VETERAN JOURNALIST WARNS OVERZEALOUS PARTY CADRES AGAINST ATTACKING JOURNALISTS

 ‎HOW TO AVOID ATTRACTING THE CURIOSITY OF JOURNALISTS

‎...We mean no harm to anyone, but don't push us too much

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‎By Charles Chisala

‎IN LESS than two weeks, journalism and the media in general has suffered two attacks at the hands of intolerant political party cadres. The journalists' only crime was that they covered news created by the attackers themselves.

‎The latest victim is journalist Alfonso Kasongo of Power FM and Power TV who was beaten and humiliated in public in Lusaka yesterday by cadres from a known political party for merely filming what they were doing to a hapless citizen.

‎Bane, stop attacking us. It's unfair to slap, punch, kick and throw to the ground a journalist for doing what his profession requires him to do at the time. Lekeni!

‎Look, we journalists are cousins of flies and vultures. When you see a swarm of flies buzzing around a particular spot, just know that  there is something attracting them. When you see vultures in the sky circling over a particular place, just know that there is either a carcass or an imminent death of an animal on the ground. In both cases the attraction is a meal or the promise of one.

‎Equally, when you do or say something unusual or extraordinary, we will cover it. We will report it to the public because that is what we are trained to do. It's news. That's what our profession demands. That's what we are trained to do.

‎Members of the public have the right to know what you are doing in public. Don't get piqued when we capture your activity and report it to the public. Whether it puts you in bad light or otherwise isn't our baby. That is your own cross to bear.

‎If you want to keep journalists away, if you want to avoid us, avoid doing or saying anything that may be newsworthy to us because we will  surely not hesitate to capture you and show/tell the public.

‎This notion that anyone can create a public spectacle and beat journalists when they cover it for public benefit must end now because we have the capacity to also mobilise ‎ourselves and begin clobbering you as individuals if you don't stop. Ata se!

‎We know that most of you are pitiful cowards, you are only brave and strong when you are in a group. Once cornered alone, you will shiver like  a cicada in summer and sing apologies like a happy canary.

‎Another thing those attacking journalists while doing their work must know is that such violations of press freedom are quickly and religiously captured, documented and passed on to our global networks. You are therefore tarnishing the image of our country as an unsafe place for the media. That has serious implications for the wellbeing of our country within the global community.

‎Zambian journalists, bane let's unite against assaults on our professional freedom, especially by cadres as we head towards the World Press Freedom Day and the general elections.

‎Thank you Free Press Institute (FPI) for condemning the attack on Alfonso and Mpongwe FM radio station.

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