Cleansing of the police force an irresponsible reporting

Journalism based on gossip or rumors is treasonous and capable of causing an upheaval in the country. It is a form of "terrorism" and media that stereotype entire populations or foment fear of the government are acting destructively. Those who forward messages which are not verified and present gossip as fact a the course of despondence. They indeed should be charged and locked away.

The social media was awash with rumors of 3000 security officers fired. The aim was malicious reckless, negligent and to say the  least irresponsible.

The reason for such behavior was to ferment fear and spread disunity in the security forces. Social media was thriving on rumors.
reporters had to go the extra mile to seek the truth, particularly in an age of round-the-clock news coverage. Zimbabweans must learn to depart from rumors. 

Spreading rumors is an example of "terrorism, of how you can kill a person with your pen. This is even more true for journalists because their voice can reach everyone and this is a very powerful weapon.  Verifying the truth before you publish it is noble and indeed patriotic.  

In Zimbabwe a number of newspapers are highly politicized and are regularly used to discredit those with differing political views, sometimes reporting unsubstantiated rumors about their private lives.

This time the issue of senior officers being fired was beyond the reasonable standard of reporting.

Social media has no regards to the individuals it messes up. The press had said Deputy Commissioner General Matibiri and Three thousand others were fired. The list included Police Spokes person and a number of others. The nation was told that there is great animosity between the police and the army and the intelligence.  Such lies go to the fabrics of national security and the childish attention seekers should be put in line.

In Mugabe's era several media outlets came under fire for partisan reporting. In a stroke of change the private media came out defensing the other faction against the other. The aim was to destroy the party they almost succeeded. The private owned press gave the Cabal more space. While balanced reporting is the expectation of the journalist fraternity the press seemed to have lost its clout to social media.

The suprising thing is that the press relies on the unedited social media for news. This has destroyed the nature of reporting.
The facts. Are clearly that only eleven officers were retired. Matibiri escaped the axe. The mentioning of aome names was done with malice.
The stories were filled with insinuations about the relationship of the police and the army. To an extend of saying the whole police force has been placed under the army. Such reporting lacks maturity.

Journalism should not be used as a "weapon of destruction against persons and even entire peoples". It should not be used to destroy Zimbabwe. It mist be a uniting factor a uniting force.

"Neither should it foment fear before events like forced retirements of officers.  
We have suffered enough as a country, this time we need constructive reporting.

We bled under the sharp painful jaws of the bad publicity. We should not allow this to happen to us as a country again.
Social media addicts must be addicted responsibly.

People requested for a shack up in the police force. Now its happening they start peddling lies.  

Vazet2000@yahoo.co.uk