By Concerned Journalist
The decision by Times of Zambia managing director Mr Godfrey Malama to demote some editors at Times of Zambia newspaper can only be regarded as witch-hunt and interference by the PF government in the affairs of public media.
It is not true that what information minister Given Lubinda says that the PF government will not interfere in the operations of the public media. This is happening day in and day out because Given is always giving instructions to the public media companies.
We were told that all those journalists who were pro-MMD at Times of Zambia will be fired. But the PF government has failed to fire them and gave instructions to Mr Godfrey Malama to demote them which is a shame.
Those who have been affected are Mr Enock Ngoma who was features editor and has been demoted to become assistant news editor to Mr Chishimba Chishimba who is now the new news editor who was once a reporter when Mr Enock Ngoma was news editor at one time.
Another person who has been affected in the exercise of with-hunt is Mr Charles Simengwa who was news editor but has not been demoted to be production editor which is similar to a position of assistant news editor.
The former assistant news editor Melody Mwala Chansa who was also regarded to be close to the MMD cadres has been taking to a new position which is not in the company hierarchy as assistant features editor in charge of entertainment.
Mr Ben Phiri who was dropped as business editor for incompetence has again been promoted to the same position. Instead of confirming Mr Michael Simbayi who was acting as Sunday Times Editor after Mr Austin Chongo retired Mr Malama has appointed Mr V. Mwansa to become Sunday Times Editor. This man is also not competent to be a full editor.
We don’t know what will now happen to Mr Patrick Phiri who was assistant political editor after they dissolved the section. The political editor Bob Siajalika has been given a post as assistant features editor under Miss Margret Mangani who has now been appointed features editor after many years of being ignored. This appoint is welcome.
The painful thing is that Mr Malama has only made changes to the editorial section when all other sections should be touched in one way or another.
We can assure Mr Malama that his close links to Mr Billy Wamundila to advise him on changes in editorial will make him fail. Mr Wamundila has misled the former Managing director mr John Phiri and he should be careful with this man in his dealings.
We also appeal to Mr Malama to do his work in a professional manner because by targeting some of the people his thinks were not with PF, he is wasting his time.
We are also doubting the value which Mr Malama’s number 2 Mr Nicky Shabolyo has brought to Times Printpak when he failed as a reporter at Zambia Daily Mail and engaged himself in public replations work. He has lost reality in the media sector.
#Concerned Journalist, why were you not concerned with the gutter journalism of the last 20years when MMD was rulling? They are lucky to be demoted. I would keep them if I was Lubinda because they would start behaving the same way “muzungu anikonde”. If they stood by their professional ethics, they would have been better off today. Lesson: be professional come rain come sunshine.
Very poor article
Agree A journalist with such shallow grammatical skills! Poor analytical skills and no idea of presenting an argument! Yaba the professioN is dead in Z
Every time a new chief executive officer arrives in any company, heads roll. So let those demoted souls take it easy… they are not hated for them to be with-hunted. They just don’t satisfy the new CEO as people who can deliver his vision.
Concerned retarded journalist, Kibinda waba Kabwa has asked the right question. I suspect that the reason you are hiding your identity is born of the knowledge that you are being malicious. You are not even ashamed of saying pro-MMD in an organisation that should be neutral. I say fire the traitors of true democracy. Tarnishing the image of a noble profession. If the people cant rely on information from journalists, how will we have the right checks and balances? Be thankful and take your demotion and shut the f.uck up. I would have fired you.
we don’t want politician journalists, the fools shud count themselves luck to be demoted. am earnestly asking if they could be humbly fired. i think this so called concerned journalist is one of the guys who hav been demoted now he is crying  and wiping. be professional concerned ***** reporter
They are lucky to be demoted as they deserve to be fired without benefits.
This article was posted from the Zambian Watchdog, it is there on their site and have sent to LT disguised as concerned journalists.Â
But why have they left patron phiri, he was pathetic, he needs to be sacked from times of zambia
This piece of writting is shit. No wonder the reporting was so poor towards elections and thank God it happenned the way it has.
crap!!! is all i can say.
Y didn’t u speak out wen the same people subjected us to read rubish for the past 20 years? Answer me.
Agony is wasting your time to put up a poorly written article with bad grammer and hoping for sympathy and you get non! Merry Xmas to you too concerned Journalist!
Demotion do happen. All those demoted must go to private sector or migrate..Take it on the chin and move on. Times is now PF media tool like it not.. if u dont align u know the consequences..there is no nicer way of putting it…Suck it or be sucked.
This concerned journalist is a fool. Ba LT can ou remove this shameful article from here
poor article,shame on the so called concerned journalist.you r a coward!!!!
Supposedly, this is a listening government, so the hope is that they will listen. GRZ has the right to do whatever they see fit to do, right?
We hope Lusaka times will remain free and fair, even if through people’s comments.
Actually while on a camapign trail one former lady Minister while said the MMD was using the public media because they were in power and if the oppostion came into power and wanted they could do the same. GOD BLESS ZAMBIA
I am very happy the Bob Sianjalika has been demoted. Bob used to write very offensive articles about President Sata, just like Angela Chishimba. These two should have just been fired. They were really a Vuvuzelas, very stupid!
Lucky cows! They should have been fired!
This Malama deserves to be fired himself.
@19, italian bunga, i concur with you. malama should fire himself for not firing these gutter scrapping journalists. they subjected us to all sorts of gutter reporting at the expence of professionalism. infact pf promised to fire them once voted into power. what has changed now? dont demote the fools, fire them. i will be back!
