Professional Journalists Association of Zambia - Projaza

02/05/2024

Broadcasters!

How professionally could she have handled this situation?

14/04/2024

ASS!
By Dickson Jere

Our first day in class at AFP office in Paris - learning newswire reporting - we were told never to forget the words “ASS” in our journalism journey. The Professor broke down the letters as follows;
A = Accuracy
S = Speed
S = Short

(Accuracy)
So, whenever you want to break a news story, make sure you are 100 percent sure of its accuracy. Rule number one - if in doubt, don’t publish!

(Speed)
Newswires make money by breaking the stories first. So, speed is paramount their business. However, speed should never compromise accuracy.
Rule number two - better be late to break the story than first and misled. Your credibility as a journalist depends on your accuracy of stories.

(Short)
The stories must be short like a mini skirt. Too short to attract attention but also long enough to cover the essentials. This means that a story but have few punchy paragraphs covering all the questions of the incident. The Who, Why, What, Where, When and How. (The 5 W and 1 H).
Rule number three - summarize your story in few sentences and readers are busy with other things!

By the way, we also learnt on restraint. Even when you have graphic pictures of the accident scene that can sell, ethically do not publish those exposing victims. It is plainly unjournalistic!
Rule number four - Do not publish pictures of the accident scenes that shows the bodies or victims!

So, I was surprised that mainstream media such as Zambia Daily Mail yesterday published unverified story of the death, which never was. Better be late with a story than first but inaccurate! The damage to reputation is always BIG!

31/03/2024

Motorists you will continue buying fuel in April at the same price you have been buying it in March, the Energy Regulation Board- ERB has announced.

25/01/2024

https://twitter.com/Panos_PSAf/status/1750514128521757024

30/12/2023

Matters of professionalism.

The Elite Ladies FC raise professionalism concern over BBC World Service BBC Sport reporting of the story below.

25/07/2023

Classic lesson of ethics and professionalism.

“In Morocco, it’s illegal to have a gay relationship. Do you have any gay players in your squad and what’s life like for them in Morocco?”

BBC's World Service asked Moroccan women Football Captain Ghizlane Chebbak.

The press conference moderator interjected, saying: “Sorry, this is a very political question, so we’ll just stick to questions relating to football.”

Now the BBC News has apologized for this unprofessional and ethical breach.

Should reporters/ Journalists carry such agendas to the field??

BBC Sport

16/05/2023

... Government finally prevails and urges proceedings for the establishing of statutory media self regulation.

STATEMENT BY HON. CHUSHI KASANDA, MP, MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND MEDIA AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON ON GOVERNMENT POSITION ON MEDIA REGULATION IN ZAMBIA

Government wishes to put it on record that the New Dawn Government is a firm believer in freedom of the Press.

The Government believes in editorial independence of the media and in self-regulation of media practitioners.

The New Dawn Government will never interfere in the editorial choices of media houses and will not close any media house on account of its editorial decisions.

While the New Dawn Government believes in self-regulation of the media, it is fully cognisant of the fact that the New Dawn administration inherited State regulation of the media, pursuant to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 2002 and the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Act, Chapter 154 of the Laws of Zambia, among other pieces of legislation. It is expected that Media houses, as businesses, will continue to pay the appropriate fees, and taxes, failure to which appropriate laws shall apply just like to any other business establishment.

Government wishes to make it clear that until such a time when statutory interventions are effected, to transfer the appropriate provisions of the existing laws to a media self-regulatory mechanism, all relevant legal provisions must be complied with without reservations.

Further, the New Dawn Government recognises the distinction between media houses and the journalism profession. Consequently, the Government endorses the establishment of a professional body for journalists by journalists themselves, without undue interference from operators of media houses or any other section of society.

The nation is guided accordingly.

Hon. Chushi Kasanda, MP
MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND MEDIA AND CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON

16th May, 2023

03/03/2023

What can we say is unprofessional about this news story folks??🤔

Nakonde girl, 4, enticed with sweets, abducted

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl of Nakonde has been abducted by a man who is demanding a K2,000 ransom for her release.
Gift Mweemba, of Mukoma village, was abducted on Thursday around 09:00 hours while she was with her eight-year-old older brother, Ishmael Mweemba.
The two children, who share the same father but have different mothers, were on their way to take their mother’s phone for charging when the girl was abducted.
Her step-mother, Mwansa Chola, 24, had sent her together with Ismael to take her phone for charging at the house of Annie Kasonde, who is their neighbour.
But on their way, they met an unknown man who promised to buy them some sweets.
The children naively followed the man to the shops, where he sent Ismael away to find a way of escaping with the girl.
When Ishmael went back to where he left the stranger with his sister, he realised that the man had run away with his sister and started crying.
The boy’s uncle, Arnold Chishala, 24, found Ismael crying and took him back home, where he narrated what had transpired.
Muchinga Province police commanding officer Kaunda Mubanga said in an interview that the family later received a phone call from the suspect, who demanded K2,000 ransom.
The suspect told the family that he would only release the girl after being paid K2,000.
“The family later reported the incident to the police, who are using the number the suspect used to call to trace his location,” he said...

