Minister of Information, Dora Siliya has said that there is need to resolve issues that have resulted in an atmosphere of mistrust between owners of media houses and Government.
Ms. Siliya has dispelled assertions that Government is not concerned about Zambian players in the Media Industry and that it is only inclined to Chinese Star Times.
She has stated that it is Government’s responsibility to carry everyone in the Media Industry, especially the business entities as these do not exist for themselves.
The Minister said this when she met owners of Media Houses at her office in Lusaka today to discuss a number of issues affecting the Industry.
Ms. Siliya has explained that there are a number of issues that have to be resolved such as whether there are enough frequencies to carry everyone, particularly on the Top Star platform.
She has also said there have been issues with revenue collection especially for pay television stations and also whether Government will continue with free-to-air stations.
Ms. Siliya has further said there have been concerns about the carriage fees by ZICTA and whether most private television stations will be able to manage the fees.
She has noted that the immediate issues have had to do with Top Star and whether it is here to support small businesses.
Ms. Siliya has told owners of Media Houses that the bigger picture is to begin to think about the future of the Media Industry and identify the real opportunities available for the Industry.
I don’t like Dora.
Her private life has ever been trashy.
The issue is that private media owners think that there is more money from negative stories
Good lord god almighty, just how much bigger could this girl get when most Zambians are tightening their belts! She is literally exploding from her clothes, such kind of the “micomibi” is bad, she will soon explode sponteneously like a “kanyikuta”.
The other day the so called honourable minister was boosting that the economy is buoyant evidenced by mansions being built and yet the money is from corrupt proceeds. I dont know where Lungu gets these confused characters who are only excellent in bedroom issues.
Mwakale
I think we should look at Dora in a different light,what if she is playing the Devil’s Advocate?This woman is too sharp to start thinking on the levels of typical PF leaders like Kapata,Kampyongo,Chitotela and the like she may just have something up her sleave
Mistrust is there because government is fond of lying every time. Just look at the issue of social cash transfer scheme.
Thats sad thing should not be like that. I think the trend of free media is ending because even in the United states censorship is becoming more and more prevalent. What you thought was free media, like internet bloggs and video streaming is infact heavily monitored by the government so its a facade of free press. Its very confusing this debate about media and press freedom.
Sorry I meant minorities, blacks native Americans, Arabs etc. are censored in private media I suspect that part of this is done by the government but im not sure. Blacks make up over 30% of the population but they own less than 1% of the media publications. So thats censorship in a sense.
Follow me on youtube for more 10 predictions about the future LFS.