Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary, Thabo Kawana, has called on media owners to improve the conditions of service for journalists in the country.
Mr. Kawana said this today, when he officiated at this year’s World Press Freedom Day commemoration in Lusaka.
He said media owners should not enrich themselves at the expense of their reporters.
“The kind of salaries that we are paying our journalists are a sorry sight, some journalists in some media houses have gone six, seven to even eight months without salaries, how do you think they survive,?” wondered Mr. Kawana.
And Mr. Kawana said this year’s World Press Freedom Day “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis” is timely as Zambia has not been spared from climate change.
He said government will continue to foster dialogue and collaboration between stakeholders and the media to advance press freedom and address environmental crisis effectively.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kawana said there is need to protect Journalists against harassment and intimidation as they execute their duties.
Margaret Mwanza
