The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) has suspended its subeditor Barbara Malilwe and reporter Mark Ziligone for allegedly putting wrong captions on a news story featuring Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
On one caption, ZNBC aired a news clip in which the Batswana President was speaking, with a caption reading “Botswana of President”.
Zambia Union of Broadcasters and other Information Disseminators Secretary General Andrew Mpandamwike confirmed the development to News Diggers! in an interview.
Mpandamwike described the development as unfortunate adding that the procedure was not followed when suspending its union members.
“I don’t have the details, I will have the details on Monday but it is true that they have been suspended. Its very unfortunate and I don’t think any procedures were followed when dealing with that issue,”
It is not clear whether the two caption circulated on social media were the reasons for their suspension, as ZNBC Public Relations Officer Yvette Chanda, when contacted, expressed ignorance over the matter.
Just over a month ago, ZNBC showed a news clip of United Nations Resident Coordinator Janet Rogan with a caption “Inonge Wina, Vice-President”, forcing netizens to mock the national broadcaster that the Vice-President had changed complexion.
