VOLUNTARY Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) board member Tapfuma Machakaire on Friday lamented the decay of journalism ethics particularly over the succession issues in Zanu PF.
Moses Mugugunyeki Staff Reporter
Machakaire said current media reports of the Zanu PF factional fights represented an amplified practice of unethical journalism in Zimbabwe.
He said media houses were perpetuating hate speech while reinforcing the battles in the political camps.
“We have witnessed the sudden decline in ethics and professionalism as journalists seem to have reverted to their trenches over the succession issues in both MDC and Zanu PF,” said Machakaire.
“While we cannot extinguish the blaze in the political arena, let us not risk being accused of fuelling the fire. This is a temporary phase that will soon come to pass and politicians will not be there to defend us when the time of reckoning comes, for we shall be judged for our role in the inferno”.
During the past two months, the Zimbabwe media has been awash with stories emanating from the factional battles within Zanu PF and the coming into politics of First Lady Grace Mugabe.
Machakaire said while it was not bad to give prominence to the current events in political parties, there was need to stick to media ethics and laws.
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“Observations have been that we are not only cheering the players, but actually reinforcing the battles supplying the fighters with lethal weaponry and ammunition.
“Let us acquit ourselves as responsible professionals who respect professional ethos that call for fact, accuracy, balance, fairness during this sensitive period of our small nation,” Machakaire said.
Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum (Zinef) president Brian Mangwende said it was disheartening to note that the profession has gone down the drain.
“The media profession has gone to the dogs. Some of us are acting as if we are not journalists. We need to stick to the ethics that govern our conduct,” he said.
Mangwende said Zinef was advocating for media co-regulation to create a code of conduct for journalists rather than having a statutory regulatory body which he said would not serve the media’s democratic role.
VMCZ is a self-regulatory body that was established by the media fraternity to regulate itself in line with democratic trends throughout the world.
Machakaire queried the delay in the release of the Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (Impi) report, which he said would go a long way in addressing the challenges faced by the media fraternity.
“With the continued delay in the release of the Impi report, we now wonder if the architects of the documents who include you editors are going to proudly stand up to be credited as the brains behind the highly academic document that will be seen as the panacea for all our challenges,” said Machakaire.
The media panel of inquiry was established in December last year with the aim of inquiring into the conduct of the media in relation to the laws and needs of the population.
