high standards in the media as a safeguard of the media’s public responsibility in the quest to promote and protect media freedom and the freedom of expression.
MISA remains open to collaborations for the 2017 Annual National Media Awards which cover over 20 award categories across print, radio and television. We therefore wish to call upon corporate, civil society and other organisations working in specific sectors to come on board and ensure their sectors are represented in the awards which aim to promote professionalism and excellence in the media industry.
Hellen Mwale,
Chairperson,
MISA Zambia.
