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Monitoring report for January - June 2010
Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe
July 06, 2010

1.1 Introduction

This is the first in a series of monthly media monitoring reports on the ethical and professional state of Zimbabwe's print, broadcast and electronic media by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ). The monitoring programme will cover media from both public and private media, including exiled media.

The role of the press is a front line battle to maintain democracy and the media offers the public a platform for debate and airing their views and opinions on economic and socio-political issues, as well as acting as a medium for access to information. Unless the public has access to information, they are not in a position to influence the course of events by exercising their democratic rights. In performing its duties, the media is governed and guided by moral and ethical principles of journalism contained in the VMCZ Code of Conduct that media practitioners and civil society stakeholders endorsed at the launch of the Council in 2007.

The curtailment of press freedom and access to information has produced a good test case for media ethical practice in an environment where there is needfor fair, balanced and accurate information, particularly on issues of human rights, justice, democracy and national healing and reconciliation.

VMCZ' s media monitoring programme is based on the clauses of the Code of Conduct and other ethical and moral guidelines attained during journalism training and mid-career training. The reports will highlight both negative and positive results derived from the monitoring that will focus mainly on hard news stories, editorials and cartoon columns. Results of the monitoring programme are used to inform the training and technical needs for media to improve their professional and ethical practices.

1.2 Compliance with Code of Conduct and Journalism Ethics

Access to information is of paramount importance to the proper working of a participatory democracy. Accordingly the media, in its endeavour to inform the public must be accountable and should strive to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards. It must, therefore, carry out its functions of informing, educating and entertaining the public professionally and responsibly. The report will highlight provisions of the Code of Conduct for Zimbabwe media practitioners (hereinafter called "the Code") that were mainly violated during the period monitored and give examples of such violations in the media.

1.2.1 Accuracy and fairness

The Media should explore and put both sides of a story as accurately as possible. Economic interests should never be used to exaggerate the importance of a story. For that reason, the media should work to inform public debate and not manipulate it or use the public to meet its own ends. Hence, it is there to scrutinize the executive, shine a light on wrong doing, and ensure that the vulnerable are not exploited.

Article 4 (d) of the Code clearly states that:

"Media institutions must endeavour to provide full, fair and balanced reports of events and must not suppress essential information pertaining to those events. They must not distort information by exaggeration, by giving only one side of a story, by placing improper emphasis on one aspect of a story, by reporting the facts out of the context in which they occurred or by suppressing relevant available facts. They must avoid using misleading headlines or billboard postings".

The prevalent trend in the media environment shows a negation of the spirit of the provision as shown by the following examples: The Standard edition of 31 January published a story under the headline 'Copac swindled.' The story alleged financial mismanagement and irregularities by the management committee of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac) who dismissed the allegations as a misrepresentation of facts and inaccurate. The matter was later resolved between the newspaper and Copac at a meeting faciliated by the VMCZ.

On 23 March 2010, The Herald, Chronicle and ZTV News reported on the boycott of the visit by the Iranian leader by the MDC-T. The reports suppressed essential information pertaining to the alleged boycott as the three media deliberately censored the MDC-T statement on the reasons for snubbing the Iranian President. The media essentially did not give the party the right to reply.

Article 4 (a) of the Code states :

"Media practitioners and media institutions must report and interpret the news with scrupulous honesty and must take all reasonable steps to ensure that they disseminate accurate information and that they depict events fairly and without distortions"

However, it seems as if both the private and the public media tend to be biased in their reporting of events, therefore leading to unfair, inaccurate and sometimes distorted stories as shown by the following stories:

The Daily News of 22 April carried the headline 'Chiminya family seeking justice.' The report was inadequate as it only quotes the Chiminya family spokesperson on the alleged delayed justice, but fails to seek comment from the police who are alleged to have delayed the justice.

The Herald of 12 April carried a headline titled "Government to invoke law against Councillors" and another one on 15 April which said "Interviews on the house evictions complete". Both reports failed to take reasonable steps to depict events fairly and without prejudice. The councillors in both reports were not given a chance to respond to allegations raised in the reports.

The Zimbabwean of 15 April carried a headline titled "Guns in Mutoko Thugs Licensed to kill". The report was unbalanced as it merely quoted MDC officials and villagers alleging that ZANU PF supporters are moving around with guns to intimidate MDC supporters. The report did not seek to get views of Zanu PF on the allegations raised against the party.This renders the story unfair and potentially inaccurate.

