By Julius PHIRI –
INFORMATION and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Forrie Tembo has commended local communities in the country for the overwhelming response to Government’s policy to invest in the establishment of community radio and television stations.
Mr Tembo said at this year’s World Radio Day commemoration held in Chipata at the weekend that this followed Government’s liberalisation of the airwaves through the establishment of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and other policy interventions in the broadcasting sector.
Mr Tembo in a speech read for him by Information and Broadcasting Services, Permanent Secretary, Godfrey Malama, said the country now boasted of having more than 80 community and commercial radio stations.
“For Zambia, the commemoration of the World Radio Day has become more important and relevant today than ever before. This follows Government’s liberalisation of the airwaves, the establishment of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and other policy interventions in the broadcasting sector with the result that no fewer than 80 community and commercial radio stations are now on air countrywide,” he said.
Mr Tembo said the community, commercial and religious radio stations now dotted in various parts of the country were playing an important role in closing the information gap, especially in far flung areas of the country, where Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) cannot reach.
He said for more than a century now, radio continued to play its unique and indispensable role in the public’s access to information.
He said through the IBA, Government had since accelerated the issuance of broadcasting licenses.
Mr Tembo reaffirmed Government’s commitment to create an enabling environment for the continued growth and contribution of radio to national development.
He urged the media to exercise the highest level of reportorial standards in contributing to peaceful, free and fair elections ahead of the August 11, 2016 general election.
Eastern Province permanent secretary Chanda Kasolo said he would not condone attacks on journalists in their line of duty.
He said journalists were key in information dissemination, hence they needed to be protected from any form of violence targeted at them.
IBA director general Josephine Mapoma said radio should provide a platform for people to make informed decisions in times of disasters and in times of emergencies.
Ms Mapoma said radio and television stations were supposed to educate people on various issues, such as discouraging violence and hate speech.
“Radio is expected to highlight the plight of the people affected by disasters, but should do so in a humane way,” she said.
Ms Mapoma urged all broadcasting stations to at all times, conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner, including in emergencies or disasters as and when they occurred.
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia chapter chairperson Hellen Mwale, who spoke through Wilson Pondamali, said broadcasting stations provided listeners with the information they needed more especially in the rural communities