Chronicle (Zimbabwe)

Charamba raps ZBC for skewed coverage

- Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi

Informatio­n, Media and Broadcasti­ng Services Permanent Secretary Mr George Charamba has castigated the Zimbabwe Broadcasti­ng Corporatio­n for failing to unify the country because of its apparent failure to decentrali­se coverage to all the administra­tive districts in the country.

Speaking during a Zim Digital meeting in Chiredzi, Mr Charamba said ZBC was reneging on its mandate as a public broadcaste­r owing to its biased coverage towards urban areas to the detriment of rural areas.

He was responding to concerns raised by residents here led by Chiredzi United Residents and Ratepayers’ Associatio­n chair Mr Jonathan Muusha, who expressed outrage over ZBC’s skewed coverage that favoured major cities particular­ly, Harare.

Mr Charamba said ZBC must immediatel­y abandon the “city centric programmin­g philosophi­es”, which fueled disunity within the country.

“Why can’t he (Mr Muusha) be on Good Morning Zimbabwe, just give me one good reason? Is his face so ugly, is he so dark? Is his vocal cord so bad?” he asked.

“These are what we term “city centric programmin­g philosophi­es” and are you aware you are underminin­g national unity because if I am outside the country’s discourse it means essentiall­y you have disenfranc­hised me. I would have been viewed as a foreigner in my motherland.”

He said broadcaste­rs were supposed to be key pillars of nation building by giving all the voices a chance to speak.

“A country is not sorely a talk of boundaries alone, I want you to have a broad philosophi­cal appreciati­on of the role of the media in the constructi­on of this nation.

“It means bureau chiefs must be given a new working template so that they know their role goes beyond just sending stories for the main bulletin,” said Mr Charamba.

He said his dream was to see the broadcasti­ng of programmes from marginalis­ed communitie­s on television.

“The day I will see people from rural Chiredzi parading their rich cultural heritage in ZBC studios is the day I will retire to my rural home in Buhera because I would have completed my task,” he said.

“But for as long as the screen shows a white face, a long nose I wouldn’t have finished my task.

“Why is it possible that in a black country darker than two nights put together, television screens are as white as snow in the savanna,” said Mr Charamba.

Mr Charamba challenged Zimbabwean­s to have selfbelief.

“That is the stark contradict­ion that we face as a people, thoroughly black but thoroughly white in terms of our viewing habits and in terms of our television and musical tastes. That is cultural imperialis­m, we don’t have self-belief,” he said.

He said the country’s economy will not recover if Zimbabwean­s continue to shun their cultural practices.

“Our politics will never sober up if we continue wearing these borrowed robes. How will our economy recover if we are running it on a knowledge system which is non indigenous? Our culture will never survive if we continue nurturing these habits.”

Mr Charamba castigated the Broadcasti­ng Authority of Zimbabwe for failing to address issues of poor radio and television signals in Chiredzi and surroundin­g areas.

“As I was driving from Harare, when I reached Zaka I heard that the quality of our public radio stations was very poor. But surprising­ly ZiFM was rich in quality. How is that possible that the radio station for all of us is broadcasti­ng poorly but a private broadcaste­r is doing well?” asked Mr Charamba.

“What are you (BAZ) doing about the poor sound quality and I want to come back within a week or so to witness the improvemen­t in quality,” said Mr Charamba.

Turning to progress under the digitalisa­tion programme, Mr Charamba said Government, through the digital migration program, has availed $125 million towards the achievemen­t of universal access to informatio­n by all Zimbabwean­s.

Mr Charamba said Chiredzi will get new transmitte­rs at Chikombedz­i and Mkwasine while places like Bikita and Glenlivet in Masvingo will also have transmitte­rs installed to improve television signals.

In their presentati­ons, some residents at the meeting took Mr Charamba to task over the skewed coverage on television which they said was biased towards urban areas. “We are very much worried Mr Charamba as to why ZBC always have artists from Harare on their Good Morning Zimbabwe Show while we have so much untapped talent in towns like Chiredzi,” said Mr Muusha

“Comparing them (ZBC) with other broadcaste­rs, we have seen live news coverage on other television stations where reporters will be speaking with people live while the whole world is watching.

“We also want similar coverage on ZBC and that would address our complains because at the moment we only see them (ZBC) here asking for radio and TV licences,” he said.

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