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Channelling
anger by speaking out - Interview with Joe Ruzvidzo
Upenyu
Makoni-Muchemwa, Kubatana.net
January 26, 2012
View audio file details
Why
do you blog?
I-ve got things to say. It-s an outlet and I-ve
always had stuff to say. I blog because I can wake up in the morning
and be pissed off by anything. Liverpool can lose, something . . .
anything. And I like to read my own writing.
You
discuss everything on your blog from politics and sport to love
and life. Is there a particular genre or topic that you prefer?
No, just everything. Of course my personal life is the barometer
by which I measure everything. It-s my mood basically, which
guides me.
What
are you passionate about?
My fiancée. I find it hard to get passionate about lots of
things especially here where there are different problems every
day. I-m passionate about Zimbabwe and Harare.
Do you
suppose there-s a greater space for expressing yourself online?
The thing with Zimbabweans is that the structured media space has
been contracted so tightly. For someone without media training,
without a CV that says Harare polytechnic or journalism student,
it-s hard for them to actually get space or a salary from
a newspaper. So the Internet really is the whole idea of breaking
boundaries, breaking barriers giving a voice to the voiceless.
Listen
I-ve
read a couple of your blogs about the Herald. Tell me about your
feelings for the Herald?
It-s just terrible. I don-t want to go into politics,
but let me just say they-re not even pretending anymore -
on the political front. Basically their journalism is shoddy. I
don-t know on what planet that would pass as journalism, as
creative writing, or even writing ZJC comprehension. Spelling grammar,
editing, punctuation ... it-s just shocking. I-m not
an English policeman, I-m not even an English gentleman, I
don-t claim to speak the Queen-s English as it was meant
to be spoken. But there are basic things.
Listen
I-ve
also read about Newsday-s sexually ambiguous headlines.
Tsvangirai fingered in corruption probe. I remember that headline.
You have to wonder where were the editors? That-s shocking.
For someone like me it-s ridiculous, because I do have a dirty
mind.
Of all
the national newspapers, what do you read on a daily basis?
I read them all. To correct the spelling first of all. I don-t
buy them. I will not spend a dollar, or whatever it costs to buy
the Herald. I read them online. The first paper I read is the Herald,
just to get a baseline of the stories for the day. Then when Newsday
finally gets online, to find out what actually happened. Then Daily
News because it-s in the middle.
What
was the mission behind Candid
Consumerism?
There was no mission; I was angry and tired of being taken for granted.
If you look at the logo there-s a little sheep there. The
original catchphrase was going to be . . . we are not sheep. We-re
being treated like sheep especially by companies like Econet and
the banks. There was a point when you-d think these companies
don-t work for us, we work for them. So I thought we needed
a space where we the people could challenge the companies to say
listen I got shoddy service, sort it out. It-s still getting
off the ground but we-ve had a couple of successes.
Listen
What
is your vision for Candid Consumerism?
I-m working on a few things. SMS submission - trying to get
posters or ads around so if there-s an issue, like someone-s
in a shop they know who to send a message to. That platform sends
an email to the moderator, which won-t be me, then we post
that issue. I want to add company rankings, an idea I was given
by Kabweza from Techzim, and rank them. Just making it a bigger
platform. Which will be beneficial not just to consumers but also
to service providers as well.
What
is your political stance?
None of your business.
Visit the Kubatana.net
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Audio File
- Media
space contracted
Summary:
Language: English
Duration: 28sec
Date: January 26, 2012
File Type: MP3
Size: 453KB
- Critique
of The Herald
Summary:
Language: English
Duration: 37sec
Date: January 26, 2012
File Type: MP3
Size: 591KB
- Candid
Consumerism
Summary:
Language: English
Duration: 1min 20sec
Date: January 26, 2012
File Type: MP3
Size: 1.22MB
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