Government is concerned with the low salaries that journalists earn from both the private and public media houses.
Speaking during the celebrations of World Press Freedom Day in Lusaka, Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana says media owners must ensure that journalists are well paid as they play a critical role in development.
Mr. Kawana says government will support environmental journalism through grants, training and fellowships and will ensure the safety of journalists reporting on environmental issues.
Speaking at the same event, United Nations Representative Alice Saili said some journalists have lost their lives in their pursuit to report on environmental issues and has called for enhanced safety of environmental journalists.
Meanwhile, Free Press Initiative (FPI) says it stand in solidarity with journalists across the globe and particularly in Zambia.
FPI Executive Director Joan Chirwa says the past year has seen a troubling trend in the arrests and intimidation of journalists in Zambia.
She says there had instances where journalists have been detained and forced to delete their work.
Ms. Chirwa says these acts are not only an infringement on press freedom but also a direct attack on the publicโs right to information.
She says these actions undermine the very foundations on which a free and fair society must operate.
And Media Liaison Committee Chairperson Ernest Chanda has called on government to actualize the access to information bill.
He says government has not been honest on the bill because immediately it was enacted into law they should have quickly issued a statutory instrument to actualize the law which up to now has not been operationalized.