Article 4 (d) of the Code clearly provides that:

"Special care must be taken to check the accuracy of stories that may cause harm to individuals or organizations or to the public interest. Before publishing a story of alleged wrongdoing, all reasonable steps must be taken to ascertain the response of the alleged wrongdoer to the allegations. Any response from that person must be published together with the report setting out the allegations where possible. "

SW Radio Africa on 15 April had a report which said that "Mohadi fingered in farm invasion". The Zanu PF Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi, was accused of invading a South African owned game reserve, but both reports do not seek comment from him. The Zimbabwean On Sunday edition of 18 April reproduced the report without further investigating the alleged farm invasion.

ZTV 8pm News Bulletin on 20 April reported that the ZBC Public Relations officer castigated two former DJs for misinforming their listeners and readers of The Sunday Mail in a story published in the newspaper. The broadcast makes several allegations against its former employees in the news bulletin. That as it maybe, the two DJs were not given the opportunity to respond to the allegations raised in that report.

The Zimbabwean edition of 22 April had a headline "Why should Anyone Be Led by you?" The report alleged that Fungai Chaderopa (ZANU PF Sanyati MP) unleashed violence on MDC supporters in the 2008 Presidential run-off. The journalist does not seek comment from the Police and the Honourable MP.

It suffices to conclude that the above mentioned cases clearly show that the media is reluctant to abide by the minimum ethical standards highlighted in article 4(d) of the Code, as it has negated its duty of thoroughly checking facts and ensuring that stories that will unjustifiably harm the reputation of persons or institutions are not published. The current trends expose the media to defamation action in a number of areas.

Article 4 (c) of the Code highlights:

"When compiling reports, media practitioners must check their facts and the editors and publishers of newspapers and other media must take proper care not to publish inaccurate material. Before a media institution publishes a report, the reporter and the editor must ensure that all the steps that a reasonable competent media practitioner would take to check its accuracy have in fact been taken."

This means that the media has a duty to check facts carefully and to try to ensure that unjustifiable, misleading or inaccurate stories are not published. The trends observed in the period under review show that media practitioners tend to rush the publication of stories without taking due diligence to verify their accuracy as stated in the monitoring report.

Radio Zimbabwe on 14 April during the 1pm news bulletin exaggerated the number of people who died in an accident involving a South Africa-bound bus and a haulage truck along the Chinhoyi road. The report was inaccurate as the actual number was 10, not 25 as stated. The reporter failed to pay attention to detail and to seek authoritative comment from the police. An assumption can be made that this was the easiest of figures to verify with the police.

The Standard edition of 7 February published a picture of Ian Makone, the Secretary to the Prime Minister, and identified him as Douglas Mwonzoro, the co-Chairperson of Copac. The newspaper failed to take proper care to verify the identity of Mr. Mwonzora before publishing the picture.

The 7am and 8am ZTV news bulletin on 14 April and the 8am news bulletin on Spot FM on 23 April carried reports where Government said it had, to-date, implemented most of the recommendations set out by the Kimberley Process certification scheme and expressed optimism that the country will be fully compliant by year-end. The story was unbalanced as it relied only on Minister Obert Mpofu's assertions, but does not independently investigate how the Government has complied with the standards nor seek comment from other stakeholders or commentators who might not necessarily agree with the Minister's statement.

Correction of inaccuracy or distortion

Article 5(a) of the Code states:

"If a media institution discovers that it has published a report containing a significant inaccuracy or distortion of the facts, it must publish a correction at the earliest possible opportunity and with comparable prominence".

The Sunday Mail of 25 April issued a correction in relation to Mr. Mawoyo, after publishing an inaccurate story involving the businessman. The correction was published almost a month after publication of the story, while the story's headline was in a bigger font size, giving it more prominence than the correction. The newspaper is, however, commended for issuing the correction.

Right to Reply

The media should always offer a right to reply when making allegations and ensure that any reply is published or broadcast in similar output and measure.

The Right to Reply is provided in Article 6 of the Code which provides:

"where a person or organization believes that a media report contains inaccurate information or has unfairly criticized the person or organization, the media institution concerned must give the person or organization a fair opportunity to reply so as to enable that person or organization to correct any inaccuracies and to respond to the criticism"

In this respect, the media has, in the period under review, offered the right to reply as shown by the following articles

The Herald of 2 April in a letter to the editor titled "Matavire royalties story misleading". The newspaper accorded the right of reply to a story published in the same week.

The Zimbabwean of 29 April gave the right of reply to the Professional Golfers Association of Europe in response to a report published in their paper.

1.2.4 Hatred or Violence

The media should be at the forefront of strengthening democratic pillars of society. It should endeavor to promote peace and stability, both politically and economically. The media reaches a substantial number of persons, therefore a great responsibility rests with the media to report in a professional and responsible manner.

Consequentially, in an era in which Zimbabwe is trying to reconcile and heal the nation in the wake of the past atrocities and violence, the press should desist from perpetuating hatred and violence when reporting. However, in the period under review, some media carried reports that perpetuate hatred and violence.

