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. Privately owned and community media voluntarily subscribe to the code of ethics set by the self-regulatory Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) which was launched in June 2007. The VMCZ provides members of the public with an opportunity to lodge their complaints without resorting to legal redress through the court system which can be costly and take a long time to sort out. Media outlets that subscribe to VMCZ place boxes next to their imprint informing readers that they subscribe to the code and that complaint can be lodged with the VMCZ. Newspaper vendors carry neon green waistcoats advertising the VMCZ as a complaints body. The editor of the publication concerned is notified as soon as a complaint is received by the VMCZ. The VMCZ director will gauge the severity of the complaint and try to solve the case if it is uncomplicated. He will then arrange a meeting between the media house and the complainant in an attempt to reach an amicable solution. When the case is complex it is turned over to a complaints committee for review. The committee, appointed by the VMCZ board, is made up of a legal practitioner (who is also the chair), a public representative and a journalist. In cases where the committee finds that the code has been breached, it can order the publication in question to publish a prompt and prominent retraction and an apology. In 2011, the VMCZ reviewed 24 cases. Publications in the Zimpapers stable are not part of the VMCZ, probably because it is an initiative that was driven by media lobby groups and civic society organisations whose agenda is regarded with suspicion by government. Instead Zimpapers respond to concerns raised by a body which was established by the inclusive government to oversee the implementation of agreements among them. One clause requires the media to “refrain from using abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred or that unfairly undermines political parties and other organisations”. Most publications have their own in-house complaints mechanisms: • 50 Alpha Media Holdings, which publishes The Independent, among others, has appointed an Ombudsman – a former High Court judge. A few cases have already been handled by him. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2012