News / National
Prof Jonathan Moyo blames the media
23 Jan 2015 at 06:11hrs | Views
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has taken a swipe at the media for failing to inform the public about political developments in Zimbabwe.
Prof Moyo was addressing students of Joint Command and Staff Course Number 28 at the Zimbabwe Staff College in Harare yesterday. The lecture was on the country's political environment.
Prof Moyo said the political environment of any country was defined by quarrels of the moment, which tended to grip the national imagination.
"Normally, these quarrels are reflected and covered by the media so that if you want to know the political environment of any country, you look at the topical issues as they find their expression in the media," said Prof Moyo.
"If you were in a normal situation, you would then have kind of developed a picture or some understanding of what the political class is quarrelling about in our country and from that you would have been able to glean the issues of the moment and the characteristic features of our political environment.
"But if you have done that, if you have exposed yourself to our media, I am sure you would have been very disappointed because our media does not reflect our quarrels as a country in a manner that is informative.
"Most of the time our media reflects what some political players behind media houses would like the public to know as opposed to letting the public know what is going on."
Prof Moyo said that was the deficiency that the media in Zimbabwe suffered, which was a general expression of the country's political environment.
"We have a media that is practically useless. If you rely on it for information about the state of the country, you will be by choice putting yourself among the ignorant, you won't know what is going on by reading the media," said Prof Moyo.
He said because of the media's failure to grasp and reflect the country's political environment, Zimbabweans had to look elsewhere for information, itself a major indictment on the media.
Prof Moyo was addressing students of Joint Command and Staff Course Number 28 at the Zimbabwe Staff College in Harare yesterday. The lecture was on the country's political environment.
Prof Moyo said the political environment of any country was defined by quarrels of the moment, which tended to grip the national imagination.
"Normally, these quarrels are reflected and covered by the media so that if you want to know the political environment of any country, you look at the topical issues as they find their expression in the media," said Prof Moyo.
"If you were in a normal situation, you would then have kind of developed a picture or some understanding of what the political class is quarrelling about in our country and from that you would have been able to glean the issues of the moment and the characteristic features of our political environment.
"Most of the time our media reflects what some political players behind media houses would like the public to know as opposed to letting the public know what is going on."
Prof Moyo said that was the deficiency that the media in Zimbabwe suffered, which was a general expression of the country's political environment.
"We have a media that is practically useless. If you rely on it for information about the state of the country, you will be by choice putting yourself among the ignorant, you won't know what is going on by reading the media," said Prof Moyo.
He said because of the media's failure to grasp and reflect the country's political environment, Zimbabweans had to look elsewhere for information, itself a major indictment on the media.
Source - the herald
