SECTOR 4 The question of fairness in the state media seemingly does not even arise – as one panellist put it bluntly: “If you read these papers you want to throw up”. If The Herald or the ZBC want to justify a ZANU PF position they feature ‘experts’ who accurately reflect just this position. There will not be any differing opinions. Skilled media professionals at all levels have migrated to other countries leaving a vacuum that is hard to fill. The system of sub-editing has seemingly collapsed as experienced people have left and their positions have been taken up by untrained newcomers. There is a slippage in standards and journalists are grappling even with the basics. They have lost sight of what their role is and what they are supposed to do. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator. 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.0 (2008: 2.1; 2006:2.3) 4.3 The media cover the full spectrum of events, issues and cultures, including business/economics, cultural, local and investigative stories. Analysis: The full spectrum of events and topics is not being covered, in large part also because there are limited resources in newsrooms. News organisations only feature events in and around the vicinity in which they are located. There is fair coverage of business and cultural stories and lately there have been a number of investigative stories. Many journalists find it difficult to travel to sports events so there is limited coverage, featuring only the major sporting codes. 60 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2010