Privately-owned radio station, ZiFM has publicly censured its presenter Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa for misleading the public on who invited Zanu PF activist and businessman, Tafadzwa Musarara to her show, The Platform when she hosted Pastor Evan Mawarire, as the fallout over #ThisFlag continues.
by XOLISANI NCUBE
In a statement yesterday evening, AB Communications — the company that owns ZiFM stereo — chief executive officer, Susan Makore said Parirenyatwa had invited Musarara onto the programme and her denials were out of keeping with the station’s ideals.
“It is very unfortunate that statements attributed to Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa on both social media and Sunday papers seem to suggest she was not behind the invitation of Musarara and by the same token, he was not worth to be a guest on the programme,” she said.
Makore said Parirenyatwa decided to invite Musarara to avoid a one-sided story from Mawarire, who is grabbing the spotlight with his #ThisFlag campaign.
“The producer/presenter, Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa informed the head of news and current affairs that she invited Mawarire to be on The Platform after they met at a function hosted by the British ambassador,” she said.
Given Mawarire’s views, Makore said, the station sought someone else to counterbalance his opinions “in the interest of balance and fairness, a prerequisite for any media professional”.
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“She invited Youth Empowerment minister Patrick Zhuwao, who was not available,” she continued.
“Ruvheneko then proposed to invite Musarara, given his economic empowerment activism. The head of news and current affairs accepted this proposal and Ruvheneko proceeded to invite Musarara.
“Records of all communication are on file.”
Makore said the station stood by its decision to host Mawarire and Musarara and “any attempt by anyone to try to undermine the integrity of the station by dissociating themselves from editorial decisions and actions is not only unacceptable in the extreme, but also sets a dangerous precedent of having newsrooms play to the gallery of partisan interests”.
Parirenyatwa had suggested that she was not involved in Musarara’s invitation, after the Grain Millers’ Association of Zimbabwe boss gave a less-than-stellar performance in the interview.
“Like I said on Twitter, I never invited Musarara for that particular radio programme,” Parirenyatwa told our sister paper, The Standard on Friday.
Makore did not say if the station would to take any action against Parirenyatwa, the daughter of Health minister David Parirenyatwa.
