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Code
of conduct for media practitioners
Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-26
Monday Jul 11th – Sunday July 17th 2005
THIS week the Zimbabwe
Union of Journalists (ZUJ) handed its draft Code of Conduct to Information
Minister Tichaona Jokonya. The draft seeks to provide a self-regulatory
council for media practitioners in the country.
But instead
of discussing the intention of the draft, ZTV (13/7, 8pm) and the
minister used the event as a platform to attack the private media.
ZTV passively quoted Jokonya accusing "some sections"
of the media of being "unpatriotic" and
"working for other motherlands" besides
Zimbabwe.
Advocates of
government policies such as Media and Information Commission chairman
Tafataona Mahoso and George Zimbizi were also quoted attacking the
private media.
One particularly
worrying aspect to the story was the comments from ZUJ president
Mathew Takaona, whose mandate is to protect the interests of his
members. He was quoted reinforcing the authorities’ attack on the
media saying it was "sad" and "tragic"
that "there are many journalists who are now writing
for clandestine radio stations and publications and online publications".
Echoing the
authorities’ disapproving sentiments, he called on the media to
be "patriotic" and defend the "interests
of the nation" when they are "threatened
by foreign forces".
The Herald’s
coverage (14/7) was not helpful either as the paper also devoted
its story to attacking the private media rather than dealing with
the issue of the proposed Code of Conduct.
Notably, while
the authorities were presenting the private media as unprofessional
they remained silent on the misconduct of the government media,
whose blatant violations of journalistic standards is well documented.
For example,
this week The Herald (13/7) tried to misrepresent the main
reasons for the delay in the hearing of the MDC’s petition challenging
the results of the 2002 presidential election by blaming the opposition
party. It simplistically presented the application by MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai in the Supreme Court complaining about the delays
and the opposition’s verification of the presidential election ballot
material as part of MDC’s delaying tactics aimed at tarnishing the
country’s image.
And although
it reported that the MDC had stopped its verification exercise following
the authorities’ late delivery of seven ballot boxes from Rushinga
constituency, it still blamed the opposition for the delay in finalising
the case.
Neither did
it view the late delivery of the boxes as contemptuous of the High
Court ruling on May 27th ordering the Registrar-General
Tobaiwa Mudede to surrender all election material "within
10 days" of the judgement.
Nor did the
paper reveal that some of the ballot boxes had been tampered with.
These issues
were only raised by The Daily Mirror (13/7), Studio 7 (13/7)
and the Zimbabwe Independent (15/7).
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fact sheet
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