Dora Siliya welcomes partnership with German media house Deutsche Welle

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya has welcomed the partnership between international media institutions and local media houses.Speaking during a courtesy call on her by German media house Deutsche Welle (DW) Director General Peter Limbourg, Hon Siliya said forged partnerships would create a platform for local media houses to scale up local content production following the massive strides Zambia has made under the digital migration process.She said Zambia could learn how German media regulated fake news, cyber bulling and other vices.

Deutsche Welle, Director General Peter Limbourg said his organisation was interested in knowing the state of media freedoms in Zambia and that Deutsche Welle had an expanded base with about 15 million followers drawn mostly outside Germany and it was committed to provide quality service delivery through cooperation with its foreign partners.

He said in its strategy, Deutsche Welle had identified forging links trough a Pan African -European approach where co-productions with African media houses were promoted to feed into its platform and so as to give a positive outlook of the various issues affecting Africa.

Below is the Full Press Statement

Government says it welcomes strengthened partnerships between international media institutions and local media houses to enhance media content.
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya, speaking during a courtesy call on her by German media house Deutsche Welle (DW) Director General Peter Limbourg, said forged partnerships would create a platform for local media houses to scale up local content production following the massive strides Zambia has made under the digital migration process.

The Minister said there is need for more content to fill the digital space and that both the public and private media would like to learn how a public media house like DW had sustained its relevance as a traditional broadcasting media.
“The growth of the local media and online platform is creating its own challenges such as regulation of fake news, cyber bulling and other vices detrimental to the Zambian society a situation which we could learn as to how it has been handled in your country,” she said.

The Minister said ZNBC now has three television channels on the digital platform, while the Zambia News and Information Services(ZANIS), which was undergoing studio refurbishment, would soon have its own television channel.

She said government had taken a leading role by embarking on the establishment of six new provincial production studios to encourage local content production.
She explained that government had created an enabling media atmosphere leading to the proliferation of media houses with 115 radio licences and 54 television licences being issued by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA).

Ms. Siliya, however, regretted the polarized media environment between the Government and private media. She said the media should not only cover politics but issues like climate change, health, agriculture and community development.

And Mr Limbourg has said his organisation was interested in knowing the state of media freedoms in Zambia and that DW had an expanded base with about 15 million followers drawn mostly outside Germany and it was committed to provide quality service delivery through cooperation with its foreign partners.
He said in its strategy, DW had identified forging links trough a Pan African -European approach where co-productions with African media houses were promoted to feed into its platform and so as to give a positive outlook of the various issues affecting Africa.

Mr. Limbourg who was in the company of DW Head of Distribution Africa Sevan Ibrahim-Sauer and DW Director for International Affairs Klaus Bergmann said the DW visit to some African countries was to familiarize with programmes and challenges other media partners face.

Issued by the MIBS Public Relations Unit