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Patriotic
and nationalistic journalists
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media
Update 2006-48
Monday November 27th
2006 – Sunday December 3rd 2006
DURING the week acting Information
Minister Paul Mangwana repeated his predecessors’ claims that stories
reflecting badly on government or the ruling party are fabrications
by "some sections of the media". The Herald
(5/12) passively reported him denying that the ruling party was
riddled with in-fighting in Masvingo saying such reports were a
result of an "entrenched tendency to manufacture news"
by journalists who were misinterpreting "differences
of opinion as factionalism".
He then provided a distorted perspective
of the role the media should play in society, reiterating government’s
own narrow view that journalists should be "patriotic
and nationalistic" in the execution of their
duty.
ZANU PF MP Walter Mzembi expanded on
this wilful misconception of the media’s obligations saying they
were "duty-bound to articulate the Zimbabwean story",
which "will never be complete without the portrayal
of President Mugabe as a hero with the interests of his country
at heart". This dogmatic view found further expression
in Mangwana’s criticism of the private media’s attempts to expose
details of the alleged involvement of government officials in the
Ziscosteel (Zisco) corruption scandal, which the authorities have
tried to conceal. He dismissed the private media’s revelations,
telling The Herald (25/11) that the media were "scoring
cheap political points" by focussing on "red
herring cases" such as "hotel bookings…whose
dinner was paid for, who was given a ticket, which companies buy
for officials who will be visiting them". All these
issues, he claimed, "do not help the country at all"
but are meant to shift public attention from "the correct
focus", that is "instances of corruption
by management."
Such deceit went unchallenged.
For instance, the paper did not ask
him why he believed the alleged pillaging of Zisco funds by government
ministers on missions that were not related to the company was irrelevant
and not newsworthy. Only the Zimbabwe Independent (1/12) subjected
his dishonesty to scrutiny. It wondered if there will ever be "a
probe into the issue" when Mangwana, who is also the anti-corruption
minister, "describes pillaging of public funds and key
leads into possibly deep-rooted corruption as non-issues".
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