Private media advised to be ethical

Government has urged private media institutions to observe ethics in their dissemination of information to avoid promotion of violence in the country and character assassination of individuals.
Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Joseph Katema, says media houses have a responsibility to promote peace in the country through truthful and ethical reporting.
Speaking when he toured various community radio stations in Kitwe, Dr Katema warned community radio stations not to abuse the liberation of the media industry to create anarchy in the country though careless reporting which is against media ethics.

Dr Katema, who is also chief government spokesperson, urged community radio stations to ensure that the operational challenges they face do not tempt them to ignore media ethics and go against their good editorial policies.

He said it was the policy of the PF government to promote free flow of information so that the country can have an informed citizenry which he said was critical to national development.

The minister commended the Catholic Church-owned radio Ichengelo for its diligent news and information dissemination which he said had enabled the station to earn itself great public confidence.

And earlier, Dr Katema toured ZNBC Kitwe studios where he expressed happiness at the institution’s readiness to migrate to digital transmission.

He also noted that the workers at the institution were committed to work despite having a huge work load.

Dr Katema, however, said the workload will be reduced with the ongoing establishment of provincial television stations.

He said in this year’s national budget, K2I million has been set aside for the construction of TV stations in Choma and Solwezi this year.

And Information and Broadcasting Permanent Secretary, Berts Mushala, who accompanied the minister, assured the workers at the Times of Zambia that government was attending to the problems facing the public media house.