Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) functions as both a state news agency and the government’s public relations arm. It was established in 2005 following the merger of two former departments—Zambia News Agency (ZANA) and Zambia Information Services (ZIS)—in a bid to streamline state communication and ensure cohesive messaging across government institutions.
Media assets
News agency: ZANIS
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
ZANIS operates directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information and Media, to which it is fully subordinated. The agency is headed by a director drawn from the civil service, appointed and remunerated by the ministry. This governance structure underscores ZANIS’s role as an institutional extension of the government rather than an independent news body.
Source of funding and budget
ZANIS is entirely financed through public funds allocated in the national budget. In 2019, it received a budget of ZMW 18.8 million (approx. USD 800,000). By 2022, this allocation had been significantly reduced to ZMW 4.9 million (approx. USD 227,000), according to government budget documents.
No public figures have been released for 2024 or 2025, but recent fiscal constraints suggest that ZANIS continues to operate on a limited budget. The lack of transparency in its financial reporting raises questions about the sustainability and scope of its activities.
Editorial independence
ZANIS has a clearly defined mandate: to promote government policies and cultivate public support for state initiatives. In practice, it functions more as a mouthpiece for the administration than as an impartial news agency.
Although there is no statute explicitly enforcing government-aligned content, the institutional design of ZANIS makes editorial independence virtually impossible. Its close integration into the civil service and direct accountability to the Ministry of Information and Media leave little room for dissenting or critical coverage.
As of June 2025, no independent oversight mechanism, editorial board, or external accountability framework has been established to safeguard or assess editorial standards at ZANIS.
June 2025