(NEWZIMBABWE) Journalists have 'politics in their heads': Chinotimba
Journalists have 'politics in their heads': Chinotimba21/09/2012 00:00:00
by Paradzai Brian Paradza
WAR veterans’ leader Joseph Chinotimba accused journalists of being “full of politics in their heads” as he made a surprise appearance at a media analysis event in Harare on Thursday.
Chinotimba said journalists had become active political players by abandoning ethics.
“You are politicians not journalists,” he thundered as he spoke to about two dozen journalists at the forum organised by the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe.
“Why don’t you promote unity among Zimbabweans? You are encouraging conflict in the country; people are fighting because of your reporting. You are full of politics in your heads.
“President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai are drinking tea together; myself when I meet my opponent in Buhera constituency we laugh and share jokes, why are you not promoting peace?”
Chinotimba accused journalists of being pre-occupied with highlighting negative stories, while failing to put more weight to current efforts to correct past wrongs.
“Why are you not writing about the events in South Africa, the killing of miners by the police, you are all quiet? Imagine if that had happened in this country, it would have been a global crisis,” he added.
MMPZ Research and Monitoring Coordinator Eric Matingo said most journalists had abandoned ethics, leading to poor news content.
“As media consumers, we are worried about certain developments and trends. We have noticed a complete disregard of ethics and this has resulted in some media houses losing credibility and eventually readers,” he said.
“When we talk about accuracy, facts and balance we are talking of journalistic standards. Our appeal therefore is can you just be a journalists? Anything outside that is not journalism.”
MMPZ Director Andrew Moyes said while the political environment has contaminated journalism as a profession in the country, ethics must be upheld and adhered to religiously.
He said most journalists have become tainted in their view and appreciation of issues resulting in dramatisation and sensationalisation of issues.
“The political situation has contaminated the practice of journalism but we expect the media to give us balanced news not one-sided views,” said Moyes.
Participants at the forum condemned the country’s media laws for stifling the practice of journalism in the country.
Labels: JOSEPH CHINOTIMBA, WAR VETERANS
posted by MrK @ 4:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home