Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

The Zambian National Broadcasting
Corporation is a prominent supplier
of news to <strong>the</strong> country’s TV viewing
public, and controversial for those
quarters who see it as pro-government.
To understand ZNBC’s output,
it is useful to see what happens
from origination of story ideas to
<strong>the</strong> final news bulletin. The main
editorial team for ZNBC falls under
<strong>the</strong> Director of Programmes who is
<strong>the</strong> main gatekeeper for all ZNBC
programmes and news. Below <strong>the</strong>
Director of Programmes are several
senior executives and a number of
reporters who run <strong>the</strong> news content
on a daily basis.
The operational structure is such
that journalists meet every day
around 08:30 in <strong>the</strong> morning in
what is commonly referred to as
<strong>the</strong> “diary meeting”. This meeting is
normally chaired by <strong>the</strong> Assignment
Editor who discusses <strong>the</strong> story ideas
with reporters and approves <strong>the</strong>m.
Once <strong>the</strong> diary has been drawn up
for <strong>the</strong> day, <strong>the</strong> reporters set about
ga<strong>the</strong>ring <strong>the</strong> approved items as
well as unanticipated breaking
news.
Section 3: Independence
ZNBC: a culture conductive to control
By Clayson Hamasaka
Clayson Hamasaka is currently Acting
Head of Media Studies Department
at Evelyn Hone College, Lusaka,
Zambia. He has a Masters Degree in
Journalism and Media Studies from
Rhodes University and conducted
his <strong>the</strong>sis research into ZNBC. He is
also media consultant in Zambia on
various issues.
They <strong>the</strong>n write stories in close
consultation with <strong>the</strong> editors. Later,
<strong>the</strong>se stories are again scrutinised
for approval in <strong>the</strong> ZNBC main news
line-up.
As elsewhere, in Zambia <strong>the</strong> purpose
of a public service broadcaster is to
give balanced news coverage. But
a close study and scrutiny of ZNBC
editorial structure shows that a story
can deviate from <strong>the</strong> principles of
public service broadcasting at any
stage in <strong>the</strong> process.
Whereas most staff are fully aware
of what is expected of <strong>the</strong>m as
journalists working for a public
institution, <strong>the</strong>y also feel <strong>the</strong>re is
always an ‘invisible hand’ that limits
<strong>the</strong>ir professionalism.
Even when reporters go in to <strong>the</strong>
field to get balanced stories, <strong>the</strong>y
are normally frustrated because
<strong>the</strong> final story as it gets broadcast
often does not reflect a professional
balance in reporting — especially if
it involves government. As a result,
it very common to have certain
stories being dropped if <strong>the</strong>y are
unfavourable of <strong>the</strong> government
and <strong>the</strong> ruling party. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r
hand, damaging stories involving
opposition leaders are allowed
and aired on ZNBC news without
hesitation.
Editorial staff feel that politicians
in <strong>the</strong> ruling party think that <strong>the</strong>
major stakeholder of ZNBC is
government, and hence <strong>the</strong> belief
that <strong>the</strong> news staff should agree
with everything coming from <strong>the</strong>se
quarters. What is also frustrating
to <strong>the</strong> newsroom are instances
where a governmental or ruling
party official gives an interview to
a private media house — and when
<strong>the</strong>y feel <strong>the</strong>y have been misquoted,
order ZNBC to ‘correct’ <strong>the</strong> story
although ZNBC staffers may not
Media in Africa - 2011 | 133