'There's a good story to tell'

Remarks by the Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe to editors in Harare last week.

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Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to this briefing session, our first in many such meetings with editors we envisage this year.

We are meeting towards the tail-end of the first quarter of the year when ideally we should have met much earlier than this to work on our shared common vision for the year.

I am naturally going to raise issues with you regarding our industry which I feel require editorial attention.

Similarly, I am expecting you to raise issues which affect your profession that you want to draw my attention to so that my ministry addresses them to enable you to perform better your functional role as watchdog on behalf of our society.

Let us arrive at some common understanding about how we should complement each other's efforts in furtherance of multi-faceted obligations as information and media practitioners towards defending and advancing the national interest, promoting national unity, peace and sovereignty.

We are meeting against the background of a very good rainy season which bodes well for our country's agriculture, power generation and water bodies for our sustenance and that of our vegetation and fauna.

All indications point to a bumper maize crop this year which, surely, is good news for us as a country because it means that Zimbabwe will not be importing maize this year.

In fact, we are poised to export surplus maize this year, a feat which has eluded us for the past two decades due to external factors we are all familiar with including perennial droughts and the imposition of illegal sanctions against our country.

The good news is that any maize exports will contribute to both foreign currency earnings for the country and foreign currency savings as government will no longer be compelled to import maize and other cereals which have done well this year. We are closer to regaining our lost status as the breadbasket of the sub-region.

What a good story we have to share with our own people and to share with the rest of the world!

The combination of both good rains and the agricultural skills which our farmers have acquired and sharpened over time, vindicates the country's land reform programme.

It debunks the myth that the land acquisition policy which enabled Government to reclaim land – our land – from the few white colonial settlers and giving it back to its rightful owners, killed our agriculture.

Land restitution was meant to correct a historical colonial grievance of land disenfranchisement for the Africans and empowering indigenous Zimbabweans as owners of their land.

That policy is beginning to bear fruit and the results from the tobacco sector and now maize sector bear ample testimony to the efficacy of that policy decision.

And I say to you as editors, there is a good story to tell the nation and the outside world which you cannot afford to ignore.

I hope you recall what I said the last time we met in this very boardroom when I shared with you my vision of an unfettered media in Zimbabwe.

I challenged both media proprietors and our journalists to defend and grow their industry through responsible and professional behaviour which responds to the dictates of safeguarding and promoting the national interest.

Your industry cannot clamour for self-regulation if it fails repeatedly the test of patriotism and valour.

I have heard some journalists claim that they were patriotic citizens like everybody else but often wondered why they went out of their way to harm the national interest through their propensity to churn negative stories about Zimbabwe which bring grief to the country and its citizens.

Bad publicity about our country does not help anyone at all both friend and foe.

It hurts our economy and when the economy suffers, all Zimbabweans without distinction suffer from economic hardships as we are currently experiencing.

The consequences of sanctions visit us all.

Why do our newsrooms have a propensity to ignore the positive stories that are unfolding in our country today such as the agricultural story I have made reference to earlier on?

Is it because they don't see value in reporting such positive developments or is it the result of poor training that has failed to capacitate our journalists to generate positive copy?

I have challenged our journalists before to read the country's Constitution which spells out not only their role and privileges as journalists but also the expectations of society regarding the role of the media as watchdog.

The Constitution gives quite a comprehensive list of what constitutes national interest which includes the following concerns: the sanctity of our independence and national sovereignty; our right to self-determination; national unity and the indivisibility of Zimbabwe; national security; sensitivity to our economic interests; our right to our natural resources; promotion and preservation of our cultural values and practices; justice; empowerment and of course, democracy.

I am drawing your attention to this because I have noticed that our media has suffered a relapse which requires remedial attention.

It is failing to discharge its cardinal role of informing, educating and entertaining the nation. Regrettably, we have drifted back to the state where we were in 2008 and 2013 when the media became polarised, too divided to qualify as a coherent industry and profession.

The media has been caught up once again in the campaign mode and this time against the backdrop of the 2018 general elections.

Sadly, we are beginning to see schisms in our media reflecting the schisms in our poisoned political environment.

Our journalists have become embeds in one political party or another and much worse, caught up in factional fights among our political parties.

Why are we doing that to ourselves and to our noble profession?

We are doing a disservice to our nation and disgracing our profession. We are short-changing society by denying it real news.

Our sense of news is no longer about reality on the ground but our own sense of reality based on where we stand with respect to the political developments in our country.

In the process we have departed from our mandate as journalists who ensure free expression and the free flow of information.

We have become news ourselves thus undermining our watchdog role as members of the fourth estate.

I have called you therefore to this meeting as editors to challenge you to reconstruct the role of the media in this country especially as we head towards the 2018 harmonised elections as a bona fide fourth estate which can be relied upon to play its watchdog role in our society.

I don't distinguish between the so-called private and public media.

To me, your role as journalists is to serve the public in its generality and I want to help you do just that. And that is why from the outset when I joined this ministry, I told you that I operate an open door policy.

You are welcome to my office to consult me on matters of Government policy which you want clarified for you so that you are enabled to discharge your duties without hindrance.

Steer clear of being political embeds because you are bound to get hurt or caught up in crossfire. You will become fair game once you are identified with any political party or politician.

I notice that some among you have fallen into this trap and are finding it difficult to extricate themselves.

If you are a recipient of the 'brown envelope' know that there is a heavy price to pay professionally. You get compromised and when you have been abused and are no longer useful you will be spitted out and even exposed.

I am aware that these things are happening among some of you and I am warning you to desist from this unprofessional and unethical conduct.

Don't delve into politics, it is not your area. You don't belong there if you are a journalist. You belong to the newsroom. Let the politicians fight their own political battles without involving yourselves.

Your focus should remain on the ball, defending the national interest and I want to repeat this ad infinitum.

You haven't run out of stories to write about.

There is a lot that is happening in our country as a result of the steps that Government has taken under Zim-Asset.

You should be unpacking for the nation the positive developments that are taking place in our economy right now which give hope to our people that indeed our economy is on the recovery path. Let us desist from relying upon false economists and bookish economics to deride our economic policies.

Things are happening on the ground and you only need to visit all the clusters under Zim-Asset to appreciate that there is activity on the ground.

Our people will not know about these activities if you don't write or talk about them. A cursory glance at the performance of the clusters under Zim-Asset tells us a positive story.

Under the Food Security and Nutrition cluster you situate agriculture and the command programme. Under the infrastructure and Utilities cluster there is a story to tell around transport infrastructure (road rehabilitation and dualisation of the national highways, expansion and rehabilitation of airports and border posts), agriculture infrastructure (irrigation systems rehabilitation and dam construction), energy and power supply projects (Kariba Power Station and Hwange Power Station expansion programmes, Gairezi Hydro Power plant, Binga, Lisulu and Batoka power projects).

There are projects under the Value Addition and Beneficiation cluster and the Social Services and Poverty Eradication cluster as well.

So really, we have no excuse for not writing positive stories about our country.

As we highlight these positive developments taking place in our country, not only will it inspire our people to take an active interest in them but it will also catch the attention of the outside world, particularly the investor.

It is our role as journalists to tell the Zimbabwean story. No outsider will do that for us and together we can do it.

I thank you.