Africa-Press – Zambia. The Media Liaison Committee (MLC) has expressed shock with the position taken by the Media Owners Association of Zambia (MOAZ) to reject the final draft of the Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) bill.
Committee Chairperson Enock Ngoma says he is surprised that the Association has denied ever being engaged by the Committee in drafting the ZAMEC bill when in actual sense they either declined to attend meetings when called upon or delegated junior officers to represent them.
Mr. Ngoma has further told Q-news in an interview that the Media Owners were part of the first ever Insaka which the Committee called to discuss issues of media self-regulation in Zambia where over three hundred journalists from across the country convened and voted for self-regulation that is backed by an Act of Parliament and not a voluntary one.
And Mr. Ngoma has refuted assertions that the ZAMEC bill provides for any punitive measure to be taken on journalists for committing an offence in the line of duty.
He explained that the only sanctions in the bill relate to an erring media house being required to retract, apologize or make a correction to a particular information disseminated proved to be inaccurate and injurious to a particular person or institution.
Earlier today, MOAZ members convened a press conference were they rejected and demanded for the immediate withdrawal of the ZAMEC bill from the Ministry of Information and Media where it was resubmitted by MLC citing detrimental effects on the media landscape in Zambia if enacted.
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