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19/01/2023

Since 2010 or so there has been a process to self regulation of the media in Zambia. After several attempts to voluntary self regulate, Journalists in Zambia voted at a national conference to take the statutory self media regulation.
The Zambian Media Council (ZAMEC) Draft Bill is since at the Ministry of Justice awaiting submission to Cabinet and eventually Parliament. Today, some of the stakeholders that have been part and spearheading this process have jumped off the train. Read further below and share as Journalists if you are in agreement with this statement below 👇👇

JOINT STATEMENT BY MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS FOR PURE SELF-REGULATION
ISSUED ON 19 JANUARY 2023
AT MULUNGUSHI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTER – KK WING LUSAKA
DELIVERED BY MR AUSTIN KAYANDA – NATIONAL DIRECTOR MISA ZAMBIA ON BEHALF OF THE MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS FOR PURE SEL-REGULATION

Members of the Associations for Pure Media Self-Regulation present
Members of the Press
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning,
It is a pleasure to address you all this morning on behalf of media associations for pure self- regulation.

As you can tell, the media associations present seek to establish a pure media self-regulation mechanism to provide the public a mechanism to hold the media accountable for their actions.

The Media Associations for Pure Self-Regulation, was formed following deliberations held over a period of six months on the matter of media regulation in Zambia.

As you may be aware, the talks to establish a media regulation mechanism started some time in 2018 but stalled due to inimical clauses in the Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) BIll that included mandatory registration of individual journalists and sanctions directed at individual erring journalists in the ZAMEC Bill.

The ZAMEC Bill would have made it an offense for anyone to practice journalism without a licence in Zambia. And such a journalist or individual could be even be jailed upto three years if found practicing without a licence.

This is inimical to media freedom and freedom of expression. Licencing of journalism is a threat to freedom of expression because the Zambian Constitution provides for freedom of expression and freedom of association under article 20.

Now if the registration to a media body was mandatory for journalists in Zambia, then the right to freedom of expression would require a licence by extension. Now, while it sounds good that there will be a limit as to whom can enter the profession, one should remember that it is in this country, TV and radio stations have had their licences either withdrawn or suspended, especially the critical ones. It is also in this country that one of the most powerful newspapers The Post Newspapers was shutdown. It’s a paper that fully played its watchdog role and exposed corruption which courts were able to prove and corrupt persons were jailed.

And if an entire media house that is critical of the powers that be could be shut down, what is the consequence on an individual journalist who may be critical of the powers that be? It will mean increased censorship in defense of one’s licence. This has the power to compromise the watchdog and agenda setting role of the media let alone investigative journalism.

This is were there is a point of departure for journalism and other professions. We need regulation but it should not compromise our autonomy and our ability to play our role in society.

Moreover, media accountability and sanctions exist in several pieces of legislation which already include the jail terms and fines. Therefore, working towards another law for media with such provisions is detrimental.

It is negating the current good environment which the government has put in place for media to enjoy their freedom of expression. The current government has even started to revise some laws to ensure the legal environment is not oppressive to the media and it is very commendable.

The government has amended Section 69 of the Penal Code which caused many journalists to be arrested and appear in court. This section which provided for Defamation of the President has costed media time and resources to handle such cases; including sending a chilling effect on upcoming journalists and media houses. Therefore the repeal of this law is very welcome.

Further, the state is reviewing the Public Order Act and the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act to address any clauses that are inimical to media freedom and freedom of expression, which is also very progressive.

In addition, the state is working to enact the Access to Information Law which is also very progressive for our democracy.

Therefore, having learnt from the process of trying to establish the ZAMEC and the new government’s positive policy pronouncements, we the Media Associations for Pure Self-Regulation would like to state this day that we are taking the bold step of utilizing this golden opportunity provided by the current government to put in place a pure media self-regulation mechanism that will ensure media freedom but also allow the public to hold it accountable.

To this end, the Media Associations for Pure Self-Regulation have began the process to establish the mechanism in line with the progressive policy environment offered by the current government.

We are therefore about to commence capacity building for journalists and the media to understand the pitfalls of media regulation backed by law and engagement meetings with the media and journalists in order to develop and implement this mechanism.

Further, we shall develop a code of conduct and a constitution which we shall share with the media and the public. These documents will be developed from the available documents that were produced under the previous process. However, inimical clauses shall be removed in order to ensure an effective but conducive mechanism that strikes a balance between media freedom and freedom of expression and the right of the public to hold the media accountable for its actions.

