The Times of Zambia is a national daily newspaper published in Zambia.
During the colonial period this newspaper was known as The Northern News. It was founded in 1944 as a twice-weekly newspaper aimed at a European readership, owned first by Roy Welensky and then by the South African newspaper chain Argus. Under the ownership of Lonhro, it was renamed the Times of Zambia on 1 July 1965. Criticism of the government under the editorship of Dunston Kamana in the early 1970s led to the government intervening to appoint its own editor, Vernon Mwaanga, in 1972. United National Independence Party (UNIP), Zambia's former ruling party, took the newspaper over in 1975.[1]
When the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) came to power in November 1991, it went to court claiming UNIP had illegally taken over the newspapers. The courts found in favour of the MMD, and ruled that the papers' ownership be transfared to the Zambian Government. The Times of Zambia is now owned by the Zambian Government.
The newspaper recently went online in English and the site is currently under development. It publishes the Sunday Times of Zambia every Sunday. [2]
The newspaper has its headquarters at Kabelenga Avenue in Zambia's second largest city Ndola.
As in many African countries is the story telling controlled by the local government, during the pre election time 2011 was this misused to release pro-ruling party (MMD) information in the country. The opposition parties got nearly no representation in the Newspaper.