Perspective: Lizards playing the concertina

Stephen Mpofu

They are collectively a bright beam of light — or voice — illuminating the way forward for every nation in the world.

Switch off the light, or muzzle the voice, and the nation in point gropes in the dark, “imagining lizards playing the concertina” and other imaginary things — as Zimbabwe Union of Journalists Secretary General Foster Dongozi humorously yet poignantly put it — instead of being made aware of advancing enemy troops, or troops of disease germs marching across the nation and threatening to disseminate lives.

We are talking about the indefatigable brigade of the Fourth Estate. These are men and women who, by and large, are daily engaged in thankless, donkey work for society.

Journalists are without doubt the collective voice of the voiceless majority in any society.

But, of course, politicians vigorously contest that claim with a claim of their own to the effect that they, not the scribes are “the voice of the people”.

That boast should, however, not surprise anyone, coming as it does from a tribe some of whose members have a tendency for reaping where they did not sow.

This discourse comes in the wake of a move by the government to honour the journalism fraternity by giving its members and their families a brave new future. A good number, if not most of them, eke out their existence in a crushing poverty zone, or barely hover above the poverty datum line, if not altogether scrounge below that line for something to keep soul and body together as breadwinners for their family. This is in spite of the sterling work they do for their country and fellow citizens, churning out embassy upon embassy of words in news stories each day to inform and educate the public about goings on in their community or in the country at large as well as in the outside world, and entertaining the readership at the same time.

That journalists are a hardy tribe that are not wont easily to succumb to poor conditions of service prevalent at the work place, clearly demonstrates their love of, and commitment to, their “noble profession”.

Yet a strong case exists for people also serving as the “eyes and ears” of the state to be better remunerated with attractive, concomitant conditions of service being added to their pay to bolster morale as a way of catalysing professionalism and high productivity for their employer.

It is in recognition of the role played by the writers, this pen strongly believes, that their parent ministry has gone out of its long silent way to approach the sister Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing with a request to provide residential stands for journalists some, if not a majority of whom live in expensive rented houses that gobble much of their earnings.

The beauty of this accommodation development is that the government does not discriminate between public and private media practitioners even though some of the private journalists are notorious for demonising Zanu-PF and its government. In some cases the private media practitioners do this at the behest of opposition parties and even of foreign governments whose funding the small, poor-resourced opposition parties court to finance their operations.

That the state has not bracketed off the so-called independent media is an eloquent statement recognising the important role that all journalists do play, or should necessarily do so, to improve the lives of the people of this country in so far as the dissemination of information on events, and especially that concerning the implementation of social and economic projects for the upliftment of people’s lives is concerned so that every Zimbabwean can run with the projects in question.

But as ZUJ has already said those housing stands will not be free, and it is to be hoped that beneficiaries will not flog them off at exorbitant prices to enrich themselves but that they will use them in whatever way suitable to improve the welfare of their families.

It is not unknown that when haunted by pauperism some journalists or other people will resort to corrupt means to make ends meet.

Journalists for instance, may become amenable to corruption to try to make ends meet — a situation that when light is shown on the scum the image of journalists as a whole suffers.

For instance scabrous claims are romping round journalist circles to the effect that some charismatic churches in this country are paying journalists money to exaggerate attendances at crusades of the churches right here in Zimbabwe and in neighbouring countries in an apparent bid to popularise themselves.

The claims have not been verified but – who knows – the churches in question probably use some Dihneiro Speak to lure the scribes away from their ethical fortress or take advantage of those writers who have already bolted out of their ethical stronghold, hounded by pecuniary insecurity, to patch up their holed pockets in order to line them up with backhanders.

Other claims soiling the image of the journalism fraternity as a whole point to scribes living in abject or near-abject poverty, being susceptible to bribes or corruption by foreign governments or their local representatives, or by business people as well as opposition parties to purvey their propaganda either against the state or against rival political parties or rival business entities.

It will no doubt be argued by some that journalists are also human after all and, as such, will sometimes be forced by circumstances, such as want, to use unorthodox means in a bid to improve their lot.

But civilised standards should serve as a buffer against any infringement of any criminal or common law by anyone under any circumstance whatsoever — and journalists, whatever their compelling circumstance should never be an exception to the rule.

The bottom line to the government’s goodwill gesture to journalists through the provision of land for their housing certainly deserves a rousing response from the journalism fraternity in this country.

For some of the scribes, especially those given to negative perceptions of even the best things that the government has done for this country — positive reciprocation to the houses-for-journalists scheme might appear a tall order, even an Everest of an order but the summit of which journalists in our country should scale with circumspection and diligence.

Overall, Zimbabwean journalists writing for local or foreign media should eschew any and every corrupt tendencies and be seen to practise their profession with communicological maturity, a professionalism beyond reproach and unflinching intrepidity to extol society’s beauty spots while exposing ugly ones for remedial action by the forces that be, always realising that they play a pivotal role in liberating the masses from ignorance and empowering them at the same time.

Editors of local media have an onerous but honourable responsibility in making sure that the readers receive a product that they deserve and which is a mark of excellence on the part of the news hounds.

This requirement presupposes that editors themselves do not perform their supervisory roles to ingratiate themselves with those in government or in their companies who appoint them, by shining the bosses otherwise dim stars, or by allowing themselves to be used as knobkerries by powerful politicians with which to attack rivals.

In a nutshell, the professional quality or mediocrity of local journalism will by and large be measured against the calibre of editors at the helm of media houses.

It is they, not their reporters who stand accountable for anything appearing in their papers or on radio or television, and this includes punctuation marks in the wrong place on copy, their wrong placement exposing the calibre of the editor.

That is what responsibility is all about – accountability.