Zambia’s Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has revealed that regulating online media in the country has proved to be a challenge.
IBA director general Josephine Mapoma said regulating online media in the Southern African country has proved to be a challenge because there is currently no law in Zambia that has provisions for regulation.
She said the IBA is trying to find a way of regulating online media even though the law that created IBA has nothing on online media regulation.
Zambia is currently struggling to regulate online media organisations, which the Zambian government has accused of peddling lies and being sponsored by the opposition in order to cast aspersions on the president, ministers and senior government officials.
Some Journalists suspected of working for online media are being arrested and being taken to court on trumped-up charges.
But Mapoma said the growth of online media in the country presents a great opportunity for new dissemination across different platforms.
Instead of clamping down on online media channels, Mapoma said the IBA wants to take the lead and see how online media outlets can be improved upon through regulation.
“We would like to find a way of regulating online media although it is true that the current law which creates the IBA has nothing on online media regulation. Going forward, we would like to see how we can extend our mandate to regulate online media,” Mapoma said.
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