Much has been said recently about the current quality of journalism inZimbabwe. The Information and Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) findings attest to concerns raised by the public about the quality that it has gone down to the gutter.

The matter has been reignited after two stories by the Newsday attracted an acerbic attack from the government through Professor Jonathan Moyo. Firstly, the Newsday was forced to retract a story after the paper reported that cabinet wasn’t sitting because of President Mugabe’s persistent
travelling bringing the government to a halt. The second story concerned President Robert Mugabe alleged to be owing expelled party member Ray Kaukonde US$30 million.

Professor Moyo has since issued a statement warning that the constitution ‘does not protect falsehood and the law would assist journalists if they fail to uphold their professional responsibilities’

He went on to say “In the same vein, the practice of scandalous leaksto the media by Government and party officials who are constitutionally sworn to secrecy because of the nature of their responsibilities will no longer be tolerated without fear or favour. More so because some of these
officials are abusing their positions to manufacture and to leak nakedlies.”

Commenting on the issue, Presidential spokesman George Charamba added “If anything, it invites a very strong response and there is no way we canever imagine in the media that a strong press is founded on ill will,it can’t.”

Indeed there should be no place for unethical journalism in our country.However it is worrying for government to play victim of poor journalism when the same government has helped nurture unethical and poor journalism over the years. It is irresponsible to glosss over the lofty journalism of the past where journalists were accurate and responsible when the operating environments are entirely different.There was no AIPPA back in the good old days.

There has been no empirical evidence to support that the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) has improved the manner the media functions. In-fact media practitioners before this law was passed operated arguably better than now so the government’s argument for more tougher laws has got nothing to do with improving the quality of journalism but to silence the media and escape accountability.

Professional,ethical and accurate journalism depends on access to information and an enabling operating environment. When relevant and important information is wilfully withheld from journalists and media organisations they resort to speculationand “anonymoussources”

Moreover, it becomes difficult to hold accountable journalists who do not have information and rely on anonymous sources for their information. In a closed environment where the source of information are leakages andother underhand tactics,government must not expect accuracy.

There are a plethora of unreasonable secrecy laws that essentiallymakes it impossible for journalists to access information from variousgovernment officials and departments.

I have worked as a researcher on the state of access to information and the findings were telling. It is impossible to get information as basic as asking how many buses the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) has. When you phone to ask for information you are instructed to submit your requests in writing and when you do this no response is forthcoming.

Now journalists have a duty to their audiences to timeously write stories and readers cannot wait 30 days to be told how many clinics there are in this country.You cannot even get a copy of the national budget in this country. It is classified information meant for the chefs but when the media reports that public funds are being abused they mourn.

Poor journalism is not down to malice on part of journalists as Charamba would suggest in his response.The drop in standards of journalism is down to a number of bad laws which have been crafted bythis government to criminalise journalism.

While the Official Secrets Act may be justified owing to the sensitive nature of cabinet deliberations the AIPPA has made the operation of the media difficult if not impossible.

Corrupt government officials have used this law to escape public scrutiny. Some government ministers are notorious for not picking up their calls and not accessible to the media.Many of the ministries insist that the permanent secretary is the official ministry spokesperson but it is impossible to talk to the permanent secretaries. You have to be friends with them to get audience.

It seems the government has created an information embargo on the media and its citizens but still expects the media to report accurately.

The issue of President Mugabe borrowing from Kaukonde is exactly what happens when politicians and policy makers double up as business people without publicly declaring their interests. The public has reasonable expectation to have information in the business interests of their president and when this information is not made public,it maybe a subject of speculation.

What Charamba and Moyo should be urging legislators is to craft a law that compels all public officials to disclose their business interests. Secondly they should urge parliament to immediately repeal AIPPA to improve the state of access to information in order to improve the standards of journalism in this country.

Government must not expect responsible journalism in an environment that creates so much hostility against the media. It must not create unnecessary hurdles for the media and then expect responsible, accurate journalism. If government insists that it will create more laws to deal with journalism, it should expect the standards of journalism toget worse.

By Malvern Mkudu