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Thupeyo Muleya
The Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) held its last round of meetings at Dulibadzimu Stadium yesterday.
IMPI chairperson Geoffrey Nyarota said from the consultations they had conducted so far it was apparent that communities living in border areas were seriously affected by lack of or poor transmission in terms of broadcasting services.
He said the outreach programme involved public meetings, interviews and general discussions with media and information stakeholders as well as members of the public on issues concerning the media.
“Generally, issues affecting communities especially those living outside Harare include the lack of or poor transmission services by the national broadcaster.
“Participants in all the areas we have visited have called for the need to establish community radio stations, mainly because the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Services is failing in terms of a total national coverage,” said Nyarota.
He said they had also established that in areas where radio and television services were accessible there was a general perception that the content was biased mainly on Shona programmes at the expense of other languages.
“We also have a certain quota of people especially in Maphisa who feel pirate radio stations like Studio 7 should be banned with immediate effect for lack of respect of the country’s politicians especially President Mugabe and their continued effort to fuel political conflict in Zimbabwe,” said Nyarota.
Online Reporter