Rampant sexual harassment in Zimbabwe's newsrooms

THERE is rampant sexual harassment in Zimbabwe's newsrooms, journalists from both the public and private media attending a Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) workshop in Bulawayo on Thursday.

In a poll conducted by ZUJ at the workshop attended by 40 journalists, the scribes revealed that senior male journalists were increasingly preying on their female counterparts, particularly interns.

Out of the ballots cast, 99% admitted to the rampancy of sexual exploitation in the newsrooms. The participants said most of the cases either went unreported or unattended for fear of victimisation.

"It has been brought to our attention that there is a lot of sexual harassment in the newsrooms and it is left undercover for fear of victimisation. Most of the people affected by this are the junior journalists who still want to explore the industry," ZUJ secretary-general Foster Dongozi said.

Other issues discussed in the workshop included the safety of newsrooms and laws that affect the work of journalists.

Some journalists said they were unhappy with their working environments.

"Our working environment is not conducive and at times we have to walk to carry out assignments or beg our sources to provide transport, which results in us writing biased stories," one journalist said.