International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication

Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020

ISSN: 2581-3439

He who Pays the Piper, Calls the Tune:

Ownership and Editorial Control within
Select Private Radio Stations in Zambia
Wilson Silungwe1, Atangambuyu Silungwe2, Evans Zyuulu3
1
Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies.
2
Rusangu University.
3
Freelance Journalist.

Abstract
This paper proceeds from a study done on control and dictation of
editorial content within selected media houses in Zambia. The
overarching intention of the researchers was to interrogate the statement
“he who pays the piper, calls the tune” within the Zambiamedia context,
with specific focus on radio stations in Zambia. The aim was to gain an
insight into the assertion that owners, who are often times the financiers
of these media concerns do interefere with and dictate the decision
making processes for editorial content being churned out from the radio
stations. This study was an attmept at answering the question, does the
one who pays the piper really call the tune within the Zambian media
context? Granted the owners were in the habit of dictating content for
whatever motivations, the status quowould be a very sharp contrast to
the contention that Zambia was a deomocratic polity thatmust allow for
the independence of the press with muzzling either from outside or
within the media establishments. In order to collect information useful
for the study, a total of ten (10) private radio stations were sampled and
professional journalists, either managing the concerns, the news or
responsible for collecttng media content were interviewed. Narrative
analysis was used to evaluate the information gathered from the
interview. It was established that indeed editorial content in radio
stations was being dictated by the owners and/or financiers.

Keywords: Media Financing, Editorial Content, Editorial Control.

Introduction and Reviewed Literature

This research was aimed at investigating the assertion that “he who pays the piper, calls the
tune” within the media establishments in Zambia, specifically privately owned radio stations.
The research interrogated the claim that owners of radio establishments were directly
involved in dictating editorial content because they were the ones financing the operations.

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

As a way to appreciate the phenomenon of control and dictation of editorial content by the
owners and/or financiers, a range of secondary sources covering research content related to
this research were reviewed. It was discovered that different scholars have written on the
aspect of control of editorial content by owners and/or financiers of media establishments.

In thearticle titled‘Global Issues: Media in the Unites State of America’,Shah (2012) writes;

“In recent years, the American media has been plagued with all sorts of problems including,
sliding profits, scandals about manipulation, plagiarism, propaganda, lower audiences,
dumbing down, and so on.”

Shah further states that media omissions, distortion, inaccuracy and bias are some of the
things that media managers and executives have acknowledged as going on within their
establishments. However, those problems have made it very difficult for the average
American citizen to obtain an open, objective view of many of the issues that involve the
United States, and with the global standing and influence of the United States culturally,
socially, economically and politically, the world as a whole gets to be misinformed and
misdirected. It is clear that the depths to which the American media has stooped are the result
of meddling by the owners of capital, whose agenda it is to project what is in their best
interest, and not in the interest of the masses.

In the year 2002, the United States media had abandoned their responsibility to the country.
The view that got advanced was no longer the view of the ‘little guy’. It was the view of
owners, of top media executives and of corporate interests. With this perspective, editorial
decisions are made with one eye on the political slant that would best benefit the company,
and other eye on the bottom-line, which is the interests of the financiers. The corporate view
is tainted, in that it looks for the best way to advance the corporation’s financial interests. The
result is this-instead of behaving as the watchdog of democracy, the media has become the
lapdog of government and of those with financial muscle.

John Swinton (1883), the Editorial Chief at the New York Times in the 1860s clearly stated
how the media was manipulated to suit certain vested and special interests. Swinton said:

“There is no such thing, at this point of the world’s history, as an independent press. You
know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare to write your honest opinions, and if
you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for
keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid
similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest
opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions
to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to
fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell the country for his daily bread. You know it and I
know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press. We are the tools and vassals of

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

the rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance.
Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are
intellectual prostitutes.”

Sozeri (2016, pp. 84-95) highlights the case of Turkey as being no different from the United
States of America scenario. Owners of the media organisations in Turkey have a known
tradition of using their media outlets as tools through which they extend their investments and
business interests in many other sectors such such as construction, energy,
telecommunications and banking. This is a widely accepted phenomenon in the country.
Dominant media owners have instrumentalised the media for private business interests
disregarding public interest and the role of the media in democrartic jurisdictions. The media
owners in Turkey are eager to establish close clandestine links with the aristocracy in
government for their business ventures to contnue florishing even in times of negative
economic winds.

