With The Watchdog newspaper recently unveiling its online edition, the media landscape in Zambia is beginning to modernize and expand- new audiences throughout the country and the Diaspora can now access Zambian online news as it breaks.

“With the introduction of online media like The Watchdog, I see the traditional media waking up and utilizing the internet fully. Not very long from now, I feel that these traditional newspapers and radio stations will start updating their sites ’up to the minute.’ That will come when they realise that their readers are getting news before they publish,” said the editor of The Watchdog, Lloyd Himaambo, to RAP 21.

Until now, the newsroom paradigm, Himaambo said, has not viewed “online media as a serious medium.” Thusly, Himaambo said most newspaper websites in Zambia have been static and comprised of day-old news.

Times are changing, said Himaambo: “We have been receiving inquiries from colleagues in the media as to how we did it; how much it costs and whether it is really effective.” In reply, he advocates online journalism as a way to reach broader audiences and hurdle distribution and printing costs that have gravely inhibited the private press in the country. Zambia imports all the printing consumables like newsprint, ink, and plates and the high costs have made this a major threat to press freedom in the country.

One of the most attractive aspects of the website, he said, is the numbers of people who can now access the news. The papers’ circulation has never been audited, though 10,000 copies are always printed and are limited to the major cities. “With the online version, we can reach anyone who regularly uses the internet. There are towns/places in Zambia where we don’t circulate, but with the online version, we are able to market ourselves to them and thereby make these our new pockets of penetration,” he said.

To further cement its rural presence, Himaambo is also working to establish partnerships with community and commercial radio stations. “With a small fee they will be able to broadcast breaking news from The Watchdog,” he said. In each of the country’s nine provinces, there are at least two radio stations. However, they lack access to breaking news in the capital, Lusaka, which is very important insofar as, Himaambo said, “The Zambian government is highly centralized; policies are made in Lusaka that affect every citizen despite their location.”

“The radio stations are often run by untrained volunteers, however, they do have internet connections. Therefore, we feel that they can benefit from our quickness in publishing independent news and The Watchdog content could be published for almost the entire country,” he said.

As Himaambo strategizes ways to expand he is also dealing with sharp financial shortfalls inside his newsroom. His journalists received no formal training, however, he said, “We looked for journalists who were at least Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) literate.”

The key is focusing on getting “upgraded technological tools like higher capacity computers, laptops, Internet connectivity, digital cameras, memory sticks, etc. Most of these haven’t been acquired but we decided to ’start with what we have’ and develop as we go. That is why we currently do not have a lot of pictures on the site, though we would want to,” he said.

In this context, Himaambo is working from the bottom-up in a country where pressure is often applied broadly from top officials. “The state of the media in Zambia is tricky. On the other hand, the government makes a lot of pronouncements on their belief in media freedom, but in the statute books there are a lot of anti-media laws that can be invoked at any time to infringe on media freedom,” he said.

“The radio stations, for example, are subject to strict monitoring and are expected to adhere to their operating licenses that ultimately restrict their coverage and programming. Also setting up radio stations is restrictive because of the fees required by the government. Defamation laws are always in the mind of editors as they print their newspapers,” he said.

At The Watchdog a lingering court case from 2006 has placed curbs on the paper’s coverage. “We exposed the deputy secretary cabinet as having acquired public property illegally. He went to court and obtained an injunction and sued us for libel. Since then, he has not pushed the main case but is just using the injunction to stop us from publishing further revelations about his illegal acquisition of public property,” Himaambo said.

However, the online version has more leeway in reporting. In Zambia the government does not see online media as a critical source of information. “They seem to believe that the internet is all about emails and pornography,” he said.

Though Himaambo is weary: “The Watchdog online maybe affected in the long run if the government’s attitude toward critical media does not change.”

“I can foresee the government coming up with policies to regulate the usage of the internet and in particular online journalism. Currently, online newspapers are not required to be registered anywhere apart from registered as newspapers by the ministry of home affairs. But this may not be the case for long from now,” he concluded.