. Katema

By DELPHINE ZULU –
GOVERNMENT has urged the public media to be proactive by introducing dependable innovative ideas that will assist boost their economic base and meet expectations of the employees.
Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Joseph Katema said the public media should not wholly depend on Government for financial support because they had the capacity to come up with innovative ideas that could help boost their financial base.
“The public media need to be recommended for informing the nation on various happenings, I am aware that there is a special funding for the public media but let me emphasise that, the public media must come up with innovative ideas to help them financially than depending on Government all the time,” he said.
Dr Katema was speaking at a media cocktail party organised by his ministry on Wednesday night where he said the media should help unite the nation by ensuring that it remained objective in their line of duty especially that the country was headed for presidential elections this month.
He was aware that many public media organisations had introduced a number of initiatives to boost their financial base but that more needed to be done in order to meet workers’ expectations.
Government would always ensure that the public media was included in the annual budget with funds allocated dispatched according to various needs and on time.
The minister said it was time the media were weaned off and stood on their own instead of relying on Government coffers all the time.
On the transformation of digital migration, Dr Katema said the programme was on course and his ministry would soon launch phase one digital transmission on Monday next week with the Zambia National Broadcsating Cooporation (ZNBC) involving the installation of channels from Livingstone to other areas.
In phase two, the ministry would install transmitters in Provincial centres starting with Kitwe, Lusaka and Livingstone while the third phase would involve the connecting of central boxes to signals from analogue to digital.
Information Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo urged the media to remain objective and fair in their reporting in order not to mislead the nation which was thirsty for credible news.
“The best you can do as journalists is to remain impartial in your profession because you are doing it for so many people who want to be informed and educated, if you publish half baked information, just know that you are doing a de-service to the nation and might mislead them,” Mr Kasolo said.