If you ask the average Zimbabwean what they think of the media in this country, I am willing to bet that they are exasperated by that as well as many other things that are going wrong. The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services –Monica Mutsvangwa- has said the government will be taking a look at this and the new media policy will take into consideration multiple views:
Today we met one of our major publishers and long-time media practitioner Mr Trevor Ncube. We thank him and his team for reaching out. As part of our ministerial mandate we are obliged to develop and plural media industry.
That means embracing everyone including those who we agree with and those we may not agree with. The idea is not to have a pliant media but the media that is robust and vibrant in its different ways serving the national interest.
Dark days
You may remember that last year, a NewsDay editor and reporter were arrested for allegedly insulting Mugabe. What was this insult? Reporting that the former president had been involved in a health scare.
There have been even darker days for journalists and hopefully, the Minister is proven to be a woman of her word. In this so-called new dispensation where views are taken into consideration, incidents like the one from last year should be incidents of the past and hopefully, people are allowed to express themselves freely. After all, the President himself said freedom of speech was “an indispensable part of the new Zimbabwe.”
