…asks IBA to probe the private station, raises fear
17.04.24
Ministerial briefing
Information Minister Cornelius Mweetwa has issued a veiled threat against privately owned media house KBNTV whom he has accused of peddling propaganda and politics instead of real news during a press conference at his office.
Mweetwa also signalled the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the media regulator of Zambia to investigate the content of media houses like KBNTV run by Pastor Kennedy Mambwe.
“Let´s be of good use when disseminating information to the public by channelling out good information to the public and not to be used as purveyors of lies and misinformation,” said an angry Mweetwa.
“I recently witnessed with gross horror and consternation a TV station KBNTV hosting a discussion on the President (Hichilema) of the republic of Zambia commissioning one toilet in Kitwe and opening phone lines allowing unsuspecting citizens to make comments on an uninformed basis and creating a caption that the diaspora is disappointed with the President,” said Mweetwa.
Mweetwa said he expected KBNTV and other media to investigate stories before going for discussion programmes on air and allegedly mislead Zambians through ´misinformation´.
Then came the ominous warning from Mweetwa to KBNTV, “as the Minister in charge I don’t want to be checking whether IBA is following up the content that some of our media outlets are feeding the nation in line with the provisions of the IBA Act of 2002 that sets out the conditions media houses must follow particularly with content.”
Mweetwa said, “the public must not be misinformed by some media houses who are doing partisan politics because the President wasn’t launching one toilet.”
Relations between Mweetwa and KNTV hit an all-time low recently when the widely followed TV station exposed the Minister when he tried to cover his tracks for admitting that government was responsible for fanning disunity in the previous administration of President Lungu and fanning tribalism to win elections.
In a ´hot off the mic´ with senior journalist Innocent Phiri recently, Mweetwa is heard asking KBNTV´s Phiri (IP) to clean his mess promising to pay him in return of ´cleaning up´ following the after math that saw Socialist Party President Dr Fred M´membe to report Mweetwa to police.
“You are my friend and ´ambassador´ you need to help me out on this (fanning tribalism), and I will pay you through friendship,” Mweetwa promised Phiri.
Dr M´membe´s complaint against Mweetwa filed in February to police has not been attended to yet while repeated calls by the SP leader have gone largely unanswered.
During the press conference, however, Mweetwa, the chief spokesman of government did not complain about the Times of Zambia, Daily Mail or ZNBC that openly cheer for the government without apology and is deemed as bias by commentators of media.
Analysts fear that Mweetwa´s call for the IBA to check the content of KBNTV could be a step towards a punitive measure in a country where the democratic space has been reported to be shrinking since August 2021.
Recently his permanent secretary during an appearance on KBNTV also accused the station of being ´sympathetic´ to the opposition led United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) without evidence, although the station always hosts government officials.
It is unclear how the IBA will react to the ´instruction´ given to them by Mweetwa to investigate KNTv matters.