Article 5 of the Code states:

"(a) Media practitioners and media institutions must not publish material that is intended or is likely to endanger hostility or hatred towards persons on the grounds of their race, ethnic origin, nationality, gender sexual orientation physical disability ,religion or political affiliation.
(b) Media institutions must take utmost care to avoid contributing to the spread of ethnic hatred or political violence."

The Herald of 17 April under the headline "No more water, the fire next time" reported as follows "A "white African" called Eddie Cross is understood to be vociferous about the official denial of sanctions and is having his way. Should he then be shocked when the "natives" start slashing at his fingers so that he lets go of a land his forbears stole and whose stealing he evidently wants to perpetuate into eternity?"

The above statement contained in the article stigmatises Mr Cross racially. The story can be interpreted that Mr Cross's race has something to do with his political views and that opposition to his views is a racial, issue not an expression of different political or social views. By using words as "A white African", "natives" the story invokes memories of the colonial era, hence divides citizens along black vs white.

The Herald of 19 April had a headline titled: "Jomic bemoans political violence". It further went on to state that "It is understood that MDC-T supporters, who claimed to be on a "revenge mission", started the violence". The report contained malicious allegations that are not substantiated by facts or confirmation from the police and does harm to the reputation of the MDC-T party that is portrayed as violent.

Plagiarism

Article 21 of the Code provides:

"Media practitioners must not engage in plagiarism. Plagiarism consists of making use of another person's words, pictures or ideas without permission and without proper acknowledgement and attribution of the source of those words, pictures or ideas."

However, The Zimbabwean On Sunday of 21 April in reports titled "Journos called in to testify in land case" and "We've failed to end uncertainty: Tsvangirai" were both reproduced on the Zimonline edition of 22 April and 24 April respectively without acknowledging the source. Clearly, plagiarism goes against professional and ethical standards of the media.

1.2.6 Victims of crime

Article 17 of the Code states;

Media institutions must not identify victims of sexual assaults or publish material likely to contribute to such identification unless the victim has consented to such publication or the law authorised them to do so.

However, the ZTV 8pm news bulletin on 23 May identified a victim of rape in a news story that reported as follows; 'A teenage girl who is suspected to be suffering from an STI is now a destitute at Machipisa shopping centre and no one is prepared to stay with her.'

Efforts by the broadcaster to blank out the teenager's face were unsuccessful as it was revealed whenever she turned her face during the interview.

1.2.7 Use of pictures and graphics

In terms of section 13 of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act [Chapter 10:04] it is an offence to print, publish, produce, distribute or sell an undesirable publication. A publication is deemed to be undesirable if it is indecent or obscene or is offensive or harmful to public morals.

The period under review has seen a rampant number of indecent and obscene articles that go against the general standards expected of the media, that should be professional and responsible. Examples below highlight some of the trends monitored in the period under review.

The Manica Post of 2 April published complaints by readers against a photograph that was published on the front-page edition of March 26 2010. The picture showed the badly wounded corpse of a man who had been murdered by his in-law.The picture caused distress among readers and the editor should have apologized to members of the public for using the insensitive picture.

The Standard of 21 March 2010 carried a picture depicting the Queen of England as pregnant under the headline 'Zuma's UK trip successful'.

The VMCZ received a complaint from Women's Coalition who complained that the picture is degrading, not only the Queen of England but all women, especially mothers. The picture is also described in the complaint as praising Zuma's virility at the expense of the Queen and women.

The 20 April edition of H-Metro published a front page picture of a woman with her breasts exposed under the headline:" Cheating Josphat Somanje caught red handed". Publication of the picture in that form violates the practice of professionalism and ethics. The paper should have blanked out the woman's bare breasts. In gender terms, the image links the woman's breast or organs to infidelity, hence depicting women as objects or causes of infidelity. This stereotying goes against efforts to fight violence and oppression of women in society. By showing the women in bits and pieces, the picture reinforces societal stereotypes that women are not whole beings but objects to fullfil the desires of men.

The H-Metro of 29 April published a cartoon portraying women as purveyors of AIDS to men who appear innocent, in the defamatory and discriminatory graphic. The paper should seek to fairly portray all clusters of society, while economic interests should not be behind the stereotyping of females.

Conclusion

In general, the analysis above demonstrates the trends in both the print and broadcast media in Zimbabwe in the period under review and show that there have been glaring deficiencies in professional and ethical standards in the media, as put forth in the Code of Conduct for Zimbabwean Media Practitioners. The media should strive to provide a balance of views, thus reflecting on a wide range of opinions and exploring conflicting views with the view that media exist to promote participatory democracy.

The media in Zimbabwe as monitored are commended for protecting the identity of minors and victims of sexual abuse and offering the right of reply to aggrieved members of the public.

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