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Lovemore Ranga Mataire
The importance of the media in nurturing unity can never be underestimated, especially in the current information age where the majority of people largely depend on mediated information as source of knowledge.
As Zimbabwe commemorates Unity Day on December 22, it is important that we examine the role of the media and how they can play their part in promoting national cohesion and unity.
Often referred to as the Fourth Estate, there is no doubt that if caution is not exercised, the media can work as a flaming sword capable of cutting through any political armour.
Antony Browder, an African-American Egypologist and writer captures eloquently the importance of the media in shaping people’s perceptions.
In an interview with a London-based weekly newspaper, The Voice, Browder said; “The media are the most powerful forms of communication ever devised by man. If you are not conscious of that, then you won’t know how to protect yourself from negative images projected through the media.”
In recognition of this crucial role, President Mugabe has consistently challenged the media to desist from disseminating inflammatory statements likely to foment divisions and ethnic hatred.
In his address at the opening of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe in November 2012, President Mugabe urged the media to play its part in promoting national unity.
Indeed, many times African journalists in their pursuit of the so-called press freedom, usually adopt a truculent attitude towards their governments by writing news reports that are clearly harmful to the national interest.
In an article titled “The role of the African media in promoting African integration” New African editor Baffour Ankomah, says African journalists often write certain articles without evaluating their negative effects on national cohesion and unity.
“In fact, many times we are not even conscious that we are harming national interest. For example, we have all read recent articles by Zimbabwean journalists who, because they want President Robert Mugabe out of office, thunder about how ordinary Zimbabweans ‘want jobs, not land’,” says Ankomah.
He further asserts that in a country where agriculture is one of the major foreign currency earners, it is suicidal for Zimbabwe to leave control of land in the hands of a few white commercial farmers.
He says while jobs are important, journalists must always be guided by the long-term prospects of any decision, especially in the context of what should be bequeathed to future generations.
It is Ankomah’s view that the so-called free Press is nothing but a myth. He says it is important for African journalists to be aware that even the Western media which is the envy of many is guided by what he calls a “five-point unwritten code.”
The five-point code that guides the Western journalist consists of national interest, government lead, ideological leaning, historical baggage and advertisers or readers’ power. He said it was ironic that African journalists pretended to be oblivious to the devastating effects of reckless reporting when they had abundant examples of the role the media had played in major conflicts on the continent. The case of the Rwandan genocide is an instructive one. The death of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash in April 1994, triggered off a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
A United Nations tribunal set afterwards established that some former media executives played a key role in inciting ethnic killings.
The tribunal established that “hate media” played a significant role in the genocide in which some 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered.
A private radio station — Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines — was accused of calling for a “final war” to “exterminate cockroaches”, in reference to Tutsis soon after the President Habyarimana’s place was shot down.
A media executive, Hassan Ngeze, who ran an extremist magazine called Kangura, was also sentenced to life.
It thus fundamental that African journalists be always on guard to ensure that peace and tranquillity prevail in the country.
Online Reporter