Back to Index

MISA-Zimbabwe's duck to water relationship with the Windhoek Declaration
MISA-Zimbabwe
August 08, 2007

MISA-Zimbabwe welcomes the debate that has been generated following the publication of its statement criticising the unethical conduct of the state media in its reportage of the alleged adultery case involving Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Bulawayo Diocess.

The fact that the state media used the statement to vilify and attack MISA-Zimbabwe at the expense of the pertinent ethical issues raised was an unfortunate digression if not an admission of their errant and unprofessional conduct. In raising the issue of ethics MISA-Zimbabwe was not coming to the defence of Archbishop Ncube but was acting within its mandate of promoting and enhancing media accountability and professionalism.

The media's role of reporting on events as they unfold remains sacrosanct but comes with the highest professional standards and codes of ethics that any journalists worth their salts can never dispute nor argue against. MISA-Zimbabwe is therefore unapologetic in having taken that firm position regarding the outrageous coverage relating to the Archbishop's alleged illicit affair with a married woman.

MISA-Zimbabwe draws great comfort from the fact that other independent seasoned journalists and citizens were of similar discomfiture and took the opportunity to educate journalists and the public at large on the ethical dictates of the profession based on their wide and shared experience in the profession.

Media freedom and freedom of expression of which MISA-Zimbabwe will defend day and night is not licence to impugn and malign but hinges on fair, objective and balanced reporting which upholds the right to human dignity and privacy. This is even more imperative in terms of Zimbabwean statutes once the matter or subject at hand becomes subjudice which automatically became the case upon the serving of papers on Archbishop Ncube by the Deputy Sheriff.

Reporting on matters that are subjudice or before the courts demands proceeding with great trepidation to avert the risk of convicting or acquitting involved parties before judgment is pronounced and undermining court proceedings and above all the independence of the judiciary. The responses and debates that ensued following publication of our statement should have focused therefore on the ethical conduct of the media without delving into the moral rectitude of Archbishop Ncube and his alleged lover.

Both the state and private media have in the past reported and published photographs of commercial sex workers who ply their trade in the country's urban red light districts. Care has, however, been taken to cover the faces of the commercial sex workers in question ostensibly with the ethical objective of avoiding the stigmatisation or ostracisation of the subjects in question by society at large. In this instance, the gloves were off and the woman at the centre of the alleged adulterous affair was openly paraded on national television and in state media newspapers.

The ethical conduct and motive of the state media then becomes questionable in that regard.

In stating its reservations, MISA-Zimbabwe never suggested that the conduct or indiscretions of prominent public figures should not be subjected to scrutiny but that such reportage should be guided by the highest professional standards that respect human dignity and decency.

The branding of MISA-Zimbabwe as agents of imperialism is therefore immaterial and neither here nor there as it diverts from the discussion and debate on whether the state media was professional and ethical in its reportage of the events around the issue at hand.

For the benefit of those who chose to vilify MISA-Zimbabwe by asking whose interests the organisation represents, our unequivocal response and position is that MISA-Zimbabwe's values for which we make no apologies are shaped and informed fundamentally by the 1991 Windhoek Declaration.

The organisation's lobby and advocacy activities, networks and partnerships, are forged around shared values that seek to advance among other objectives, the aims and objectives of the Windhoek Declaration, African Charter on Broadcasting, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression.

The last time we checked the Windhoek Declaration which informs MISA-Zimbabwe's core business was known and refered to as having been agreed to and signed by southern African heads of states on their own volition and wisdom. Simply put MISA-Zimbabwe has a duck to water relationship with the afore-mentioned declarations and charters and works within the realm of their set objectives and principles.

To therefore link the aims and objectives of the Windhoek Declaration, African Charter on Broadcasting and Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa with 'Western imperialist machinations' on issues pertaining to otherwise universally acknowledged journalism ethics smacks of far-fetched diversionary propagandist accusations.

In stating its position MISA-Zimbabwe is, however, happy to note that The Herald's columnist Nathaniel Manheru seized the opportunity offered by the publication of our statement in the state-controlled national daily to acknowledge the establishment and existence of the Media Council of Zimbabwe which he said should have been interested by the subject in question as it pertains to media professionalism and accountability.

The acknowledgment of the existence of the independent, self regulatory media council is noted and acknowledged as progressive. MISA-Zimbabwe is reliably informed that the MCZ is well on course and will soon be playing its role as expected by Manheru and the rest of the citizens of Zimbabwe.

That is as it should be where it concerns instilling media professionalism, responsibility and accountability as espoused under the Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa.

Visit the MISA-Zimbabwe 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