Once we have developed the standards we shall set for ourselves regarding the ethics and guidelines of media conduct regard content gathering, processing and publication, we shall avail them to the public for them to use to hold the media accountable that will subscribe to this mechanism accountable.

Ofcourse I note that you are wondering how I am saying we shall be held accountable, I make this statement on behalf of various media owners and journalists who are part of this Association who have committed themselves to be accountable in their actions as they gather, package and disseminate the news. Am sure media associations will also use them to educate the media houses which they target for capacity building to enhance their knowledge in media ethics. Therefore, we shall one hymn book to sing from as it were when it comes to media ethics for every media house that will be part of this mechanism.

As Media Associations for Pure Self-Regulation, we welcome any media body, journalists that want to be part of this process to join us. We are an alliance that is open to welcoming new entrants but we shall not impose ourselves either.

We shall among other matters work at strengthening partnerships with Journalism unions to address journalists’ conditions of service. Make no mistake, we want journalists to get a better pay too because it guarantees good output. That is why we want ideal policy that protects media autonomy and encourages media sustainability. We don’t want what happened to Prime TV to start happening to individual journalists.

Moreover, we wish to reiterate that pure media self-regulation is an international best practice that ensure a better ranking regards press freedom in the world index. Journalists must be the drivers of media regulation and not the state. Having a law to establish a media regulation mechanism places journalism regulation in the hands of those making the law which is not supposed to be the case.

Now, we have seen laws like the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act amended several times because we as media associations are not law makers. We did not agree to the changes but our power was limited to just giving an opinion. As a result, some of the progressive provisions were discarded in 2010 and in 2017. This is likely to happen when a bad regime is in place where a media regulation mechanism backed by law is concerned.
Infact, we saw it happening at the drafting level where the ZAMEC Bill was constantly changed and hence stalled its enactment in 2020 and part of 2021 because we could not agree to the contents in the bill.

As I conclude distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen, this decision was arrived at after long thought and deliberations, study of the matter and is not driven in any way by donors nor selfishness of media owners of wanting to pay low salaries, it is about saving the journalism profession from further gagging.

Media and Journalists in Zambia already face numerous laws that include jail terms in their day to day work and it will not be wise to add another law to this.

I thank you all.

04/10/2022

Why We Need Professional Journalism in the Age of Social Media.

Citizen journalists are regular people who take it upon themselves to record video or take pictures of a newsworthy story and broadcast them through social media.

It was citizen journalists that brought important stories like the Ferguson protests and Iran Green Movement to the mainstream media’s attention.

However, citizen-produced content often results in viral videos or images that rapidly spread misinformation when they fail to provide context for the story or investigate the issue at stake.
For example, photoshopped images of Hurricane Sandy over New York City were shared all over social media, adding to the chaos and confusion people were already experiencing.
While citizen journalism is necessary for keeping the mainstream media accountable (to an extent) and to bring new stories to light, it’s more important than ever for professional journalism to make its voice heard on social media.

Professional journalists are professional because they are trained in their work and follow a certain set of ethical guidelines, which citizen journalists don’t.

Despite fact-checking or verification sites like
Storyful that improve the credibility of citizen-produced content, only professional journalists dive into a story and give it the context and depth that it’s otherwise lacking. A citizen’s content can be supplementary to a professional journalist’s investigation, but it is not sufficient for a complete story. Professional journalists are responsible for looking at every angle and source as their stories should be well-rounded and unbiased.

If a professional journalist is adhering to journalistic ethics, then they should be presenting facts in an unbiased light.

Their content isn’t there to persuade like an op-ed, but is meant to inform.

This means that they have to verify their sources, fact-check, and refuse stories where they might have a conflict of interest.

Plus, their content shouldn’t be created for the click value or driven by a need for viewers.

They should be investigating stories and sources in order to uncover the truth.

A citizen-shot video may get a ton of attention online, but it’s the professional journalist’s story behind it that people need to see to be informed.

Though, it’s really up to publishers to work harder to promote professional journalism to beat out the noise of viral video, clickbait, and unchecked citizen journalism.

Professional journalism also means professional quality. Citizen-produced content is usually filmed on a phone by someone untrained in video production.

This is fine for breaking news, but quality video is important to keeping a viewer’s attention and maintaining a news organization’s professional reputation and trustworthiness.

A number of publishers rely on citizen journalism when news breaks and they need video immediately, or they have to wait for their news crew to arrive at the scene, both of which have their drawbacks.

However, with Storyhunter, it’s easy to get a professional journalist on the ground faster than ever, wherever a story is breaking, so that news credibility, coverage, and quality don’t have to suffer and viewers are better informed.

[Story Hunter]

05/08/2022

Journalists:
How to carry out an interview - Types of interviews

27/07/2022

What are some professional issues to cite in this broadcast ?