Yilmaz (2017, p. 120) highlights how media houses aligned themselves to government
leadership. The history of the Turkish republic suggests that there was a deep desire to to
ensure the society was purged of this kind of state of affairs as it was happening in the pre-
Turkish republic establishment. Many methods are said to have been employed are a way to
muzzle journalists including appointing them into the state assembly and into some senior
government jobs. Those journalists who spoke against the political establishments were
banished to work in remote villages and at times were even dismissed from their jobs.

Another form of control of the media through financing is advertising. Advertisers have such
pronounced and prodigous power and control over the media establishments that they dictate
the editorial content that hails from a particular media firm. In their research on advertising
and bias in the financing of media establishmentds, Jonathan Reuter and Eric Zitzewitz stated
that, “The independence of editorial content from advertisers’ influence is a cornerstone of
journalistic ethics.” They tested whether this independence was observable in practice and
their findings showed thatmedia establishments lose their independence the moment matters
of financing are introduced. This is because financing is considered the life blood of the firm
and, therefore, executives ensure that the flow of financing is not impeded even if it takes the
whole editorial policy of the firm to shift to advantage the financiers.

This research was hinged on the assertion that those who own and/or finance media
organisations control the editorial content ensuing from the firms to the extent that they only
content that promotes the interests of the financier lives to see the light of day. The intricacies
of professionalism of the executives, editors and writers are sacrificed on the altar of
expediency, correctiness and the pleasing of the master, hence “he who pays the piper, calls
the tune”.

© Eureka Journals 2020. All Rights Reserved. Page 49

 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

Problem Statement
It has been argued that the phenomenon of media content control has been the norm and
continues to be over the years by those who own and/or finance the media firms going by
John Swinton’s statement. What is considered to be the norm, however, contradicts the
injuctions and tenets of democracy. A trully democratic polity allows for self-determination
and independence of the press. The owners and/or financiers who in most instances are not
journalists have limited appreciation for the intricacies of the profession to include the
interests of the public whom the media establishment is to serve. Zambia is one such
acclaimed democratic state. The expectation is that such intrusion into the prodcution of
editorial content must not be entertained, and instead sefl-determination must be promoted.
From the abridged review of literature, there seems to inadequate evidence that demonstrates
the state of media content control in Zambia. This study intended to close this information
gap and to gain an understanding of the phenomenon of media content control by those who
own and/or finance the media firms.

Research Questions
The research specifically focused on media house personnel such as executives, managers
and journalists who work for the selected radio stations in Zambia. Indepth interviews were
conducted and the following were the guiding questions in the interviews:

1. Who is/are the owners of this radio station?

2. Who funds this radio station?
3. Who is responsible for produicing content that is broadcast in your radio station?
4. Who possess the final word for the content to be broadcast in yout radio station?
5. Do your funders have an influence on the content being broadcast?
6. What in your view would happen to you if you decided to broadcast what you deem in the
interest of the public and not the owners and/or financiers?
7. How do you feel about the way the radio station is operating currently?

Research Design and Methods

This research adopted a qualitative design where research information was collected using
indepth interviews and analysed using narrative analysis. Clandin and Connelly (2000, p. 98-
115) state that narrative analysis (sometimes referred to as narrative inquiry) , which arose as
a branch of learning from within the broader field of qualitative research in the early 20th
century, uses field texts, such as stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters,
conversations, interviews, family stories, photos as well as life experience, as the units of
analysis to research and understand the way people create meaning in their lives as narratives.

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

Sampling and Sample Size

The situation in Zambia currently is that there are nearly 100 radio stations dotted around the
country. The choice, therefore, was to conviniently identify at least 10 stations that would be
the target of the research. The choice for the 10 was on the basis of convenience and
feasibility. For ethical reasons, the names of the radio stations are withheld, and are only
identified with the numerical symbolism.

Findings
The findings for this research are the following:

Radio Station One

The respondent from Radio Station One outrightly admitted that funders of the station, that is
the owners and their business associates, had a heavy hand of influence on the content being
broadcast. The owner and his/her associates’ dictated assignments and wanted to ensure their
editorial content flowed as they dictated it. The respondent said there was no way one could
ignore what theowner and the financers such as the advertisers with big accounts
wantedbecause the owner made sure the content that favored them or that they preferred was
broadcast. The respondent also revealed that as a reporter, instructions were given directly to
him by the station manager who spelled out the demands of the owner, which madeit difficult
to arrive at professional decisions that benefit the masses. The respondent also said that the
owner of the station had the final say in determining what went on air. He said that he felt
that this was not how the station should be operated especially that there were various
professionals at different levels of the station such as the news editor who should decide on
which assignments to cover. He said that being a reporter meant being able to decide what
was new worth and he would rather have the liberty to decide. The respondent felt that that
was a major challenge for professional development as reporters were not allowed to freely
apply their ethics and judgment in their operations, which had gravely affected
professionalism.

