Reporting Elections, Safety and Security of Journalists the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, which also coincided with the belated commem- oration of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, said Zimbabwe was “committed to providing a safe operating media environment to enable media practitioners to conduct their duties freely. “I categorically say impunity on crimes against journalists is unacceptable as it seeks to silence voices that keep our society in check,” she said. MISA recommended that if Zimbabwe domesticated the UN Plan of Action into its national legal framework, this would go a long way in legislating against crimes against journalists and thereby limiting cases of abuse by officials because of the risk of prosecution for criminal acts against media practitioners. The Danger of “Fake News” The world is battling with a phenomenon largely known by the shorthand term, “Fake News”. The term is a summary of three problems — misinformation, disinformation and malinformation— which have created an “information disorder” where the public and the media must be wary of their sources of information, and need to verify the authenticity of the information or risk spreading false information. In the age of “fake news”, journalists need special training in rigorous fact-checking and information verification ahead of elections. 62 https://zimbabwe.misa.org