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Peter Matambanadzo Senior Reporter
Journalists should uphold ethics and professionalism so that they do not offend the new Constitution which provides for freedom of expression, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister Supa Mandiwanzira has said.
He made the remarks yesterday in an interview ahead of World Press Freedom Day commemorations today.
The day is set aside to celebrate the fundamental principles of Press freedom and to honour journalists who lost their lives in the course of duty.
This year’s celebrations are being held under the theme, ‘’Media Freedom for a Better Future: Shaping the Post-2015 Development Agenda.’’
“World Press Freedom Day is going to be a special day for Zimbabwean media or Zimbabwean journalists particularly for the very first time we have a new Constitution, which enshrines freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
“We are urging the media and journalists to enhance ethics and professionalism so that they do not offend the new Constitution, which also outlines what freedom of the media is not,” Deputy Minister Mandiwanzira said.
He said the new Constitution under Section 62 provides for freedom of the Press, but also outlines that freedom of expression excludes defamation, hatred and hate speech.
The commemorations come at a time Government has set up an all-stakeholder commission of inquiry, the Information and Media Panel of Inquiry, to look into the operations of the media in Zimbabwe.
The panel is chaired by veteran journalist Geoffrey Nyarota.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary-general Foster Dongozi said it was important for journalists to value and recognise ethics and professionalism.
“But obviously it’s a much bigger package. Journalists need to work in an enabling environment in which they are free and safe to operate without fear of archaic laws like criminal defamation that can be used in order to subdue, suppress and censor journalists,” Dongozi said.
In addition, he said journalists also need to work in conditions that ensure their safety and get better remuneration to maintain professionalism and ethics.
He said the union would today hold a solidarity march from Harare’s Chinhoyi Street to Africa Unity Square.
In a statement, the Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe chapter urged Government to realign Zimbabwe’s media laws with the constitutional provisions of freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information.
“Of particular concern to MISA-Zimbabwe is the Government’s seeming lethargy where it concerns the envisaged legislative reforms as demanded for in terms of Section 61 and 62 of the new Constitution,” the statement said.
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