Reporting Elections, Safety and Security of Journalists where and when journalists are associated with, or accused of partisan political reporting. In such situations, media houses are encouraged to offer mental health support to journalists who may be suffering stress related problems, without even knowing it. Technically menta health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) includes any support that people receive to protect or promote their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. One major component of MHPSS is treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Creating the environment for effective coverage of elections: Comprehensive Guidelines on Media Coverage of Elections in the SADC Region developed by MISA, the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC countries (ECF-SADC), the African media project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), fesmedia Africa, and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), recommends that: • Media houses provide adequate resources to their journalists for effective election coverage. • The media enjoy unfettered editorial and programming independence from all vested interests including candidates, parties, media owners and organisations allied to and/or supporting candidates and political parties. • All laws that hinder the media in fulfilling their role are repealed. • All media are allowed access to all election activities including rallies, media conferences, 60 https://zimbabwe.misa.org