There are always consequences to unprofessional acts and you ” concerned reporter” or whatever, if you thought that after all the unprofessional behaviour exhibited by your paper during the MMD misrule, especially during these past elections, would go unpunished then you are really dilusional. Take this as a lesson in professional journalism and let it be a stepping stone.
why cant you fire those chaps….businesswise,,,,they made times of zambia not to sell…profits were squizzed,economically,…no positive contributions were seen because of such minions,…..it became a magazine and not a newspaper….we were only reading it when we want to get upset with govt….etc…etc…etc…etc…ATASE…
Stop crying foul, we’ve always been calling for professionalism in the media, period!
PF is always a victim of its own pledges, not for demotions on pro MMD workers. Here we hear how a national newspaper is being transformed into a party paper and this was viciously attacked in the last govt. You who claimed to do right, are you doing the right?. Zambians know now that all national media is PF media run by PF cadres- Without credibility of the media reflects on the type of government in place. It happened with MMD, its happening with PF government.
And he is calling himself a journalist with the scrap he has posted>Anyway you deserve to be fired if that is the calibre of your reporting.
One of the best piece of news I have ever read. Dear concerned Journalist, we are with you we are concerned as well and saddened.Â
It is wrong to emote those people unexpectedly like that, I feel for you and I have lost appetite after reading this
Hung in there, the majority and elite readers will concur with me in that we are disgusted as well
Thanks
Nick Shabolyo is a good Journal. I ve known him since the times of icivivu pa horn zambia, together with elija witola, cookpot, sales, hector, aswell banda, late conelius, kombe, sibote sibote, late lombe lombe, petros petros,probby, bridges, chansa cj, ba nkweto tembwe, ba chola musukuma . We drunk gankata together in monze when we went for zisa games. cheers guyz
#27, where is cookpot?
@CK #7 Are you still visitng that gutter production called Zambian watchdog by spineless tribalist?
now appoint pro-PF editors its business as usual jst change of govt.
Most of you posting comments don’t really know what happens in state-owned news organizations. It is not the reporters or editors who control what is published. Actually, some of the articles are not written by the journalist under whose byline stories appear. When Chiluba’s second term was coming to an end, Sata wrote a number of malicious articles to discredit his opponents. The editors had no choice but to publish articles in the Times of Zambia. The long hand of the party in power controls these media organizations. Most of these reporters are just innocent victims who are there to support their families. They need your sympathy. There are very limited places you can work in Zambia with journalism qualifications. These people are not politicians.
yes not politicians but fools like you.
If u are not visiting watchdog u are loosing out on balanced news
It is sad to note that the president of a country decides who should have a job and who should not. That’s not democracy. The unemployment rate in this country is more than 50 percent, and it is unbelievable that perhaps more than 50 percent available jobs are doled out by the president. What kind of thinking is this? Wake up Zambians and fight for your rights.
NEW GOVT new press. Common sense prevails….
Sata has added the Post to his collection.
They should be happy with the yellow card otherwise red is on the way,what are their tribes? Or names?
Even malama and Lubinda should be fired I don’t like their names in PF
Malama was the foremost UNIPIst at the Times of Zambia until in 1991 MMD won and he became the foremost MMD-st, until he blundered in 2008 as Editor of the Daily Mail (when he led with stories that Sata – his tribesman) was leading the polls. After he was fired, he became the foremost PF-st until he connived to return to the Times. As soon as UPND win the polls, expect him to be the foremost UPND-st. Dont expect much from this man. He is scared of competent people when he is in the driving seat, but a very incompetent manager (from he who knows him well)
#38 Luangwa Bridge I don’t wanna take sides here but I thought all Malamas were from Luapula and Sata is from Mpika Northern Province?
This is not about tribes or ethnicity, this is about the lack of morals and direction. Do Zambians have empathy, sympathy and compassion? I don’t see that. What I see is a witchcraft mindset, where individual derive pleasure in other people’s sufferings. Where is this nation going? Do you even morals?
They must thank Sata otherwise they desrve dismisal. Useless people they are.
#38 Luangwa Bridge I don’t wanna take sides here but I thought all Malamas were from Luapula and Sata is from Mpika Northern Province?
# 28 the last time I herd about cockpot he was staying in lusaka. Neighbours complained about him, because of his horn behavuor, he used to insult after coming back from drinking. He was asked or ordered to leave the flats. Any news about the other guyz mentioned?
My contribution is this: Journalists are professionals by nature, but they are victims of political parties in power.Political parties in power demand that public media toil the party and its government’s line because public media is perceived to be the government’s mouthpiece, a vuvuzela. That is why government make political appointments of editors, those who will echo his master’s voice. We have seen this in Unip days, MMD days, and we are seeing it in PF days. And in my own opinion, you have to read the Zambian Watchdog and even the Lusaka Times for you to get a balanced view of what is really happening in Zambia. The Post has lost its credibility because it is aligned to PF for obvious reasons.
The Post is PF. We have finally seen Mmembe’s agenda, it is personal. His hands are not oiled, and he is satisfied.
With articles like this, no wonder the paper used to publish self praising rubbish articles from MMD leaders. This paper is useless, you don’t deserve the demotions, you are supposed to be fired and give space to upcoming young Journalists with new ideas and make the paper existing.This writer should be working in a community paper not a National paper! He is a disgrace.Â
Deep throat,
Widen your imagination, having a Mass communication degree does not mean that you can only work for a Newspaper! Learn to acquire skills in related jobs, many employers prefer multi-skilled people.
I really liked your blog post.Really thank you! Much obliged.