Gweru (New Ziana) – The media in Zimbabwe should conduct itself in a professional and responsible manner during this electoral season in order to promote the free flow of information that enables citizens to make informed decisions, an expert has said.

Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) chairperson Professor Ruby Magosvongwe said this at a workshop to train journalists on election reporting.

“This is not the time for agenda-driven journalism, fake news, misinformation, disinformation and other examples of poor journalism that have no place in a functional democracy. Hate speech is abhorrent and cannot be acceptable,” she said.

Prof Magosvongwe said as the Fourth Estate, the media is expected to provide a communication platform between the contestants and the voters.

“By providing such a platform for public debate, scrutiny and informing the public of the policies of candidates and political parties, the media enables voters to judge for themselves and make informed decisions when they cast their votes or ballots.

“The ability of voters to make informed choices is one of the key aspects of a democratic electoral process. The role of the media should be to inform voters on how to exercise their rights and monitor the electoral process,” she said.

She said in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) constituted the Media Monitoring Committee whose mandate is to monitor the coverage of the 2023 harmonised general elections.

“In line with these legal requirements, ZMC has already begun processes to capacitate the media players to play their role.”

Prof Magosvongwe said the Commission has already launched an Elections Reporting and Peace Journalism Manual whose major objective is to capacitate media practitioners with the necessary knowledge skills on how to report the elections story.

She said the ZMC expects to train 1 000 journalists on peace and conflict-sensitive journalism before the election date.

The Commission, she said, is also interested in enhancing the security of journalists during the elections period.

“To that end, the Commission has been engaging different stakeholders to have an appreciation of the work that journalists do. We therefore, call upon stakeholders to respect the profession, allow journalists to work without undue hindrances,” she said.

Prof Magosvongwe said elections should not divide the country.

“Different choices do not diminish our collectivity, we are still Zimbabweans, one family, driven by shared hopes, dreams aspirations, we share a common history,” she said.

New Ziana