By PRISCA LUMINGU BANGA and KALOBWE BWALYA
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has lashed out at media owners who are also presidential aspirants, using their newspaper to attack rivals in an unfair and biased manner.
“It is disconcerting and unprofessional that some individuals privileged to own newspapers have suddenly become politicians and using their publications to attack their rivals which gives undue advantage to such politicians in an election as it creates a very slanted play field, where they quote the same people to create stories” President Lungu said.
The President was speaking yesterday at the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day in Lusaka organised by the Media Liason Committee and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services.
And President Lungu has condemned the continued harassment of journalists and said issues of journalists suffering intimidation and violence cannot continue anymore because the world has moved on from journalists being enemies of the state to working with the state.
Speaking under the theme “Information as a Public Good” the President urged his followers both in government and the party to embrace journalists and the journalism fraternity.
And the World Press Freedom Committee chairperson Felistus Chipako says the practice of journalists has come under fire in the recent past with most found wanting in terms of biased reporting.
Meanwhile, Media Liason Committee Technical Working Group chairperson Ernest Chanda says the process of enacting the Zambia Journalism Council Bill has reached an advanced stage which is hoped to enhance the voice of journalists and promote professionalism.
