SECTOR 4 The media practice high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by self-regulatory bodies that deal with complaints from the public. Analysis: A self-regulatory Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) was officially launched in June 2007 by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, a grouping that comprises the Media Institute of Southern Africa – Zimbabwe, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (whose members are editors of private media). It started operating in February 2009 after having secured sufficient funding. The board of the council comprises 14 members, seven public and seven media representatives. One of the 14 positions has been left vacant to allow for the editors of state-controlled publications to come on board. Private and community media subscribe to the VMCZ’s code of ethics but do not fully enforce the “If you read these papers standards set. Journalists and editors were slightly you want to throw up” defensive at the start but soon came to realise that professionalism in the media has deteriorated and journalists do need to be refreshed on the merits of adhering to professional standards. Therefore the council is currently in an ‘educational phase’, conducting training courses in newsrooms. Private print media carry small boxes informing readers that they subscribe to the code and that complaints can be lodged with the VMCZ. In addition, the council is running campaigns to make the public aware of its existence. As a consequence the number of complaints received has increased from seven in 2009 to 12 in the first quarter of 2010, mainly from political parties, companies, gender groups and relatives of politicians. Complaints may be settled amicably without arbitration (this is the case in most instances). If the matter cannot be so resolved it is handed over to a Media Complaints Committee which has the right to order the medium in question to publish a correction. As the state media are not part of the structure, the VMCZ cannot officially adjudicate in cases involving these media houses. Nevertheless the VMCZ has 58 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2010