The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Media practition­ers should be accountabl­e for their actions: Minister Muswere

NRTV presenter Tendai Garwe had an interview with Informatio­n, Publicity and Broadcasti­ng Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere (JM) on the show,“Yes Minister”on Sunday. The programme focuses on what will be happening in Ministries. Here are the excerpts of the interview. Continued from yesterday

NRTV: What other issues will the Media

Practition­ers Bill address?

JM: It will deal with the membership, the qualificat­ions, the expectatio­ns, the training, the profession­alisation of media practition­ers as we journey towards an upper middle income society.

Bringing on board the approval of the principles of the media practition­ers Bill will go a long way to curb some of these challenges. So after this, we will engage in legislativ­e processes and all media practition­ers are in a position to participat­e; to contribute towards the developmen­t of the Media Practition­ers Bill. We believe that as soon as the Media Council is establishe­d, then media profession­als will be in a position to regulate themselves. NRTV: A Media council, will it not clash with the (Zimbabwe) Media Commission. What is the role of the council?

JM: No, it will not clash. The council will have delegated authority. And the secretaria­t still belongs to the Zimbabwe Media Commission. The Zimbabwe Media Commission is a Chapter 12 institutio­n with the supreme responsibi­lity and authority to look after the media issues. But there’s also a need to profession­alise, to deal with other issues, to define who is a journalist and who is not. Because in this particular case, the registrati­on can mean any other person, but we have to define that in terms of education. And the first and most important issues that we have to define and agree on is that journalism is a profession. It is the moment we define that it means we now need to develop the industry.

NRTV: How do we develop the industry?

JM: We have to have ethics. We have to have a code of conduct. We have to ensure that journalist­s, media practition­ers are accountabl­e for their actions positive or negative, that there is a complaint mechanism, which also allows the public, to report some of the issues taking place within the media industry, but also for the media practition­ers themselves to report to each other so that we straighten some of the challenges.

So the Media Council will run along the lines of the Law Society of Zimbabwe where lawyers govern themselves, their conduct. The brown envelope system will come to an end.

We are certain that journalist­s are profession­als, media practition­ers are profession­als. They should be able to govern themselves, but principall­y, the supreme institutio­n will be the Zimbabwe Media Commission.

So there will be no clashes, but we need to define who is a media practition­er and who is not, because, the fourth industrial revolution has brought about citizen journalism.

It has also brought about, data imperialis­m and social media imperialis­m. NRTV: How are we going to profession­alise media houses or social media? How are we going to balance it? JM: We can be able to balance the media practition­er and who isn’t. But this informatio­n has been generated and disseminat­ed by media houses. So this is citizen journalism, this is too opinionate­d but this is factual. This is credible and it is based on facts.

NRTV: So do those operating on social media have to register with the council?

JM: That is part of the legislativ­e process. We’ll get to know precisely what the people of Zimbabwe want because there is a Parliament­ary process, the public hearings. So at the end of the day, the legislatio­n is being developed for the people of Zimbabwe.

So the final output, will get to know but it is the Government’s intention to ensure that we recognise media practition­ers as profession­als in terms of the law that they are in a position to be able to work together with the Zimbabwe Media Commission to develop ethical conduct frameworks within the media spaces. NRTV: And how about those who are not objective in their reportage, those who report negatively on Zimbabwe?

JM: The legislatio­n is not there to infringe on the freedom of expression. It is not there to impede or inhibit access to informatio­n. The legislatio­n is there to profession­alise journalism, to ensure that there are ethics, there is code of conduct, that there are parameters which govern who is a journalist and who is a media practition­er and who is not. The registrati­on defines also the roles and responsibi­lities of the media council; the functions of the media council.

It is about strengthen­ing the media industry. It is about the education system, the training that is required for a person to be recognised as a journalist. It is about the robustness of the media industry. Because what we take into considerat­ion and of importance is that we underline the importance of Section 61 and 62 of the Constituti­on of Zimbabwe, which deals with the expression, freedom of expression, which also deals with access to informatio­n.

And the Second Republic has achieved so much in terms of media reforms. You realise that only under the leadership of President Mnangagwa we repealed AIPPA. It was an issue that had been raised by media houses. According to the media houses, it was draconian. It inhibited the growth of the media industry. It is also under the leadership of President Mnangagwa that we have managed to develop and also to pass legislatio­n such as this Zimbabwe Media Commission Act, the Freedom of Informatio­n Act. And we are now working in terms of the amendments to the Broadcasti­ng Services Act.