Radio Station Two

The responses from Radiot Station Two had similar annotationsstating that head office, based
in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, generated stories that were forwarded to the station, which
was based in one of the peripheral towns. The respondent stated that the own, based at the
Lusaka office was the one who determined what was to be aired in a particular broadcast
segment. The respondent stated that the stories imposed on the station were often times
mostly of no interest to the local people. Instructions were directed to the staff through the
station managerwho dictates to the the staff which news events to covered. The respondent
stated that failure to follow such instructs had on several occasions resulted in the suspension
of a particular member of staff concerned. The respondent felt that professionalism within the

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

radio station had been sacrificed and that expediency and the fear of losing one’s job were the
reigning norm. The respondent further stated that they would rather have total control of what
happens within the radio station and only engage Head Office in Lusaka when there was a
genuine challenge that the station could not handle. Otherwise, there was no need to hire
journalists if the owner felt that they needed to run the affairs of the radio station themselves.

Radio Station Three

The respondent Radio Station Three stated that the station manager who at the same time was
the proprietor of the radio station decided what was to be aired. He said that there wre times
when some programmes that were paid for had to be cancelled because a pastor or a minister
of the gospel hadpaid to have their content aired. He said that meetings were called where
retribution was unleashed on members of staff who failed to do what was directed. Senior
members of staff were wihtin the station were scared petrified to make independent decisions
without running them through the manager for fear of losing their jobs. The respondent felt
that he would be given the liberty to decide what was aired since he was in charge of
programmes and was involved in the day-to-day operations of the station.

Radio Station Four

The respondent from Radio Station Four felt that the media house was controlled by the
politicians especially the party in government. He said that owners of the station had little say
because the government could use legal means to close the stations or put in place measures
that would make it impossible for them to operate. The respondent cited media houses that
were closed just after the August 11, 2016 general elections, because they did not toll a
certain party’s line. He said that the owners of the station had little to do with what went on
air,but had instead left that to the politicians. All the owners cared about was the money that
the station was receiving for complying with the demands of the political aristocracy. He said
that instructions are given to the station manager who should make sure that everything aired
on the station is in good taste with the authorities so that no one should have a reason to want
to close the station down.

Radio Station Five

The respondent from Radio Station Five felt that the government officials or the party in
government had too much controlover what was broadcast. He said that he was forced to
abandon other assignments to cover government officials because they run the country and
what they said had an effect on the entire country. The respondent said whether the public
was happy with what the party in government wanted to be aired or not was not theissue
because eventually, what was said would still affect them, positively or otherwise. He felt
that the station has sacrifced professionalism in favour of survival for the station. The
respondent felt that it was better to be controlled in this manner so long as the station
continued to operate. The station was challenged by lack of sponsors for some programmes

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

which limited the revenue. The respondent said that politicians had the financial muscle to
travel with reporters to different parts of the country and what the reporters wrote about was
inadvertently controlled by the politicians who paid for their travel.

Radio Station Six

The respondent from Radio Station Six said that those who were funding the radio station
were in total control of the content at the station. He said it was true that, “he who pays the
piper calls the tune.” The respondent said if one decided to go against this directive, they
were as good as having fired themselves because one was obligated to follow what the
owners wanted without question. He said those who were frustrated by being told what to do
would do well to establish their own stations and see if they would allow other people to
determine what should be aired. He however, felt that the news editor would do well to be
allowed to run the newsroom and decide which content would be aired while the station
manager should concentrate on administrative and financialmatters. The respondent felt that
the news should be managed by trained people in this area which wass also a challenge
because the station had failed to recruit and retain a lot of qualified personnel.

