COMPANY PROFILE (HISTORICAL BACKGROUND)        

Zambia Daily Mail is a Limited company, whose history dates back to the fifties when it used to be called the African Mail.

The name later changed to Central African Mail in the early 60's when its interests

catered for the local people in then Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.  It was in private hands under Dr Alexander Scott.

After Zambia's independence in 1964, the paper was bought-off the following year

(1965) by the Zambian government.  This was because it was largely considered a newspaper  which reflected African interests.  Furthermore, the government also wanted to have its own media, to champion its own interests.  During that time, it was a weekly tabloid.

In 1969, the paper became a broad-sheet and later in 1970, became a daily newspaper.  It was a subsidiary of the defunct Zambia Publishing Company which included the Zambia Printing Company (ZPC).

In 1989, it became part of the media conglomerate, the National Media  Corporation (NAMECO) which was the holding company for ZPC, Printpak, Times Newspapers and Newspaper Distributors Limited.  NAMECO was subsequently dissolved by the MMD government in 1993.

The Zambia Daily Mail  has continued to "Serve the Nation Without Fear or Favour" in line with its motto.

Various changes have however occurred especially over the past ten (10) years when sister papers, the Sunday Mail and the Financial Mail were introduced to widen the scope of coverage.

After introducing the two  additional publications, the Zambia Daily Mail, computerised its operations in 1994, except for the regional offices which we hope can be computerised  in this year's budget.  The newspaper can, however, be read world-wide on a daily basis as it is connected on the internet. The paper is able to print in colour. However, the colour quality is poor due to lack of modern colour separation equipment.

The Daily Mail was relaunched in April 1997, when the masthead and the general appearance of the newspaper were re-designed.  It is now bigger, brighter and better  from eight (8) pages to twelve (12) pages with more news, in-depth columns, features and a variety of interesting topical articles.

MISSION STATEMENT

The primary mission of the Zambia Daily Mail is to produce good quality newspapers  which are informative, educative and entertaining.

In view of the pivotal role which the media plays in a democracy, the Zambia Daily Mail strives to keep the citizenry fully informed on all aspects of national affairs so that they can make informed decisions when they exercise their civic responsibilities which include choosing their elected representatives.

To achieve this goal, the Zambia Daily Mail, through its three publications, has a duty to promote a lively, constructive and candid debate in the nation by disseminating factual,  objective and balanced information on pertinent and topical issues to assist the public to  make rational and informed decisions.

The Zambia Daily Mail takes cognisance of the centrality of the media in any given  democratic environment such as the one which obtains in Zambia, and therefore seeks to fulfil its primary role as a public watchdog.  This entails promoting the cherished values of freedom, justice and democracy which under-pin the nation's current political philosophy.

The public's right to know the truth constitutes the cornerstone of the Editorial

policy of the Zambia Daily Mail and its sister publications, and this is reflected in the motto :  "Without Fear or Favour".

Since accomplishment of the overall mission is intrinsically tied to the viability of the company, management should constantly strive to put in place measures to guarantee sustained viability of the newspaper as a commercial concern.

Lastly, but by no means the least, the newspaper takes due cognisance of the fact that it is owned by Government and shall strive to promote Government programmes to ensure as many people as possible, particularly the marginalised rural populace, are kept fully informed about national affairs.