Opinion / Columnist
Govt must liberalise airwaves for development
28 Jul 2022 at 01:36hrs | Views
A FREE Press is essential in holding those in power accountable.
The Press is a tool that can be used in connecting and building nations.
It is the Press which exposed Willowgate, Salarygate, Chiadzwagate and recently the Pomonagate, hence the media is a powerful tool that can be used to combat corruption.
Journalists have done a lot of work around exposing human rights violations from Gukurahundi, the violent land reform, the 2008 sham election run-off, events of August 1, 2018 and those of January 2019.
However, we lament the curtailing of a free Press by the failed Zanu-PF government. On several occasions, journalists have been thrown in jail after exposing corruption. Draconian laws have enacted.
The Zanu-PF government is rushing the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill for the same reasons.
There are attempts to capture and corrupt the media, a systematic effort to decimate diverse views, opinion and freedom of expression.
The airwaves are a monopoly of the State and those linked to it.
We believe there is need for independent community radio stations to help educate the communities they service. A community radio station in Manicaland would have done a lot in educating the people around Cyclone Idai, as an example.
We salute all the journalists who continue to do their work under adverse conditions and in the face of hostility.
The Press is a tool that can be used in connecting and building nations.
It is the Press which exposed Willowgate, Salarygate, Chiadzwagate and recently the Pomonagate, hence the media is a powerful tool that can be used to combat corruption.
Journalists have done a lot of work around exposing human rights violations from Gukurahundi, the violent land reform, the 2008 sham election run-off, events of August 1, 2018 and those of January 2019.
However, we lament the curtailing of a free Press by the failed Zanu-PF government. On several occasions, journalists have been thrown in jail after exposing corruption. Draconian laws have enacted.
There are attempts to capture and corrupt the media, a systematic effort to decimate diverse views, opinion and freedom of expression.
The airwaves are a monopoly of the State and those linked to it.
We believe there is need for independent community radio stations to help educate the communities they service. A community radio station in Manicaland would have done a lot in educating the people around Cyclone Idai, as an example.
We salute all the journalists who continue to do their work under adverse conditions and in the face of hostility.
Source - NewsDay Zimbabwe
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