The Zambia Election Media Monitoring Project (ZEMMP) has observed that the public media is still heavily biased towards the ruling MMD while the private media is biased towards the opposition patriotic Front, neglecting other political parties in the country.
MISA Zambia chairperson Daniel Sikazwe disclosed at a pre-election tracker report dissemination meeting in Lusaka today, that the trend is contravening the electoral code of conduct which stipulates equal provision of media space.
Mr. Sikazwe says despite limitation of resources, the community media has attempted to cover political parties more than they are covered in the mainstream media.
According to the report, of the total number of stories covered by the public media in the last two months, 50% of the sources were from the MMD, 19% from the PF and 15% each from UPND and other political parties.
Similarly in the private media 25% of the sources were from the MMD, the PF had 50% while the UPND had 17% and other parties with 8%.
Mr. Sikazwe has advised the media to enhance diversification of views in stories so as to afford electorates an opportunity to tap into the media as an open space for information exchange.
He has also urged the media to also focus on policy issues to do with the fight against poverty and corruption so as to hold politicians accountable once in office.
QFM
Has the report also observed the number of times that the PF has refused to be news sources?
the public media only covers smaller parties like NGP which support them & FLS for Lifwekeleo & chifire..PF is not worth covering anyways..they have no news..
public media is being unfair coz they use our tax money to run those institutions. PF on the other hand pay the post to have them covered, i dont care coz thats a private media. TOZ and DM are the major culprits, though i know they are being used!!!
How do you expect the public media to cover PF when PF has refused to be covered by the public media?
this aticle is crap
The Private Media has invited all stakeholders aboard but the opposition have always been contemptous in their dealings with the various news agencies. My opinion is that the puplic media’s weakness is their lack of well trained staff since all the big fishes have moved on or have been given bigger postion within the system. Ben Kangwa, with his obvious bias towards the MMD, for example, was always able to deliver an objective interview regardless of who was the interviewee. It is a weak defence fro the Private media to claim that they have a right to exclusively chose whom to talk about and in whatever manner otheriwse they would be termed as company or organisation magazines/publications.
There are some correct obzervationz in this report, but it should have further stated that while the public media givez whatever small percent to the PF, mostly in the negative, the private media reports real (good or bad) thingz about the MMD.
If the media is to truly be the platform to educate, entertain and inform, both the public and the private media have failed to live up to these standards. Woe to the private media for denying all relevant information to the electorates. The private media is supposed to cover public media difficiences but alas, The Post has joined in the bad behaviour of bigbrother ZNBC! For me, ZNBC is as bad as The Post. They both cheat and have preferred candidates. How will Post criticise Sata when he becomes the dictator we dread if he won the elections? No wonder MMD = PF and PF = MMD version 2
MISA is spot on, however, this should not be the case as you would expect all media organisations to be professional regardless of whether they are public or private. News coverage may not exactly be equal but it must be correct to the point.
MMD thrives and lives on lies and mis-information using ZNBC or rather “DEAD”NBC. “DEAD”NBC, has become the country’s number one enemy for democracy. It does the dirty job of misleading the country by sending wrong information across the provinces. Its news is the worst ever! It is by all means the MMD’s mouth piece and not the national broadcaster. SABC (South Afirca) and BTV (Botswana) have better converage of their country’s affairs than “DEAD”NBC offers Zambians.
The Post also thrives and lives on lies and misinformation. I agree with you that ZNBC is terrible, but your article is incomplete or deceptive if you fail to mention that Post Newspaper is just as bad if not worse than ZNBC. It does not matter that they are a private entity, they still owe the Zambian people a duty to be truthful and professional, wouldn’t you agree?
Zambia under MMD has become the most useless nation that moves backwards when the whole world is moving forward. Zambia under MMD is a primitive country that will allow lies to be broadcast across the world and hide the truth. I’m very sure if they had a way, MMD would even ban satellite television and private newspaper (such as post newspaper) as it exposes the lies they tell. VIVA PABWATO
Now the evidence from highly indebted to  middle income, growing GDP etc etc beg to differ with your analysis. The truth is that both major players are being controlled or lead by leaders past their time and it is time for Zambians to have the courage to consider alternative leadership those that can build on the successes of the past, put away the failures of the past and advance our nation to its full potential
Am a proud Zambian and don’t think am part of a useless nation, you sir or whatever you are on the other hand, are clearly useless to this country!
