News / National
NewsDay Editor suspended over claims 'Mugabe offered Tsvangirai VP post'
02 Sep 2013 at 19:21hrs | Views
Owners of the NewsDay newspaper - Alpha Media Holdings - have suspended the paper's editor for allegedly failing to conform to "set ethical values".
Constantine Chimakure was suspended with immediate effect Friday, following the publication of two stories last week, which were later refuted.
On Wednesday one story claimed that President Robert Mugabe had offered MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai the vice presidency, and on Thursday another report said former SA president Thabo Mbeki had slammed Zimbabwe's land reform programme.
But both Tsvangirai and Mbeki denied the reports. On Friday Mbeki's office said the NewsDay had falsified the former premier's statements from a public lecture.
Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said: "With regard to Zimbabwe's land reform process, former president Mbeki said that though SADC agreed with the Zimbabwean government about the imperative for land reform, it did not agree with the manner in which the process was carried out. He added that this agreement notwithstanding, the land reform process in Zimbabwe has proved successful."
Ratshitanga accused the NewsDay of communicating "falsehoods" to "achieve particular political ends".
Also on Friday, MDC-T leader Tsvangirai posted a message on the party's Facebook Wall saying: "I am aware of reports circulating that I have been offered a post as Vice President in a new cabinet. Those reports are false. The fact is I am not talking to anyone about the possibility of joining a government which the majority of Zimbabweans consider as illegitimate."
Tsvangirai's rebuttal came after the story, written by three reporters, quoted senior MDC-T official Solomon Madzore as saying the MDC-T leader had been offered the VP post, among other offers made to the party's think-tanks by ZANU PF.
Announcing Chimakure's suspension, the group's editor-in-chief Vincent Kahiya said the move was meant to facilitate a probe into the "ethical infractions".
"We feel the stories fell short of the basic journalistic standards set in our ethics guidelines; How we put accuracy to the test, the AMH Code of Ethics and the AMH Pledge whose tenets are fundamental to our operations," said Kahiya.
Freelance reporter Itai Dzamara said the circumstances surrounding Chimakure's suspension highlight the need for journalists to constantly review their conduct in relation to set codes and ethics.
"So at first glance, it is a credit to AMH that they have such mechanisms in place and that they have taken such a measure to address any breaches.
"But in my experiences, I don't think the two cited stories can be said to constitute journalism treason. With the Mbeki story, the issue being raised is that of context, and that can be sometimes misunderstood."
On the VP story, Dzamara said there was nothing new in the NewsDay report, as "both ZANU PF and MDC-T officials were at the forefront of fuelling the claims".
Dzamara added that there was a tendency by some individuals to give out details to either deliberately feed journalists with false information or say something only to turn around and deny it later.
"Without appearing to be exonerating any inaccuracies, if at all, the VP story started circulating just after the elections. And if the reporters concerned followed this up and tried to verify it with the relevant people as the story suggests they did, then they cannot be faulted for the misinformation given to them," said Dzamara.
Dzamara said he will not be surprised if it turns out that Tsvangirai had indeed been offered the position, despite the protestations. He called for more openness and less secrecy to enable journalists to rely less on rumour and speculation.
"Discussions that led to the formation of the unity government in 2008 were similarly shrouded in secrecy and characterised by denials, to the extent that journalists had to rely on speculation. So something is definitely going on here."
He added: "For the last 14 years or so, Zimbabwean journalists have been operating in a very challenging media environment where access to information has been made very difficult, not least of all because of the stringent media laws."
Also commenting on the vice presidency story, Bekithemba Mhlanga posted on Chimakure's Facebook Wall: "It's no big secret that there are behind the scenes discussions. The fact they have not been confirmed or are still cloak and dagger stuff does not mean they cannot be reported."
Constantine Chimakure was suspended with immediate effect Friday, following the publication of two stories last week, which were later refuted.
On Wednesday one story claimed that President Robert Mugabe had offered MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai the vice presidency, and on Thursday another report said former SA president Thabo Mbeki had slammed Zimbabwe's land reform programme.
But both Tsvangirai and Mbeki denied the reports. On Friday Mbeki's office said the NewsDay had falsified the former premier's statements from a public lecture.
Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said: "With regard to Zimbabwe's land reform process, former president Mbeki said that though SADC agreed with the Zimbabwean government about the imperative for land reform, it did not agree with the manner in which the process was carried out. He added that this agreement notwithstanding, the land reform process in Zimbabwe has proved successful."
Ratshitanga accused the NewsDay of communicating "falsehoods" to "achieve particular political ends".
Also on Friday, MDC-T leader Tsvangirai posted a message on the party's Facebook Wall saying: "I am aware of reports circulating that I have been offered a post as Vice President in a new cabinet. Those reports are false. The fact is I am not talking to anyone about the possibility of joining a government which the majority of Zimbabweans consider as illegitimate."
Tsvangirai's rebuttal came after the story, written by three reporters, quoted senior MDC-T official Solomon Madzore as saying the MDC-T leader had been offered the VP post, among other offers made to the party's think-tanks by ZANU PF.
Announcing Chimakure's suspension, the group's editor-in-chief Vincent Kahiya said the move was meant to facilitate a probe into the "ethical infractions".
"We feel the stories fell short of the basic journalistic standards set in our ethics guidelines; How we put accuracy to the test, the AMH Code of Ethics and the AMH Pledge whose tenets are fundamental to our operations," said Kahiya.
Freelance reporter Itai Dzamara said the circumstances surrounding Chimakure's suspension highlight the need for journalists to constantly review their conduct in relation to set codes and ethics.
"So at first glance, it is a credit to AMH that they have such mechanisms in place and that they have taken such a measure to address any breaches.
"But in my experiences, I don't think the two cited stories can be said to constitute journalism treason. With the Mbeki story, the issue being raised is that of context, and that can be sometimes misunderstood."
On the VP story, Dzamara said there was nothing new in the NewsDay report, as "both ZANU PF and MDC-T officials were at the forefront of fuelling the claims".
Dzamara added that there was a tendency by some individuals to give out details to either deliberately feed journalists with false information or say something only to turn around and deny it later.
"Without appearing to be exonerating any inaccuracies, if at all, the VP story started circulating just after the elections. And if the reporters concerned followed this up and tried to verify it with the relevant people as the story suggests they did, then they cannot be faulted for the misinformation given to them," said Dzamara.
Dzamara said he will not be surprised if it turns out that Tsvangirai had indeed been offered the position, despite the protestations. He called for more openness and less secrecy to enable journalists to rely less on rumour and speculation.
"Discussions that led to the formation of the unity government in 2008 were similarly shrouded in secrecy and characterised by denials, to the extent that journalists had to rely on speculation. So something is definitely going on here."
He added: "For the last 14 years or so, Zimbabwean journalists have been operating in a very challenging media environment where access to information has been made very difficult, not least of all because of the stringent media laws."
Also commenting on the vice presidency story, Bekithemba Mhlanga posted on Chimakure's Facebook Wall: "It's no big secret that there are behind the scenes discussions. The fact they have not been confirmed or are still cloak and dagger stuff does not mean they cannot be reported."
Source - SW Radio
