Alliance for a Better Zambia President Father Frank Bwalya says the Patriotic Front (PF) government must stop intimidating journalists working for online media in Zambia.
He said journalists must be given the liberty to gather and publish news freely without any form of intimidation, harassment, censorship and beatings.
Regrettably, he said, journalists were experiencing worst forms of censorship, harassment, intimidation and beatings at the hands of PF cadres who have no tolerance for independent media.
Father Bwalya said the PF government was desperate and scared of objective criticism and balanced reporting from the independent online media.
He said the PF administration was not tolerant to media houses that were objective and critical of their failed policies.
Father Bwalya said the online media in Zambia was offering many citizens with divergent views and those who were denied access in the traditional media to have access to the media and air their views on many matters such as those relating to governance.
He said the PF government must not complain that the online media was hiding behind anonymity because this situation was a creation of the government because it had failed to promote press freedom in Zambia.
“The PF are busy harassing journalists and media people who are critical of their government. They have denied access to those of us that have divergent views. The online media has been an alternative and it is anonymous because there is no conducive environment for independent journalists to operate and that could be the reason why they have found solace in anonymity,” he said.
Father Bwalya said the PF government would go down in the history of the country as Zambia’s worst abuser of media freedom. He said journalists in Zambia were celebrating the World Press Freedom Day with heightened harassment and suppression of media freedom.
Father Bwalya was reacting to statements by acting Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Fackson Shamenda who said that the PF government was concerned about irresponsible reporting by the online media.
When he officiated at the World Press Freedom day celebration in Lusaka at the weekend, Shamenda said journalists operating in the online media in Zambia were unprofessional and had ignored ethics.
He said the online media was being abused by individuals who were in the habit of attacking citizens and the government. Shamenda said the government would stop at nothing to arrest and prosecute online journalists whom he said were doing their work on borrowed time. He said the PF government was a responsible and decent government that would not sit and watch irresponsible online journalism.
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