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Report
on International Conference on Media Support Strategies for Zimbabwe
International
Media Support (IMS), The Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa
(NiZA), Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) and the Open
Society Institute
November 30, 2005
http://www.i-m-s.dk/Media/PDF/Zimbabwe
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CONTENTS:
Questions
of strategy
The following questions arise from the background papers with
regards the kind of strategies that are needed to address the current
problems facing free expression and access to information in Zimbabwe.
These questions are designed to guide the discussions at the conference:
Structural
reform of media
- To what extent
do existing constitutional reform initiatives reflect the provisions
of the African Commission’s Declaration on Free Expression and
other international instruments with regards free expression and
access to information?
- How can free
expression advocates promote broad-based support for free expression
and access to information?
- How should
free expression advocates engage with the efforts of the NCA and
/ or other initiatives so as to ensure that Zimbabwe has a progressive
constitution, with adequate safeguards of free expression and
access to information, in the future?
- What steps
can be taken to promote media law reform in line with a progressive
constitution?
- What other
steps, such as litigation or the presentation of cases to the
African commission, can be taken in the meantime, and would these
be worthwhile?
- What role
can mass media play in ensuring that the majority of Zimbabweans
are knowledgeable of their rights, and the laws that affect them?
- To what
extent are litigation, legal defence, the lobbying of parliamentarians
and other politicians, and the revival of an independent media
council worthwhile strategies for promoting free expression and
access to information?
- How can efforts
to promote constitutional and legal reform compliment the development
of a more progressive communications culture, and vice versa?
Developing
and more democratic communications culture
Should
media be advocates or purely objective news gatherers given the
current situation in Zimbabwe? To what extent is there scope for
being both? What steps could the Zimbabwean media take to go beyond
simply providing an alternative to government propaganda, and providing
more diverse and balanced information?
- How can mass
media make more effective use of social structures in order to
better access the localised spheres of the home, church, workplace
and community?
- How can
media collaborate with those with access to these networks and
spheres in order to promote more effective dialogue and communication?
- How can media
become more tuned in to social networks both inside and outside
the country while also maintaining their professionalism?
- How can mass
media develop its content to make it more relevant to the information
needs of those outside the urban areas?
- How can
media improve the quality and depth of their journalism, particularly
with regards covering issues that may appeal to a wider audience?
How can journalists report on issues differently in a way that
brings these issues alive?
Promoting
joined-up media
Do
Zimbabwean media workers inside and outside the country have a shared
vision and objectives for the promotion of free expression and access
to information. In which case, what are these vision and objectives?
How might these
visions and objectives shape a more collective and co-ordinated
approach to promoting the free flow of diverse and accurate information
to Zimbabweans living inside and outside the country? In particular,
what opportunities are there for collaboration between media inside
and outside the country?
- What approaches
could be taken to developing a cadre of professional media workers
for the future when media does become free in Zimbabwe? What approaches
to training and education work, what approaches do not work?
- How could
media in the Diaspora mobilise public opinion in their host countries
around the Zimbabwean issue while maintaining their professionalism?
- What mechanisms
can be put in place to further support privately owned, commercial
media in their role of promoting free expression and access to
information in such a harsh business environment? Should such
media receive donor subsidies? What other alternatives might there
be?
Money matters
- To what extent
are donors prepared to collaborate with, and buy into collective
strategies for promoting free expression and access to information
in Zimbabwe?
- To what extent
are donors’ Zimbabwean partners prepared to collaborate with and
buy into collective strategies for promoting free expression and
access to information in Zimbabwe?
- What alternative
mechanisms exist for channelling funding into Zimbabwe, and how
may these be applied.
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