Radio Station Seven

The respondent from Radio Station Seven did not mince her words and stressed that she was
funding the station together with her associates and what was broadcast on the station was up
to them to decide. She said that the station had an agenda to broadcast programmes aimed at
encouraging a green environment and slowing down climate change. Those who provided the
resources to achieve this agenda, therefore, were free to decide the editorial content for the
station. She said that she was entrusted by the Board of Directors of the station to make
decisions on behalf of the station and what she decided was what goes on air. The respondent
said that this kind of operation though negatively affects the professionalism of members of
staff also protects the station against other interests that may not benefit the station. She said
those who finance the radio station had the privilege to decide what is broadcast on the
station to ensure its sustenance.

Radio Station Eight

The respondent from Radio Station Eight revealed that it was the owners of the station that
controlled what was broadcast. The respondent said the station was basically established to
make money for the owners and they had to make sure what goes on air was in line with their
objective which was to make money. He said the owners had the final say and other
employees were required to follow suit. The respondent felt that that was not good for the
journalism profession. Professional must not be compelled to go against their ethics because
it directly abrogates professionalism.

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 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

Radio Station Nine

The Radio Station Nine said that the editorial content of the station was affected by those
who finance the station. She said the owners of the station gave instructions to the station
manager who manages the day to day operations of the station. She stated that the station
manager decided who would be hired or fired without consultation with other members of
staff especially those who work closely with the affected employees. The respondent said the
station had no transport and employees used their own resources to source for news and other
programme materials. She said this gravely affected the operations of the station especially
since employees mostly relied on news sources to provide them with resources such as
transport money or buy cellphone credit to communicate.She felt that as the news editor, she
needed to be the one to make most of the editorial content decisions without interference. The
respondent said that the station manager had too much power that ultimately impacted on the
operations especially that he tended to abuse the authority and propagated his own interests
affected.

Radio Station Ten

The interview with the final respondent Radio Station Ten also revealed that editorial content
was affected by those who funded the station. She said that a certain business firm which
donated goods to the station for onward donation to the under priviledged communities
dominated editorial content as well as what was to be covered because of the fact that they
made some substantial donations to the station. The respondent further said though that the
station, being a religious one, required that management as well as the staff adopteda
particular ethos in their work whichh was consistent with the dictates and demands of the
advertisers and those who purchased airtime for their programmes. She said that political
aristocracy had also infiltrated the radio station through sponsored programmes and were
using the station to to propagate their own political agenda. The respondent felt this was not
good because the station’s initial objective was to propagate religious content.

Interpretation
As can be seen, all the stations whose professionals were interviewed in this research insisted
that there was some form of interference from those who either owned the stations or
financed operations through donations, grants or advertising. In most instances, meddling
directly and negatively impacted operations to the extent that professionalism is sacrificed at
the altar of expediency, aggrandisement and a desire for financial gain or support. From the
interviews done, the respondent wished they could be permitted to operate as professionals in
order for the media entities to thrive as professional establishments and the cintizenry then
would be provided with professsional content, which was in their best interest.

© Eureka Journals 2020. All Rights Reserved. Page 54

 International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication
Vol. 5, Issue 1 – 2020
ISSN: 2581-3439

Conclusion
This research established the fact within the Zambian media context, in this instance the radio
sector, those who “pay the piper, indeed call the tune”. Owners and financiers were the ones
who dictated the kind of content that went on air. Without a research of this nature,
speculations and assumptions would have perpetuated regarding the correlation between
radio station ownership and financing, and determination as well as control of editiorial
content that ultimately is broadcast.

Recommendations
This research was foundational and exploratory in nature, which utilised a qualitative design.
The researchers, however, call upon those interested to investigate further the “he who pays
the piper, calls the tune” phenomenon using a quantitative design in order to establish
statistically with a degree of certainty the correlation between ownership and financing, and
control as well as dictation of editorial content.

References
1. Clandin, DJ & Connelly FM. 2000. Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in
Qualitative Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. PP. 98-115.
2. Shah, A. 2012. Media in the United States. Global Issues: Social Political Economic and
Environmental Issues that Affect Us All. [O] Available at www.globalissues.org/article/
163/media-in-the-united-states Retrieved 2020/07/09.
3. Sozeri, C. 2016. Rethinking Activist Journalism when Freedom of Press is Under Threat.
Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications, Vol. 2, Issue 2: pp. 83-95.
4. Swinton, J. 1883. Statement made at the “Journalists’ Gathering” in the rooms of the
Twilight Club in the Mills Building, New York City, on April 12, 1883.
5. Yilmaz, G. 2017. Minority Rights in Turkey: A Battlefield for Europeanisation. London
and New York: Routledge.

© Eureka Journals 2020. All Rights Reserved. Page 55