Unveiling the policy in Lilongwe on Wednesday, American Ambassador to Malawi Alan Eastham said the radio station has challenged other media institutions in the country to emulate the ‘bold' step it has taken.
“Despite the newness of private broadcasting in Malawi, and the challenges of setting up a new industry, Zodiak is one of the fastest rising broadcasters in the country, with extensive geographical coverage,” observed Eastham, who was the guest of honour at the function.
ZBS opened its airwaves on November 16, 2005 and Eastham acknowledged, “It is no small feat to thrive in this environment, where costs are high and readers and listeners are hard to reach.”
Chairperson of the newly rejuvenated Media Council of Malawi, Patrick Semphere, said despite being a relatively young kid on the block, the radio is charting the way for others.
“As a media we are accountable to the listener; a policy like this one, therefore allows us to move away from top-down policy when tackling our job,” said Semphere who is also head of Malawi's Trans-World Radio.
ZBS MD Gospel Kadzako pledged during the launch that with the policy, the radio would not stifle truth.
“In our one and half years of existence we have realised that it is easy to sell truth,” he said before declaring, “we would rather close while telling the truth, than be flamboyant telling lies.
He said the policy, which has captured all the issues in relation to code of conduct for broadcasting services as laid down in the Malawi Communication Act, would act as a contract between the public and the radio.
The rest of the policy addresses the “how” of news, which includes civility, objectivity, thoroughness, identification, balance, public interest, relevance, neutrality, credibility, accuracy and diversity.
Kadzako said he and his two colleagues who are the share holders of the radio company decided to establish the radio after noticing that there was a gaping gap in broadcasting in Malawi.
“Those that were broadcasting then were cheating our people that we are very advanced and with this illusion people felt so helpless and we decided to come in to tell the truth as it was,” said Kadzako to loud applause. “Since competition in broadcasting operation is stiff, we realised we cannot operate in a cocoon and even when we are a private radio we do not broadcast to ourselves,” he added.
While acknowledging that, with the policy, Zodiak has challenged the entire journalism fraternity in Malawi, the American ambassador also noted that as human, ‘we do not meet our aspirations and our challenge …but as journalists you have a very special responsibility to be the best you can'.
Eastham encouraged all journalists in Malawi to read the policy.
