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MMPZ welcomes 'independent' mediator for AMH publications
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
February 24, 2012

MMPZ welcomes the decision by Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), publishers of NewsDay, the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, to appoint retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, to act as its public ombudsman with immediate effect. While this development is quite normal in democratic societies, it is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.

Traditionally, an ombudsman is a respected individual who acts as a trusted mediator between institutions and their constituencies, and in this case will be involved in dealing with grievances from readers and the public about the journalistic conduct of AMH's products. This means that those who believe they have a grievance against any of AMH's publications now have direct access to a mechanism that will help to solve their complaints amicably.

In a statement, AMH chairman Trevor Ncube said the move was another step towards ensuring that all AMH's publications and multimedia platforms serve the Zimbabwe reading public and advertisers in a manner that is beyond reproach.

MMPZ welcomes this commitment to professional journalistic standards and urges all Zimbabwe's domestic media outlets, particularly the state-owned media, to follow this example that will help to promote accountable and responsible journalism in the country. Such an independent system of self-regulation represents the main principles of Press regulation in the world's mainstream democracies.

It is to be hoped that the appointment of an "independent" ombudsman by Zimbabwe's biggest privately owned newspaper group will reinforce AMH's commitment to the media industry's own "media standards authority", the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, an independent body established to similarly promote professional journalistic standards and safeguard the independence and integrity of the media community through effective and professional self-regulation.

Such a system helps to reduce the publication of reckless and inaccurate stories and the use of offensive and vituperative language, which does so much to encourage a culture of intolerance and impunity in this country that undermines the stability of the government and society at large.

Unfortunately, this system can only work effectively if the entire media community subscribe to the same principles of responsible, ethical and professional journalistic conduct.

It is therefore to the eternal shame of the dominant state-owned media that they continue to resist subscribing to these principles, which are so clearly set out in the VMCZ's constitution and its journalists' Code of Conduct.

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