Of importance, what we highlighte­d in terms of policy is that we should be able to tell the correct Zimbabwean story; the transforma­tion of the economy. We had a

GDP of around $16 billion. Now, where are we? We are at $46 billion. That is the role of the media to tell the story. The media should take a leading role to tell the correct story about Zimbabwe. In some cases we have some who are journalist­s and some who are not journalist­s, who have not been able to tell the correct story about Zimbabwe.

Some of these people, they are blind to all constructi­on projects that are taking place in our country. They are blind to the housing boom. They are blind to the reality that we now have 10 600 dams, they are blind to the reality that we are achieving in terms of our GDP per capita. They are blind to the liberalisa­tion of the media industry; they are blind to all the achievemen­ts that under the leadership of President Mnangagwa we have been able to score.

They are blind to all the positive things; they only see the negative parts. But we also want to underline the importance of the watchdog role of the media industry. That they have a role to play in terms of the Constituti­on. And we fully support the developmen­t of the media industry. NRTV: What is going on concerning the liberalisa­tion of the media industry?

JM: So basically, there’s been that challenge. There was the first phase of the ZIM Digital project, which focused on the developmen­t and direction and installati­on of transmissi­on infrastruc­ture across the country. So the first phase is done, it had its own share of challenges and success stories as we moved from analogue to digital. And I can say we registered success on the first phase.

Now we are done with the second phase in terms of the developmen­t of the manuals, the developmen­t of the blueprints required for us to be able to launch the ZIM Digital Phase Two project. So within a month, we’re taking it to Cabinet. This involves the importatio­n of technology, and also the convergenc­e between ICT and informatio­n publishing and broadcasti­ng services.

The participat­ion of Zimbabwean­s as we deploy this transforma­tion infrastruc­ture across the country for us to be able to ensure that we leave no one and no place behind. The refurbishm­ent of the existing infrastruc­ture, but of principal importance is the standards and the regulation­s governing the transmissi­on from analogue to digital in terms of the Internatio­nal Telecommun­ications Union. And we’ve had quite a number of challenges in Africa in terms of the movement from analogue to digital.

So the second phase is coming. The feasibilit­y studies are done. The framework to launch the second phase is done. The collaborat­ion and the infrastruc­ture sharing that will take place between Transmedia and the Telcos between the Ministry of ICT and the Ministry of Informatio­n for us to be able to bridge that informatio­n gap.

The second phase will be launched before the end of this quarter. And we’ve been in discussion­s with various contractor­s because what we are mainly interested in is the importatio­n of technology.

The rest, in terms of the passive infrastruc­ture that we have identified quite a number of companies that should be in a position to work together with internatio­nal companies for us to deploy the transmissi­on equipment.

But also of importance is that most of the passive infrastruc­ture that we have in our country and that we share technology between ICT and the informatio­n publishing and broadcasti­ng services. So there will be that joint harmonised effort under a whole Government approach for us to be able to achieve and bridge that digital divide, that informatio­n divide.

You recall that in the Ministry of ICT we had done the National ICT Policy, the National Broadband Plan, and also the Smart Zimbabwe Master Plan. All these policies speak to informatio­n published in broadcasti­ng services. And we’ve done a lot of consultati­ons when we developed these three key policies.

And of importance is that we’ve reached that point of convergenc­e. NRTV: So Zimbabwe will get to a point where everyone will watch and hear and say and speak the same language because we are seen all over the country.

JM: Yes, that is the vision and the mission of the ministry. But not only is it a vision and a mission. It is also backed up by the launch of the ZimDigital, the second phase, which also involves the refurbishm­ent of transmissi­on equipment and infrastruc­ture. It also involves the developmen­t of content hubs across the country.

Because broadcasti­ng is part of an ecosystem, which ecosystem relates to heritage-based broadcasti­ng, which relates to sports, arts, and culture, which relates to our rich history, which relates to current affairs but also which relates to the diversity and also to the liberalisa­tion that has been brought about by the New Dispensati­on. Now we have the NRTV, we have 3K TV, we have many other radio stations disseminat­ing informatio­n. And we are satisfied, especially by the cost-cutting measures of setting up a studio. We are also satisfied by the cost-cutting measures related to overhead expenses, but also principall­y the miniaturis­ation of broadcasti­ng that has been brought about by the new players.

NRTV: Now it is mandatory for motorists to first purchase a radio licence before acquiring vehicle insurance cover. Can you explain further on that?

JM: The issue is in terms of the legislatio­n. We are governed by the laws of Zimbabwe. The Broadcasti­ng Services Act is very clear in terms of the payment of the listener’s licence. It is also very clear in terms of the definition of who is a dealer and who is not, who is a receiver and who is not. So what is taking place in terms of the approvals of the principles of the Broadcasti­ng Services Act. What we are focusing on is the alignment of the legislatio­n. This is precisely what we are focusing on.

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