ZIMBABWE
By Chiza Ngwira, Editor-in-Chief, Parade
24 February 2003

ZIMBABWE is situated in South Central Africa, between the Limpopo and Zambezi Rivers. It is bordered by Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

It has an area of about 390 245 square kilometres, most of which lies at altitudes of between 600 and 1 500m above sea level, giving a healthy and equitable climate. Zimbabwe's major attractions include the Great Zimbabwe, the most extensive man-made structure in Africa south of the Sahara, the majestic Victoria Falls, Africa's man-made inland Lake Kariba and several large game reserves such as the 14 600 square kilometres Hwange (formerly Wankie) National Park.

The principal city is the capital, Harare, which has a population of about 2 million. Bulawayo, the country's second city in the south, is a well developed industrial hub. The latest Zimbabwe census puts the country's population at 12 million.

THE MEDIA
In a democratising society, free and effective media are necessary if the public is to be adequately informed about their social, economic and political well-being. In Zimbabwe, the Press particularly the print media is at crossroads with consequences ghastly to contemplate. The Zimbabwe government own and control entirely the broadcast media and the national dailies, The Herald, which is published in the capital, Harare, The Chronicle published in Bulawayo and The Manica Post published in the City of Mutare in the Eastern Highlands bordering Mozambique.

In between the dailies, the government also publishes Sunday newspapers, The Sunday Mail (in Harare) and The Sunday News (in Bulawayo). In this, Zimbabwe is hardly unusual. No government-controlled Press anywhere (in Africa) is permitted to act contrary to the wishes of the government of the day. The trend in Zimbabwe has seen the government-controlled or owned media establishments being strongly biased in favour of the ruling party and the government, and avoid any positive news and reports about opposition parties.

Despite the emergency of a vibrant Independent Press in Zimbabwe, Press Freedom will have to be fought for. The Independent Press players must gain greater credibility and authority which will require considerable investment, especially in training. The net effect is that today in Zimbabwe, a whole generation of young journalists has grown up poorly equipped to carry out their profession, a fact of life that the publishers of the various private-owned newspapers can ignore at their peril. There are, of course, exceptions. But most journalists desperately need to improve basic skills. Stories are often poorly written, the sub-editing inaccurate and the layout shoddy. There is frequently an overdependence on just one source, leading to bias, distortion and occasionally unnecessary legal action.

With the freedom to investigate and report on what they like, the majority of reporters in Zimbabwe are finding petty scandals everywhere. Major new developments in the country, for example, go completely unreported let alone analysed, while scandals get front-page treatment. This gives those in authority (the critics of the Independent Press) more ammunition to come up with vicious laws to curb Press Freedom. The Editors and reporters in private-owned media need to be better trained. They need exposure by working on attachments to other newspapers in other countries which should be `food for thought' for this august Forum.