The Ministry of Information and Media has commended MISA Zambia for undertaking an important milestone in the growth of professional election reporting in the country.
Speaking when officiating the launch of the fourth Election Media Monitoring Report today under the Voters’ Voice, Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga said the milestone so far reached was imperative as it provided an opportunity to assess the levels of media professionalism.
He added that the reports have highlighted valuable findings on how the various media outlets covered the just ended general elections.
“I am given to understand that this report, the final one in the series of four reports, captured electoral content from the pre-election to the post-election phase. It provides valuable findings on how key media outlets covered the 2021 election cycle (in particular the election and post-election phase) including what topics they covered, which political parties and other election stakeholders they covered,” Malupenga said.
He further stressed government’s commitment to providing press freedom which entails the freedom from illegitimate restrictions, the plurality of media and the freedom to express oneself publicly without any form of interference. He also expressed optimism with the implementation of the Media Development Policy and how the professional, free and independent media would be harnessed.
And MISA Zambia National Director Austin Kayanda challenged the media to be objective as the fourth estate of governance when setting the agenda and not allow other players to determine how they conducted their duties in the practice of professional journalism.
