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The Herald goes berserk, resorts to yellow journalism
Movement for Democratic Change
May 24, 2010

The Herald has scaled dizzy heights as a Zanu PF pamphlet and today the discredited newspaper beat its own record of outrageous lies by publishing malicious and slanderous rumours as news. For three consecutive weeks, The Herald has been consistent in manufacturing lies and divisions in the MDC. While we understand The Herald's fixation with the popular MDC as a news item to boost their pitiful sales figures, today's lead story entitled "MDC-T clips Biti's wings" is a real figment that would leave legendary fiction writers green with envy. The story refers to a meeting allegedly chaired by the President and attended by "national and provincial directors." For the record, no such meeting ever took place because President Morgan Tsvangirai was in Bulawayo on the day the meeting is alleged to have taken place

Secondly, we not with serious concern the fact that The Herald's perpetual, consistent and systematic habit of manufacturing lies and divisions within the MDC leadership. Thirdly, it is impossible that non-existent people could have attended the meeting because the so-called "provincial directors" who reportedly attended the meeting do not exist. It is simply laughable and ridiculous for the discredited newspaper to invent a non-existent meeting attended by non-existent delegates holding non-existent positions.

As a party, we are aware that the so-called public media have become real melting pots where artificial fissures are cooked and peddled as news. We are aware that the sources of these slanderous articles are not even in the MDC, but are at a known office at the ministry of Media, Information and Publicity where a senior civil servant has chosen to abdicate civil service duties to dedicate time and effort to undermining the MDC.

We remain alive to the MDC's historical mandate to deliver real change to the people. The Herald has simply gone berserk and the MDC will not be distracted from this important national duty by yellow journalism which invents fictitious fissures in a vain effort to create another October 12. Bickering, factions and divisions are the sole preserve of Zanu PF and should never be exported to the MDC. We are a people's project with a solid and focused leadership with one vision of delivering real change. No amount of howling and shouting will shake our collective resolve to deliver real change.

Today's fiction by The Herald is an attempt to divert people from the real issues that have happened in the past one week, from Zanu PF's unilateral appointment of judges to its latest abominable sin of causing the violent abortion of the meeting of the Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation. Zimbabweans deserve real change. They want a plural and diverse media industry so that readers will make their own verdict on those who have chosen to misinform the people. True journalism is not slander. True journalism is not maligning people without giving them an opportunity to respond. True journalism is not perfidy and reckless lies. True journalism is simply premised on the basis of truth and fact.

The MDC remains one united family focused on bringing change to people's lives. Ours is one big family of united democrats who want to provide Zimbabweans with the dignity, security, hope, freedom and the prosperity that they demand and deserve.

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