Media reforms a necessity
WHEN the editorin-chief of Alpha Media Holdings and my erstwhile colleague Wisdom Mdzungairi telephoned me the other day requesting that I write a piece for
NewsDay’s 10th anniversary as the publication’s former editor, I felt humbled and overwhelmed.
I replied: “Aye Aye Captain. With pleasure!”
Since the coming on board of the new dispensation led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the media is no longer on the spot at the first flicker of harbour lights.
The new focus and paradigm shift brings with it a welcome change.
The media terrain has desisted from being a battle and minefield fraught with wounded media hangmen who were bent on bludgeoning Press freedom, freedom of expression, free flow of information and desperate to exercise their attenuated and perceived powers to make an impression.
One can only describe the previous style of governance as intolerant evidenced by the wholesale arrests, harassment, detentions, and closure of publications.
However, that horrendous and frightful era which is synonymous with a holocaust and sought to gag the media and feed the nation with humdrum ratios of meaningless propaganda is now a thing of the past.
There is no doubt in my mind that there now exist renewed confidence in media practitioners epitomised by media briefings after every Cabinet meeting and media reforms.
The Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa has already achieved in replacing the dreadful and draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) with the Freedom of Information Act.
Aippa, which has been repeatedly condemned as a reactionary law, threw landmines in the path of media practitioners and by any stretch of imagination has no place in a democratic and civilised society.
The Information ministry is also spearheading efforts to come up with the Protection of Personal Information Act and the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act.
Again, a welcome development!
And all of this is being done in consultation with all stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability.
To quote the Information minister: “What the new dispensation wants is a free and vibrant Press to underpin and propel the vision of a new and prosperous Zimbabwe. The Second Republic that began in November 2017, under the visionary leadership of Mnangagwa, committed itself to broaden and deepen democracy in the country. To that end, government committed itself to improve governance. The media is one such governance sector.”
And true to her words, media reforms are taking place and shape.
Kudos to media practitioners for relentlessly advocating for media freedoms and expression and kudos to the new dispensation for lending an ear and acting positively.
All stakeholders’ efforts did not fall on stony ground.
I began my editorship at NewsDay in 2010. My task was to take the paper to greater heights, educating, entertaining and informing the nation. And I am proud to say the mission of this high-pressure job with a precarious tenure was completed.
Within months of my editorship, the paper’s circulation rose phenomenally from a mere 10 000 copies a day to a record 50 000 copies daily.
However, it was not easy getting there. It needed the passion, dedication, support and the will of all on board. And to increase our circulation and remain true to the leitmotif of Everyday News for Everyday People, we made sure all hands were on deck.
We also kicked off the Southern
Eye which grew phenomenally resonating with the expectations of the inhabitants of the southern region whose voices needed to be heard.
I worked with fabulous, amazing and extremely courageous journalists. After a few months of my editorship, here is what some of the scribes at NewsDay had to say:
• Ropafadzo Mapimhidze
(then features editor): I have been accorded unlimited space to express gender issues. I have been astonished by the exceptional growth that NewsDay has experienced since it hit the streets on June 4 2010).
• Veneranda Langa (senior parliamentary reporter): . . . working under the watchful eyes of NewsDay editors gave me the confidence and competence I needed to be where I am today. I am now very confident and proud to be in the
NewsDay team that has made the paper a big success.
• Moses Matenga (staff reporter): I am so proud to be part of this great and innovative project that gives me inspiration to work harder at news gathering.
• Eunice Kadiki (then senior subeditor): While most Zimbabweans stayed up late to watch the matches (World Cup soccer matches), NewsDay subs (journalism language for sub-editors) stayed up late to ensure there was copy on the streets with the results the following morning.
• Tangai Chipangura (founding news editor): The rules were and remain clear — you are either in for NewsDay 100% or you are not at all. Tinashe Sibanda (then staff reporter): Working for NewsDay proved to be a life-changing experience which moulded, groomed and strengthened me into a very strong and confident person.
Awesome testimonies I must say. I am proud to say that when I left NewsDay, I left the publication relevant, resonating with the masses and not careless about facts.
This success was dependent on enthusiastic contribution of all on board. I would like to congratulate the chairman of Alpha
Media Holdings, publishers of NewsDay, Zimbabwe Independent, The Standard, Trevor Ncube, editorin-chief Wisdom Mdzungairi, all NewsDay journalists and the entire AMH staff for being resilient and for a job well done.
And I am as sure as the sun rises from the east and sets in the west that the existing team will continue to burn the midnight oil and continue making an indelible mark on the media landscape. I wax lyrical that NewsDay has a formidable team as the flame continues to burn. NewsDay has earned its place on the media landscape rising from the ashes and rubble of a sustained official ant-free Press, scorched-earth blizzard, emerging as front runner to a slow, steady, painstaking, proliferation of media players.
Brian Mangwende is former editor of NewsDay, an award-winning and renowned media practitioner, former board member of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa-Zimbabwe Chapter), former chairman of the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum and former acting secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists. He writes here in his personal capacity.