THE Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) report has condemned rampant political and corporate interference with the media saying it was seriously undermining the credibility of the press.
In a report released recently, IMPI also blamed choking legislation and proprietor interests for the decline of the media industry in Zimbabwe.
Interference, noted the report, has left journalists operating in a tight space and squeezed from many ends which negatively impacted on media content and brews high levels of media polarisation.
Polarisation refers to divergence of attitudes to ideological extremes.
IMPI was launched last year by the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Jonathan Moyo, to assess the state of the information and media industry in Zimbabwe with the major objective of seeking ways to promote and elevate the standards of media practice in the country as well as looking into the challenges affecting media operations.
IMPI noted that politicians were exerting immense pressure on the media, leading to diluted media content reflecting the lines of political parties and deviating from the original journalistic principles.
The report noted that the public media was the worst affected by political interference as they had become ‘a commissariat department’ of the ruling party, ZANU-PF.
“There is a perception among the public that political inference is rampant, mainly in the public media, affecting the national broadcaster (ZBC), and the publicly-owned Zimpapers,” reads part of the voluminous report.
Zimpapers are publishers of many newspapers, including The Herald, The Chronicle, and The Sunday Mail among others.
“Many of the people interviewed felt that has damaged the credibility of the national broadcaster to the extent they no longer listen to the radio stations or watch television programmes,” the report says.
IMPI pointed a finger at Moyo, whose ministry it criticised for undue interference.
“The public media are being run by the Information Ministry to propagate government and ruling party (ZANU-PF) policies and are under instructions to attack opponents while it is rare for those opponents to feature positively in the public media,” it further reads.
IMPI’s inquiry found that there was also an increase in what has become known as “diskette journalism” where stories are written by politicians and other influential individuals and then given to newspapers to publish.
“Such allegations have been levelled against both the private and public media, with the latter said to have stories planted by Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo. The minister, however, denied planting stories,” says the report.
Apart from politicians, IMPI also decried the interference by big corporates who are taking advantage of the economic crisis in the country to determine media content.
“They withheld advertising if the media published what they considered to be negative stories against them or their friends. Two companies on the stock exchange were mentioned as the main culprits.
“Another example given by a weekly newspaper was a court case initiated by a corporate entity a few years ago to prevent publication of an article about an impending loan.
“The company stopped all advertising until the proprietor approached the owner and apologised. Financial muscle was used to determine media content,” the report says.
The IMPI report also reveals that media owners were exerting further interference on the media, making the lives of journalists difficult.
“Many corporate scandals have gone unreported not because the journalists are unaware, but because it is not financially prudent to report on them. In many instances, the media owners have told their employees openly who are the untouchables in the corporate sector,” reads the report.
IMPI recommended that government creates an enabling legislative framework based on the Constitution which would leave the public media in the hands of directors who have the responsibility for selecting, assessing and ensuring that they have a policy, vision and support to do their work in a professional manner.
The boards, in consultation with shareholders, should define an editorial policy that speaks to public interest, professionalism and integrity.
For the private media, IMPI recommends that owners must not interfere with media content.
It proposed the formulation of a binding code of ethics agreed upon by stakeholders to define ethical conduct by all participants, including owners and corporations to stop the corporate sector from interfering with media products.
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