Media integrity is also under siege because of decreasing professionalism among journalists. Causes contributing to the decline in the quality of news reporting include corruption in the media, poor calibre of journalists and the dearth of skills in the newsroom. There has also been an increase in “lapdog journalism” – whereby journalists have become puppets of certain politicians, musicians and increasingly religious organisations. Cases of unethical or shoddy journalism are not effectively investigated as the code for media regulatory body, the Voluntary Media Council (VMCZ), is not subscribed by all media houses due to polarisation between the private and state media. In addition, the VMCZ is seen as toothless as it has no deterrent mechanism for media houses carrying out irresponsible reporting, breaking the code, or refusing to submit to its authority. Media pluralism has moderately improved with the awarding of licenses to several radio stations. In 2012, two commercial licenses ZiFM and Star FM received operating licenses, thus breaking the decades old ZBC monopoly over the airwaves. In 2015, the BAZ awarded 8 more licenses, although only one station, Ya FM, has gone on air. There is concern that all these commercial radio stations have links to government or state-owned companies. But the government has refused to issue licenses to community broadcasters, despite a law, the Broadcasting Services’ Act, passed almost 15 years ago, that provides for a three-tier broadcasting system comprising public, commercial and community broadcasting stations. Although there are over 20 community radio initiatives clamouring for licenses, none has been granted a licence and many of them have found themselves under sustained attack from the authorities. For instance, in 2013, the police raided the offices of Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo and confiscated radio sets and interrogated the production manager. In 2015, state security agents raided Radio Kwelaz offices in the town of Kwekwe and seized laptops and hundreds of compact discs. Equally worrying, the BAZ has not awarded any television licenses and the state terrestrial television station remains the only one in the country. Plurarity of media outlets has not translated into a diversity of content. An inordinate amount of news is focused on politics at the expense of other social and economic news. There is narrow coverage of women and minorities groups. For instance, despite years of gender training offered to journalists and media houses, a recent baseline study commissioned by the Federation of African Media Women Zimbabwe (FAMWZ) shows that only 17% of voices in the media are those of women, with males making up the most of news sources. While there has been some improvement in gender representation, women continue to be stereotyped and caricatured in some media. Urban areas are also favoured with little focus given to rural areas. The lack of financial resources to some extent limits the ability of media houses to effectively represent the voices of all people in society. Lack of material resources also affect investigative journalism which is seriously lacking in the country. Like other countries in the region, new media technologies (ICTs) have opened new avenues for exercising freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. Despite lack 8 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2015