Fred M'membe: Difference between revisions

| organization = ''[[Zambia Post]]''

'''Fred M'membe''' (born 11 March 1959) is a Zambian journalist known for his editorship of the ''[[Zambia Post]]''. He has received numerous international awards for his reporting, and in 2000, the [[International Press Institute]] named him one of its [[World Press Freedom Heroes]].<ref name=IPI>{{cite web |url=http://www.freemedia.at/awards/fred-mmembe.html |title=Fred M'membe, Zambia: World Press Freedom Hero (Honoured in 2000) |year=2010 |publisher=[[International Press Institute]] |accessdate=17 January 2012}}</ref>

M'membe was born in [[Mongu]], Zambia on 11 March 1959. He studied accounting and worked for a time as an accountant before moving into journalism in November 1990, when he met Mike Hall, a [[Malawi]]-born journalist who covered Southern Africa for the BBC, UK and US newspapers.<ref name=NYT3>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/13/world/newspaper-gains-zambia-s-respect.html |title=Newspaper gains Zambia's respect |author=Jane Perlez |date=13 November 1991 |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=17 January 2012}}</ref> At the time, Zambia had only two newspapers, both of them controlled by the government of [[Kenneth Kaunda]], and the pair felt that an independent news source was long overdue. With Hall's help, M'membe went on to found Post Newspapers Limited in 1991, as well as a printing company, Independent Printers Limited, which would be responsible for printing The ''[[Zambia Post]]'', Post Newspapers' flagship publication.<ref name=IPI /> The pair modelled the paper's design on South Africa's liberal ''[[Weekly Mail]]'' and [[Lisbon]], Portugal's daily ''[[Público (Portugal)|Público]]''. Despite a modest circulation of 40,000 and Zambia's "anemic" economy, the paper quickly proved a financial success.<ref name=NYT3 />