Hamusokwe Basil Nchimunya
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SCHOOL OF APPLIED HUMAN SCIENCES, COLLEGES OF HUMANITIES Student Name: Basil Hamusokwe Student Number: 213551922 Title: The Sustainability of a Free Press in Zambia’s Third Republic: A case of the Zambia Daily Mail and The Post newspapers Supervisor: Prof. Donal McCracken Submitted to the School of Applied Human Science, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, in fulfilment of the requirements of a PhD degree at the Centre for Communication Media and Society (CCMS) November 2015 Declaration – Plagiarism I, Basil Hamusokwe declare that: 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons’ writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a) Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them has been referenced. b) Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the References sections. Signed …………………………………… Date: 30 November 2015. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Prof Donal McCracken for his insightful and critical feedback and supportive guidance. Thanks to CCMS students and staff, especially Professor Keyan Tomaselli for their support during the time I spent at the Centre. The endless discussions about media and cultural studies were mind provocative and provided great insight in my writing. My special thanks extend to the late Dr. Bennet Siamwiza (MHSRIP) for his encouragement and for facilitating my study leave. Thanks to the staff in the Department of Media and Communication studies at UNZA, especially Carole Phiri-Chibbonta, Roberta Muchangwe and Alfred Tembo for editing and offering critical feedback to some sections of the thesis. Many thanks go to the Zambia Daily Mail and The Post newspapers staff and other participants who willingly gave their time, and shared their knowledge to contribute to a better understanding of the sustainability of the press in Zambia. Profound gratitude to my wonderful and extraordinary wife, Thandiwe, who endeavoured to do everything possible to free up my time and create a study environment in our home. A special thanks to my mother, whose belief in me keeps my spirits alive. To my family and friends, especially Banji Hamusokwe and Vincent Sampa who were always available to render their support and take care of things in Zambia during my absence: I am eternally indebted. I thank you all and hope that I will make up for the generosity and love you have shown me. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to my daughter, Lushomo from whom I drew my inspiration and with whom I wrote the final parts of this thesis; she sat on my laps, naughtily clicking and hitting the computer keyboard, learning how to type, while I worked. Above all, I thank God. ii Acronyms and Abbreviations AMV - Africa Media Ventures BSAC - British South Africa Company CSO – Central Statistics Office GDP - Gross Domestic Product GRZ - Government of the Republic of Zambia IBA - Independent Broadcast Authority ICT - Information and Communication Technologies LONRHO - London Rhodesia Mining and Land Company MECOZ - Media Ethics Council of Zambia MIBS - Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services MISA - Media Institute of Southern Africa MLC - Media Liaison Committee MMD - Movement for Multiparty Democracy MP - Member of Parliament MRC - Media Reform Committee NAIS - National Agricultural Information Services NDL - Newspaper Distributors Limited PAZA - Press Association of Zambia SABC - South African Broadcasting Corporation SAP - Structural Adjustment Programme SOE - State Owned Enterprises UK - United Kingdom UN - United Nations USA - United States of America USD - United States Dollar UNIP - United National Independence Party UNZA - University of Zambia UPND - United Party for National Development ZANACO - Zambia National Commercial Bank ZANIS - Zambia National News and Information Service ZDM - Zambia Daily Mail ZDML - Zambia Daily Mail Limited ZIMCO - Zambia Industrial Mining Corporation ZDA - Zambia Development Agency ZMW - Zambian Kwacha ZNBC - Zambia National Broadcasting Services ZPA - Zambia Privatisation Agency ZRA - Zambia Revenue Authority ZUJ - Zambia Union of Journalists iii Table of Contents Declaration – Plagiarism .......................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. ii Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ iii List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER 1: .......................................................................................................................................... 1 DEMOCRACY AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A FREE PRESS IN ZAMBIA ........................... 1 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Problem in Context ............................................................................................................................. 4 Conceptualising Press Freedom .......................................................................................................... 9 Sustainability: the link between Advertising and Free Press ............................................................ 13 Rationale and Objectives .................................................................................................................. 18 Research Approach: A Transitological approach to Political Economy of Communication ............ 19 Type of Study .................................................................................................................................... 23 Sampling procedure .......................................................................................................................... 25 Collection of data .............................................................................................................................. 26 Analysis and Discussion of findings ................................................................................................. 28 Limitations of the Study .................................................................................................................... 31 Chapterisation ................................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 2: ........................................................................................................................................ 34 THE PRESS IN THE SHADOW OF THE POLITICAL-ECONOMY:............................................... 34 A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ........................................................................................................ 34 Contextualising the Concept of Advertising ..................................................................................... 35 Biographies and Mortalities of Early Newspapers: Survival of the Richest ..................................... 38 Black and White Press – the Struggle for Dominance ...................................................................... 49 Entry into Independence: The First Republic: 1964-1972 ................................................................ 53 Economic Profile .......................................................................................................................... 53 The Press in the First Republic ..................................................................................................... 55 Enter Second Republic: 1973 – 1990 ................................................................................................ 57 Economic Profile – Humanism ..................................................................................................... 57 The Press in the Second Republic ................................................................................................. 58 Ownership: Takeovers and Concentration - Implication on the Press.............................................. 61 Colonial Period: Libertarianism? ..................................................................................................... 65 The Post-Colonial Era: Press Freedom ............................................................................................. 66 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................