|
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Watchdog
role of the public media questioned
Zimbabwe Human
Rights Association (ZimRights)
November 12,
2008
From the onset of the
power sharing agreement talks between Zimbabwe National Union Patriotic
Front (ZANU PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
factions the public media in Zimbabwe has tacitly sided with the
ruling ZANU PF party.
The public media, which
include The Herald and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) that
is ZTV and four radio stations, have continued to publish and broadcast
for ZANU PF at the expense of the opposition party. The news being
published seems to put all the blame for the failure of the power-sharing
agreement on the MDC leader. In other words Tsvangirai is the one
to blame for the delay in the outcome of the talks, he is the one
who is supposed to bow down and compromise with Cde Mugabe. One
wonders whose interests the media are serving -- ZANU PF or the
consumers of the media products.
All the people being
interviewed by the public media seem to blame Mr Tsvangirai for
the delay in the finalization of the talks. One may argue that the
media are free to practice gate keeping but this has to be kept
to a minimal to allow the media to deliver on their mandate and
play their watchdog role.
Zimbabwe Human Rights
Association (ZimRights) urges a redress in the manner in which political
issues are being covered by the public media as information is a
basic human right for every citizen. The major concern is on the
electronic media where ZANU PF enjoys a monopoly. Consumers do not
have any other means of accessing news as they only have access
to ZTV or the four radio stations which are owned and managed by
the government.
The right and responsibility
to inform is one of the key elements for any media in a democracy.
Zimbabwe as a democratic country should let the media practice its
role and function fully and quench the thirst for balanced information
that has hit most of the Zimbabwean populace.
Visit the ZimRights
fact sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
