Govt officials to be forced to explain policy issues to media

President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba has revealed plans to create a media services department to "convince and in some cases force" government officials to appear in the media explaining government policy.

Speaking at a recent radio interview, Charamba said government officials needed to get out of the thinking that they were doing the media a favour when approached to talk about matters of policy.

"We need to get out of the thinking, and I am making a general point here, that appearing before the media is a favour to the media, it isn't.

"The media is an institution of bringing yourself to account in terms of your role to society to that society so you must see it as an obligation, as a requirement and you must see it infact as a favour extended to you, come to think of it 13 million strong, only Charamba has been asked to be on this programme tonight, why am I so blessed," Charamba said.

"And this is the orientation, but you see, it is a spill over from the 80's when we thought the media was inferior, adversarial and that it was a pest, we have to move beyond that because perceptions are the essence of reality in the 12st century and without the media, there is no way you can manufacture perceptions so we are losing the war of persuasion."

Charamba said he wished that government officials were not evasive when approached by the media.

"There is one habit which I really would want the whole of government to get out of, it is evasive for an official when confronted by a journalist to say put your questions in writing, that is wrong. You do not run your home by putting things in writing, you are doing a public duty and that public want to know what is happening and then suddenly there a precondition to know what is happening," he said.