In defence of Geoff Nyarota

Makusha Mugabe Correspondent
I WRITE in defence of my former editor, Geoff Nyarota (pictured below), the man who did more than anybody else to make Zimbabwean journalism respectable, who is being scandalised as a State media correspondent and a failed politician.

The pettiness of Daily News Editor Stanley Gama calling Nyarota a State media correspondent (http://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2015/11/05/calm-down-geoff-in-your-own-interest) implies that there is something more special about the private media, which is what we readers and Nyarota had also hoped, but which the private media has hitherto failed to live up to.

And losing an election does not define Nyarota as a failed politician as his identity was defined by his contribution to Zimbabwean journalism which cannot be erased from the annals of history, and his other exploits which are not of interest here.

Both the Daily News publishers ANZ and the organisations that are supposed to regulate and assist in the resolution of media disputes VMCZ did not treat Mr Nyarota fairly; ANZ by uprooting him from the life he had built for himself in the US and abusing his name, only to deny him the pre-eminent place that he had earned for himself after their publication had been relaunched.

A negotiation and a dodgy contract in the mould of those used by fly-by-night companies not only robbed Nyarota of his place in history, but of an opportunity to live-out the rest of his illustrious career in a dignified manner -passing on valuable knowledge to a new crop of Zimbabwean journalists.

The fact that Gama thinks that it is an innocuous issue to no longer refer to Nyarota as a former newsroom head of the Daily News illustrates how his crop of journalists lack this sense of fair play that was at the centre of Nyarota’s journalism and which should be at the centre of every journalist’s writing.

They also belittle Nyarota’s contribution, not least his showing that even State journalists can expose corruption in the Government, and not only doing so in the aid of some powerful interests in the political arena.

It was Nyarota’s reputation at a State media organisation that enabled international donors and private investors to support the establishment of the Daily News in the hostile environment that was then obtaining.

They threw caution to the wind took the risk; and in fact the need for caution was borne out by the fact that the Daily News’s printing press was bombed. It was Nyarota’s bravery, skills and adherence to basic values of justice, fair play, respect and professionalism which took the paper to the dizzy heights which it reached under him, and provided the foundation upon which ANZ is now building.

But Gama only proves that he lacks these values by suggesting that he no longer associates the Daily News with Nyarota as per his wish, when in fact, we all know that what Nyarota wished was that ANZ not use his, indeed larger-than-life name to enhance the newspaper’s reputation by invoking it, especially after the publishers had shafted him.

And yes, he does have the right to parade himself as a former Editor-in-Chief of the Daily News and as the man who took it to a height which every person who was alive then still dreams that the Daily News will return to.

But alas this may never happen, especially if the editors, instead of focusing on the national crisis which has become so deep and with so many unexplored dimensions and stories that are not followed up, concentrate on a mudslinging fight with an aggrieved former editor.

This is not your fight Gama. Leave Nyarota alone to fight his fight with ANZ. Show the man the respect that we all grew up being taught by our elders. Whatever Nyarota may be going through at the moment, the last thing he needs is the unnecessary attention of the Editor of the Daily News.

Instead of countering his arguments on ethics and professionalism, rather accept them and search your own practices, because media is as public as any industry can be; a little bit of introspection will never hurt. If you find nothing to improve then leave it at that.

Certainly, looking back into Nyarota’s lifetime of journalism to look for a story that may not have turned out to have been what it seemed, is not a productive endeavour and will not help in placing Nyarota in historical context.

What he has done is create a media context in which you and all of us still have a lot of living up to do.

Nyarota has earned his right to criticise and still has much to offer, except that we have an environment that has become so poisoned that he finds himself sniping from the outside.