So, what is ZEMMP/MISA Zambia going to do about the situation? If they cannot make any amends, then I do not see its value. I would rather hear about how a problem or mistake is being resolved than hearing about the mistake only. If the project is about monitoring, then who and how will the monitoring information going to be used?
Thats factual and Correct MISA.
Most of these private media houses do not cover developmental programmes because they are not obliged to. Having been elected by the people to work for them, the GRZ has to explain what it is doing to its appointing authority; the people of zambia. As for the opposition and specifically PF, how much time can you give them on a public media to insult the electorate who put the Govt in office? Sorry the govt has alot of work to do for the people while their mandate lasts.
MISA stop telling us what we already know, we want to know what you are doing to stop them from doing that or that does not fall under your ‘catchment area.’ Toothless dog.
No 7 You are right. The Post is only covering Satan, why are people complaining of ZNBC, Times or Daily Mail when the Post is doing the same? Sata will never be president of this country whether Mmembe likes it or not. We don’t want another funeral.
IT IS THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MEDIA FUELING THE POLARISATION,HENCE THE WILLIAM BANDA/MMD AND WINTER KABIMBA/PF VIOLENCE AND THUGGERY.
The problem here is that public media always report negative things about Sata and PF and sometimes on UPND, but i believe even about Sata and PF there is something positive going on, so why not ZNBC,Times, Daily Mail report such positive things from opposition point of view? unlike favouring MMD.Hence the Post are also doing the opposite to balance things.
Public and private media? What rubbish? ZNBC, Times of Zambia, Daily Mail and ZANIS are government media and not public media! Get your facts right you people! The aim of these media houses is to dish out news as GOVERNMENT want you to see. It just so happens that government this time round is MMD. Last time it was UNIP and next time it may be some other party and the trend will be bucked.
The problem is with the private media. They should be INDEPENDENT, but they are not. They too have chosen their preferred parties and candidates. That is where the trouble is. Whether we like it or not RB is head of State and he should be covered by the sate media. It is totally wrong to compare that coverage with Chipimo’s!
MISA AND BBC WORLD SERVICE at work, they need to acount for their funding!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sata would abuse public media in the same way if he had a chance, its unfortunate that the game has to be played in this manner. As for the post, they have definitely lost it, even though they continue to brand themsleves as ethical or independent.
The public media in question is comprised of ZNBC, Daily Mail and Times, whereas the notable private media are The Post, Radio Ichengelo and MUVI TV. We must be fair to all. The Post has championed the cause of PF by mutual agreement between Sata and Mmembe. It is also a well known fact that the PF decided to ban public media not to cover its activities since the PF Convention in Kabwe, and its leadership has banned sponsored candidates not to appear on TV debates as a matter of right. May be the parties that may need public media most are those led by Milupi, Miyanda, Chipimo and HH. We also note that Musa Mwenye (in LAZ-costume) compained against the mushrooming of many tabloids – that we know are seriously countering subversive items published by the Post. Interesting postures by LAZ
This is a factual observation by MISA. Everybody in Zambia knows that the POST is biased towards Sata and the Public Media is Biased for MMD. UPND has not help. But despite these circumstances, UPND has done tremendously well and they need to be commended. When Mmembe declared war against UPND, HH did not lie down or beg for mercy, but decided to take them on like a man. Mmembe and Amos thought, UPND would disappear into oblivion but here we are, still standing strong and posing a real and present threat to be the next ruling party after Sept. 20 th. VIVA HH. VIVA real change
We have observed that ba fee colour for a long time,,,, its even time up. I pray that PF make it for this year election. RB as abused media like he has abused the young girl ThindiÂ
I JUST WONDER WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE POST AFTER THESE ELECTIONS. THEY HAVE PUT THEMSELVES IN AN AWKWARD SITUATION. THEY HAVE LOST A LOT OF BUSINESS TRUST. FACT
The media in this country is a major let down; most have failed to regulate themselves instead opting to take sides in this current political comedy of errors! The gate keepers are now the poachers!