Government has distanced itself from the Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill saying it was a creation of private journalists through the Media Liaison Committee that sought legal drafting skills from the Ministry of Justice.
Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa during Media briefing Sunday afternoon said Government had nothing to do with the said Bill.
Mweetwa further assured the media fraternity that his Ministry had not drafted any Bill or issued any Cabinet Memo for statutory regulation.
He added that Government cannot come up with such an important bill without engaging the media fraternity for consultation.
Seven media bodies had expressed concern and advised Government to put aside the proposed Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill and instead support an already existing media self regulation mechanism.
In a joint statement the bodies said they were concerned that the Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill, was coming at such a critical time when many stakeholders had opposed the proposed constitutional amendments as well as the recently enacted Cyber Crimes Laws.
The seven are MISA Zambia, BBC Media Action, Media Owners Association of Zambia, Free Press Initiative, Catholic Media Services, Panos Institute of Southern Africa and Media Self-Regulation Council of Zambia.
