Zambian paper’s staff summoned on contempt charges
New York, August 31, 2009–A magistrate in Zambia issued a summons today for the entire editorial staff of the southern African country’s largest independent newspaper to appear in court on Wednesday on contempt charges, according to local journalists and news reports. The ruling was prompted by an op-ed commenting on the prosecution of the paper’s…
Press freedom slips in Zambia
In Zambia, the coming week will mark the anniversary of the untimely death of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa. The late president had championed press freedom with his commitments to reform, and, with his passing, the Zambian media lost an ally. Worse, the media freedoms gained in recent years are now slipping.
Media reform stagnates in Zambia
On September 27, the High Court in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, granted acting President Rupiah Banda an injunction restraining The Post newspaper from publishing libelous words against him. Zambia’s Sunday Times reported that the court had also given a penal notice to Editor-in-Chief Fred M’membe to comply with the order. M’membe refused and appealed to the…
Government extends ban on station’s call-in programs
JANUARY 10, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 Radio LyambaiCENSORED The Ministry of Information has extended a ban on call-in programs at Radio Lyambai in the western province of Mongu. On November 30, 2007, the ministry’s director of press and planning, Juliana Mwila, sent a letter to the station banning its call-in programs and calling them…
Two journalists arrested, charged for “false news”
MARCH 11, 2006 Posted March 21, 2006 Matongo Maumbi, Radio Chikuni Jyde Hamoonga, Radio Chikuni HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Maumbi and Hamoonga, two journalists working for Radio Chikuni, a community station in the southern district of Monze, were arrested and charged with publishing “false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public.” The…