Zvamaida Murwira, Senior Reporter
The Government has come up with several policy and legislative interventions to strengthen the media landscape and help in the access to information as stepping stones towards the attainment of an upper middle-class society by 2030.
Addressing editors during a breakfast meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to discuss media conduct in line with media laws and ethics in Harare yesterday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere, said the media has a crucial role to play in the attainment of the country's goals.
The media, he said, has a responsibility towards contributing heritage-based print and broadcasting services, and also nation building through factual reporting.
"As we journey towards the upper-middle-class society, which is empowerment, it is important to contribute factually towards nation building, contribute positively towards our national vision as a people, contribute towards heritage-based media and broadcasting services. You have a responsibility to frame the national narrative, you have the responsibility to inform and educate the nation," said Dr Muswere. He said the Government has promulgated the Freedom of Information Act (FIA), to allow the media access information held by Government departments.
Presently, Government is working on the Zimbabwe Media Practitioners Bill and amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act to close gaps that impede the media from fully discharging its duties.
Moving towards co-regulation of the media, said Dr Muswere, should never be viewed as ceding regulatory powers conferred on the ZMC hence there was no need to panic by those charged with regulation.
He said national commercial television stations were licenced including several community radio stations as the Second Republic seeks to ensure the media fully discharges its duty.
"We are also amending the Broadcasting Services Act in order to deal with the legal lacuna that we face in terms of revenue collection. We have also licenced community radio stations and on the national broadcasting platform, we now have 3KTV among others and community radio stations numbering more than 15", he said.
"We have also introduced the post Cabinet media briefings. So, in terms of the New Dispensation, there are a number of policy and legal interventions that we have done in order to align with the Constitution of Zimbabwe which allow journalists to contribute to Vision 2030. Of key importance is the reality that whatever you write, positive or negative, will have a contribution towards macro-economic growth or it will destroy the future of our country and at the same time it will also destroy the media in Zimbabwe.
"If the media of Zimbabwe plays around Eurocentric views, for example, in the coverage of the land reform programme, my analysis is that the coverage did not take into cognisance and context the historical and legal issues around the land reform programme. In the majority of cases members of the Fourth Estate pander to the British or Eurocentric perception to say white farmers' land had been grabbed by the bloodthirsty war veterans." Dr Muswere said the media failed to make an objective analysis as is required in ethical journalism, to report what had come first, the title deeds that whites claimed to hold or the land which indigenous persons were dispossessed of at the height of colonialism.
He said the media should be wary of people with a predisposition towards name dropping and braggadocio, thereby exaggerating their importance.
Speaking at the same event, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), Mr George Charamba, said there was need for aggrieved parties of news publications to exhaust all domestic remedies provided for when seeking remedy.
He said it was critical to allow those institutions created to provide remedy to be allowed to function.
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"Institutions should work, you have recourse which is multi-layered, firstly friendly admission, it's not a sign of weakness to say we got it wrong, you inspire readers, viewers, listeners, but also the greater society. Second level is by way of an Ombudsman. We expect them to be in every newsroom. The third layer is by way of the Voluntary Media Council machinery," said Mr Charamba.
He said the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) should be used as a port of first instance.
"Thou shall not approach ZMC until and unless there is evidence that you have gone through VMCZ, that way, you engender the spirit of peer review, the next level is ZMC," Mr Charamba said.
He said there was a need at some point for courts to demand that one exhausts all available remedies before approaching it for arbitration.
ZMC chairperson, Professor Ruby Magosvongwe, said technological advancement like internet services have ensured that everyone enjoyed freedom of expression but has brought challenges.
