A Media Complaints Committee will be established to adjudicate complaints from the public, using the code of ethics as a basis. Where applicable, the Committee has the right to demand that corrections be published. Because the state media are not (yet) part of the structure, the Committee can not officially adjudicate cases involving these media houses, but it may be possible to talk with state editors behind closed doors. The work of the VMCZ will eventually extend beyond adjudication to monitoring, research and training of media practitioners on ethics and professionalism based on the issues and problem areas highlighted in the course of the body’s adjudication and monitoring processes. One of the hurdles is the fact that there are no professional media trainers left in the country – the Media Council will try to train editors as trainers. At present, VMCZ has still not started operations – six months after its launch. SCORES: Individual scores: Average score: 4.2 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 1.7 (2006 = 1.1) The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. ANALYSIS The standard of reporting in Zimbabwe has deteriorated over the years and the basic principles of accuracy and fairness are being disregarded by journalists. Reporters and sub editors are failing to cross-check even the most basic details of a story – the correct profession of a person or the spelling of their name. There are a lot of inaccuracies and there is certainly no fairness. Quite a number of seasoned media practitioners have left the country and many articles are not written by trained journalists. Journalists and editors from the privately owned media face constraints when public institutions refuse to provide information. The police will often refuse to comment and so certain information is difficult to verify. There is a lack of well-researched articles and proper reporting, with many journalists expressing their own opinions rather than trying to write a balanced story and get the people’s views. Sometimes a story will present only one view or be based entirely on one document. The regular lack of by-lines and the use of unnamed sources or unofficial sources further reduce the credibility of articles. Problems of accuracy and fairness are exacerbated by the economic environment. Wages are demoralising and there is systematic corruption, with individuals giving journalists money to write puff pieces or prevent scandals from being published in the paper. Newspapers are carrying more and more opinion pieces written by columnists who are not journalists. Some columnists write more accurately and knowledgeably than journalists especially on specialist subjects such as health, education and the law. Editors of state media tend to give political stories written by their reporters a slant that suits their political masters. Sometimes the reporter would have done his/her best to balance an arSo This Is Democracy? 2008 -275- Media Institute of Southern Africa