Chronicle Editor
Lingani Nyika in Masvingo
THE permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana, has stressed the need for media professionals to lead by example and maintain the highest levels of journalistic integrity.
He was speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Journalism Educators Network (Zijen) in Masvingo on Friday as part of collaborative efforts between the Government and media sector aimed at restoring Zimbabwe’s journalism standards and promoting a transparent and accountable environment for both professionals and the public.
Zijen is an organisation that seeks to bring together educators and media stakeholders to contribute towards shaping the journalism landscape in the country.
It aims to provide a platform for educators to have a voice in policy-making and decision-making processes, ensuring that the journalism ecosystem remains competitive.
The organisation was formed by three prominent institutions, Great Zimbabwe University, National University of Science and Technology and Harare Polytechnic, who recognised the need for collaboration and a united front in addressing the complex issues facing the journalism industry.
“We believe that when you interact as professionals you benchmark and raise standards and the core of the objective is the standard of journalism, which right now we do not believe that the standard of journalism is where it should be,” said Mr Mangwana.
He highlighted several concerning trends in the industry, including one-sided reporting and the lack of opportunity for subjects to respond or clarify their positions. Additionally, Mr Mangwana commented on the prevalence of “desktop journalism,” where outlets pull information from social media without seeking direct input from the source.
“We have seen a lot of news, which is published without giving the other person the right to reply and a lot of desktop journalism where people just go on X (Twitter) or Facebook and extract a post there and write a story without asking the author of that post to expand on what they were trying to say,” he said.
“That speaks of the standards of journalism going down, not citizen journalism but professional journalists — a person earning a living out of journalism.”
To address these challenges, the Ministry is calling upon professionals within the journalism industry to collaborate with educators and stakeholders to drive innovation and propose policy changes that will elevate the media sector’s standards.
“We will support lecturers when they come together with different innovative ideas to uplift the industry, policy-wise, and take the policy suggestions from them on board and incorporate them in our policy trust,” said Mr Mangwana.
“There is no contradiction between what you want to achieve and where the Government wants to take the media sector.”
He said the Government supports initiatives that empower young journalists and growth for the industry.
“We heard about the need for monetisation of the media products and we support that. We want all these graduates to be absorbed able to be absorbed by the industry or they become their own content creators where they make money out of their skills. This is where the Education 5.0 comes in,” said Mr Mangwana. — @NyikaLingani
Online Reporter