By Takunda Mandura
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation television channel on the 4th of April 2016 misled the nation after a story which was covered by Judith Makwanya went live on air on the 8pm news bulletin with the picture of the famous Tezvara (Peter Mudavanhu) which was photoshoped being next to iconic heroine Mbuya Nehanda.
Mudavanhu became popular in 2015 via social media platforms such as Whats App and Facebook when he attended a wedding wearing his shorts. The picture on him went viral when he was photoshoped with famous celebrities and standing at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) has expressed its discontentment with ZBC TV archives questioning the seriousness of the state broadcaster.
“Very sad our national television cannot get their visuals right.We were surprised to note that of all Mbuya Nehanda picture in their archives they found it necessary to show the one which was photoshoped ,” read the post.
Some interviews carried by ZimSentinel saw people denouncing the state broadcaster as they regarded it as an insult to the iconic heroine, Mbuya Nehanda and other liberation heroes.
One citizen had this to say “It shows lack of seriousness by ZBC, if there was competition they would verify news before airing it out. It is an insult considering what ‘Tezvara’ has achieved and Mbuya Nehanda has done for the country they stand at opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Journalists should worry about the authenticity of photos as the age of internet has brought Photoshop which has become an issue of great concern to the media fraternity as it has its roles of informing, educating and entertaining the public.