adminThandeka Moyo, Chronicle Reporter
TWENTY-EIGHT cases were made against the media by members of the public last year , with only one complaint being made against The Chronicle.
Most of the complaints made through the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) were from members of the public, MPs, councillors and other private organisations.
“NewsDay led with five media complaints followed by the Mirror and Online Media. The Herald, Sunday Mail and Southern Eye had two complaints each while The Chronicle and its sister papers Sunday News and B-Metro had one complaint each,” reads the VMCZ report.
“From the 28 formal complaints received in 2015, 22 were resolved and finalised after going through the adjudication process. One case was dismissed for lacking merit and two cases are still pending,” reads the VMCZ report.
Speaking after the launching the report in Bulawayo yesterday, VMCZ programmes officer Ms Faith Ndlovu said the number of reports made to them was a sign that members of the public now had confidence in the media complaints mechanism.
“The VMCZ believes that these trends indicate increasing awareness of and strengthened confidence in the media complaints mechanism by the wider society in Zimbabwe.
“This is because the mechanism promotes a spirit of amicable dispute resolution while at the same time upholding the public’s right to fair, accurate and balanced reportage in line with the media code of conduct,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said the most breached section of the code of ethics related to accuracy, fairness and balance which shows that some media practitioners are missing the basics of journalism.
“While by no means exhaustive, we hope that the report will enhance understanding of the work of the VMCZ and the ethical challenges faced by the media and the report will contribute to dialogue on necessary remedial interventions,” said Ms Ndlovu. — @thamamoe
Online Reporter