President Hakainde Hichilema has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to supporting the transformation of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) into a financially sustainable and technologically advanced public broadcaster that reflects the aspirations of a modern, digitally empowered nation.
This follows a high-level engagement with the ZNBC Board, led by its Chairman, Bishop Joseph Kazhila, during which the President received a detailed briefing on both the historical and present-day challenges facing the national broadcaster, along with strategic recommendations for overcoming them.
Speaking after the meeting, President Hichilema acknowledged ZNBC’s pivotal role in fulfilling its public service mandate while emphasizing the need to move from consumption-driven practices to investment-oriented approaches.
“ZNBC holds significant potential to create sustainable value for the nation. We believe that by embracing prudent governance, transparent operations, and accountable management, the Corporation can regain its stature as Zambia’s premier broadcaster,” the President said.
As ZNBC continues its transition into the digital era, President Hichilema called on the Corporation to leverage innovation and emerging technologies not only to improve content delivery but also to unlock new revenue streams and broaden its audience reach.
“Digital transformation offers ZNBC an opportunity to reinvent itself, expand its impact, and deliver greater value to its audiences and stakeholders,” he added.
The President concluded by reiterating his administration’s dedication to supporting the Corporation’s evolution into a modern broadcaster that aligns with Zambia’s development goals and the changing expectations of a tech-savvy population.
The engagement marks a significant step toward revitalizing ZNBC’s role in national development through strategic reforms and digital innovation.
Hopefully, making ZNBC non-partisan and independent is part of the upcoming changes!
All political defections on ZNBC are from the opposition parties to the ruling party. This institution must stop being a propaganda channel and institution and start becoming professional.
Also very funny that this institution feels each time a minister opens his mouth, what he or she says is news worthy and it has to be on their news even when it is not news worthy.
I was very expectant that the President would have challenged the board and management of ZNBC to explain why only the UPND and the tuma small parties aligned to them are the only ones featured on ZNBC, a public and not a UPND station but that did not happen. I expected that because the man really spoke against the PFs allegedly monopolising of ZNBC when he was in opposition . I honestly voted for this man thinking he would be different.
President Hichilema Urges Bold Transformation of ZNBC into a Modern, Digital Broadcaster!! It can never happen. DeadNBC is trapped in the Second Republic. Trapped by the ruling government who dont want it to be free.
Window dressing is all this is ?? let’s stop this and concentrate on the broader issues which concern us more
Loadshedding no better after 3 years
Corruption still rampant
Cost of living out of control
Police acting with impunity
Stop the reckless blue lights
Etc etc
The rest can fall into place later
Lastly find a challenger giving us a choice instead of ramming down our throats we on the right track
Even for us as workers here, we cannot practice professional and independent journalism. Most people fear loosing jobs. We thought with change of government things will change, things are even worse now. It is no longer a public broadcaster, it is party broadcaster
The day I see Musumali, Mukandila, Silumbe, Emmanuel Mwamba, Lifwekelo and all the other media directors from opposition parties being featured on what is supposed to be a public broadcaster and run by mostly tax payers money, that is the day this station will be respected. Remember for now it is only one media director from the ruling party only who is Simuwe who is featured.
And the Permanent Secretary of Information Ministry who doesnt know whether he is a civil servant or a politician.
The act of parliament that created ZNBC says it is a public broadcaster, meaning it is for the government and all the people and not for a ruling party. The board, management and staff surely require orientation to make this institution professional and unbiased.
No, the act doesn’t say so. John Sangwa needs to formulate a bill for the establishment of a Public Broadcaster in Zambia. The ruling party or the politicians will never do that because they all eye DeadNBC as a weapon of propaganda when they take over.
Private media is thriving and ZNBC is a distant miles away because of political considerations before professional considerations in their programming . And the fact that Zambia has unemployment issues, members of staff at ZNBC just tow the line and push ruling partisan party interest to remain in employment. Our democracy is a very strange one.
The truth is that the good things that ZNBC may be doing is diluted by the one sided coverage of the ruling party programs only and not the opposition. For example when ECL announced his return to active politics, we should have seen or we should have been seeing ECL or members of his party on ZNBC Sunday Interview because that is a big news item and also because ZNBC is supposed to be a public broadcaster even though ECL himself never featured HH, but we are told that the country is now run by a ‘ church elder’, where we do not expect vengeance.
It is now a station featuring pro ruling party voices. It is either Winter, Nevers, Mbula and others. If an opposition party is featured, it will be one which is not a threat to their hold on power. We expected a lot from these people but which ever party comes in, it is the same pattern. For them opposition should go to private media and the so called public broadcaster is reserved for them as a ruling party For opposition parties, the should only be covered with negative news items. And surprisingly there is a board which is supposed to provide professional over sight.
Merge it with koswe it will thrive
Dead NBC has no professionalism and no muscle to be a technologically savvy institution.Just a ruling party puppet .
No, the act doesn’t say so. John Sangwa needs to formulate a bill for the establishment of a Public Broadcaster in Zambia. The ruling party or the politicians will never do that because they all eye DeadNBC as a weapon of propaganda when they take over.
It’s true the corporation has been a disappointment for years something needs to be done just even broadcasting live events has been a struggle for sometimes fix it up!! Blessup
Ba Pulezidenti, You first need to free DeadNBC from government control. It needs to be made a Public Broadcaster, by law- not what it is now: a State Broadcaster. In a Democracy, DeadNBC should represent freedom of expression. It is not supposed to be a mouthpiece of the government or answerable to government as if we are in the second republic.
The three arms of government in a democracy are The Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. There is a silent fourth arm called freedom of expression. This freedom is what allows the three wings to have ability to check each other. They need freedom of speech to be able to point out what is going wrong with any wing of governance