numerous reports, made presentations on the media in Southern Africa specifically and Africa generally. He has contributed immensely to knowledge on media sustainability, media policy, and new media as well as the production of manpower that is now serving various media

Under his leadership as Regional Director of Panos Institute Southern Africa, he spearheaded the development of the Zambia Community Media Forum (ZaCoMeF) and facilitated the production of a book that looked at the use of Information Communication Technology (ICTs) called "Into or Out of the Digital Divide" that looked at the use of Internet within the SADC region. His interest in the use of modern technology has enabled him to write and publish on media related issues on the Internet and some of the latest facilities on the Internet.

Between 2000 and 2001, acting as Executive Director of the Panos Institute Southern Africa and in his own right, Banda obtained an interdict from the High Court of Zambia to stop the ZNBC from curtailing the televising of paid-for presidential candidates debates. The ZNBC Director-General at the time was to confirm the presence of political interference in the corporation's decision. Despite obtaining a court order, the corporation refused to broadcast the remaining live programme scheduled for transmission on the eve of the 2001 local, parliamentary and presidential elections. The State deployed the Zambian paramilitary police to enforce this impunity, defying the rule of law. Even though the programme was not broadcast, the very act of obtaining the interdict was contributory towards asserting media freedom.

Prof Banda is not only an academic but he has been and still is involved in various projects at the grassroots level. From August 2004-2005, he was co-opted into the Publicity Sub-committee of the Constitution Review Commission appointed by the President of the Republic of Zambia in 2003. His job was to provide advice to the commission on how best it could publicize its work, including presenting a live television and radio phone-in programme entitled Your Constitution. Through the programme Banda managed to take constitutional issues to the people opening up the whole constitutional review process to a greater and more informed public critique, including raising questions about media freedom and independence.

Between 1991 and 2005, he conceptualised, produced and presented various radio and television interview programmes, many of them broadcast on the ZNBC, became some of the few examples of independent broadcast journalism in the country, subjecting politicians and other public figures to the kind of critical questions that epitomised engaged citizenship.
Since 2007, he has been a weekly columnist on media issues on the column – Media Discourse by The Post newspaper of Zambia, a cutting-edge analysis of issues relating to media freedom, freedom of expression and media development in Zambia.

In his insatiable interest for media responsibility and ethics within the context of media freedom among media houses, Banda became a founding Board member of the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ). He was secretary to the Council between 2003 and 2005.

In view of his distinguished career, Banda was in September, 2006, awarded the prestigious UNESCO Chair in Communication (media and democracy), the first such academic honour to be given to a Rhodes University staff member. Since then, he has also been sitting on the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Communication, Editorial Board of Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies and Board of Directors of ORBICOM – the network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication, among others.

In 2007, he was commissioned by UNESCO to research and produce a training manual on civic education for media professionals. The manual, soon to be published, will be used in tertiary media educational institutions that are interested in raising the skills profile of civic journalists. There is a strong element of media freedom as a human right in the document.

Next