Africa

Zambia

{This graph represents scores that have been modified by CIMA so that higher scores indicate a better media situation. It is intended to show trends over time; each index measures significantly different factors of press freedom. To see an explanation for how this graph was created, click here.}

IREX Score: 1.91	[IREX Methodology]
{Higher is Better, Score Ranges from 0 to 4.00}

IREX Description:

With a score virtually unchanged from the 2008 MSI, apparently Zambia has been unable to regain the ground lost from the more optimistic 2006-2007 MSI, which portrayed the country's media sector as approaching sustainability.

The hard-fought 2008 election of Rupiah Bwezani Banda, of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), marked the shift toward a difficult time for journalists, who suffered from intimidation and attacks throughout the election season. Since then, the new ruling elite have demonstrated a lack of tolerance for public criticism.

In addition to pointing out much-needed legal reforms, the MSI panel for 2009 highlighted ongoing problems in terms of professionalism and improving the business management aspect of media health. The media community agrees widely that self-regulation is paramount in setting and upholding standards of professionalism and ethics, but the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ), the body established to implement and manage the self-regulatory model, is undermined by the media community's lack of respect and material support. In turn, MECOZ's failure to progress has invited the government to flirt with attempts to exercise more control over standards, along with its activities compromising editorial independence.

These are some of the issues preventing Zambia from reclaiming its previous strides toward a more sustainable media climate. The overall country score remained essentially the same (last year's score was a 1.89), and the rank ordering of the objectives did not change. Objectives 5 (supporting institutions) and 3 (plurality of news sources) remain the highest-scoring, narrowly reaching the near-sustainability category, while the remaining three objectives are categorized as unsustainable mixed systems. Business management (Objective 4) improved noticeably but still scored lowest, while professional journalism (Objective 2) and freedom of speech (Objective 1) remained about the same.

Africa

Zambia

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Freedom House Score: 61 (Partly Free)	[Freedom House Methodology]
{Lower is Better, Score Ranges from 0 to 100}