•Times Printpak Managing Director Bestone Ng’onga congratulates ZAMCOM 2010-2012 intake Best Student Joe Pandwe.

By MIRIAM ZIMBA –
COULD the levels of unprofessionalism and sensationalism in news reporting be attributed to poor training among media personnel in Zambia?
What happened to sound principles and ethical conduct among journalists? These are questions that have been asked over and over again by a cross section of citizens.
The same questions were posed by Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Godfrey Malama during the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication (ZAMCOM) third graduation ceremony.
Mr Malama blatantly acknowledged that it was “indisputable that not all is well in the media industry as far as media ethics and professionalism are concerned.”
He said some media houses had discarded and disregarded with impunity the fundamental tenets of journalism practice.
He made an earnest appeal to the media cadre in Zambia to desist from sensationalism and instead dwell on ethics that the profession is bound by.
This call was especially made to the new graduates to take the lead in fostering ethical conduct through balanced reporting.
This has come about as a result of the souring levels of unprofessional conduct being exhibited by some media houses that were solely bent on promoting sensational reporting lacking any semblance of credence.
Having realised the gap in the practice of the profession, Times Printpak has decided to partner with ZAMCOM to enhance professional conduct in the profession through training.
Times Printpak managing director Bestone Ng’onga said the need for ethical and professional conduct among media practitioners could not be over emphasised.
“Times Printpak is proud to be part of this great achievement by ZAMCOM and promises to continue supporting the institution in its endeavour to produce a media cadre that upholds professional and ethical conduct.
“As you enter into the field of journalism, please abide by the journalism ethics and profession,” he said.
The media house provided cash prizes of K1,000 for each of the five best graduating students from the 2010-2014 intakes, with an overall cash prize of K2,000 for the overall best student.
According to Mr Ng’onga, Times Printpak was proud to be associated with the success of the media in Zambia by cooperating with media institutions that were offering training.
This is because training forms the bedrock upon which the future of the media lies, and it is from the same training institutions that media houses look to for media practitioners.
In addition, Times Printpak pledged to grant the best graduating student full time employment at the company.
“It was decided that in the event the best graduating student was not in fulltime employment, then Times Printpak would provide employment for such a student,” Mr Ng’onga said.
In this case, Jonas Pandwe who emerged as the overall best graduating student had earned himself fulltime employment as a news reporter at the Times of Zambia.
As the major sponsors for prizes for the graduating students, Times Printpak also offered all the best students free access to the electronic version of the newspaper (e-times) for up to five publications, as a way of encouraging the reading culture and raising the profile of the newspaper.
“This is also one of the ways Times Printpak plays its corporate social responsibilities, by giving back to the community,” Mr Ng’onga said.
This sponsorship may also be extended to certificate programmes in journalism, radio and television production and other media related programmes as resources permit.
“For now, we are concentrating on the print aspect of the media scholars because we are a print media institution.
“We recognise the importance of training because we realise that without training, the future of media personnel in Zambia is at stake,” he said.
This is perhaps why the Times Printpak attaches great importance to knowledge which was acquired through training.
Times Printpak recognises that the training offered at ZAMCOM does not only complement the training services provided by other public training institutions offering courses in journalism, but also because the institution has an outstanding record as regards the calibre of media professionals they train.
“I am more than certain that the crop of media practitioners who have been trained by ZAMCOM are a great asset to whichever institutions they are working for. They are not a liability,”  Mr Ng’onga said.
He said it was the company’s vision to ensure that the crop of journalists entering the media profession have sound training and high ethical and professional conduct.
He said it was for this reason that Times Printpak hopes to extend the gesture to other training institutions apart from ZAMCOM.
This year alone, a total of 367 media personnel graduated with diplomas in journalism and public relations from ZAMCOM.
ZAMCOM was once the in-service media training centre in Southern Africa, providing specialisation reporting skills in different fields such as gender, children, environment, climate change, economics, health, HIV and AIDS, and others.
But over the years, due to maladministration, poor corporate governance and complete lack of passion for the profession, as highlighted in a forensic audit report by the Auditor General’s office, the institution was slowly becoming anathema to its key stakeholders and allies.
ZAMCOM director Oliver Kanene was elated by the cordial relations between his institution and the Times Printpak.
“It is impossible for training institutions to achieve this without the full participation of the end users – the employers.
It was therefore, gratifying that the Times Printpak partnered with ZAMCOM and sponsored a number of awards to deserving students,” he said.
What is more gratifying is a long-term partnership which is being worked out between Times Print Pak and ZAMCOM.
The partnership’s objective is to create a platform for the former to participate in molding future journalists.
This will include among others, Times of Zambia’s leading writers acting as visiting lecturers to the institute.
In addition, Times Printpak would develop a comprehensive industrial attachment programme for ZAMCOM trainee journalists.
Further, ZAMCOM, together with its partners, would develop training programmes for Times Printpak staff to help them effectively generate information on forgotten areas of public interest.
ZAMCOM hopes that similar arrangements would be made with other media institutions to build a collaborative base for the training of journalists in Zambia giving them quality and timely training is the bedrock of a truly free and independent media.
The vision of ZAMCOM seems to resonate well with that of Times Printpak, which seeks to be the newspaper that does not only provide information, but also participates in the development of the economy through strengthening of its corporate social responsibility, such as this partnership.