SECTOR 4 market the papers will feature sensational headlines to attract audiences, only for the reader to discover that there is a disparity between the headline and the story. The MMPZ’s weekly reports on the performance of the media in Zimbabwe confirm the lack of accuracy: “Our reports over the years have consistently shown the lack of balance and fairness which is more frequent in the public media but is a growing and worrying trend in the privately owned media.” Inaccuracy is often coupled with lack of understanding of a subject. A journalist attended a workshop on the sexual reproductive health rights of workers and the story that was published clearly showed the issues discussed had not been understood. Activism over the years has blurred the lines for journalists, many of whom are reporting from a biased perspective because they feel “they are still in the struggle”. Journalists attending political events will write from a ZANU PF or MDC perspective depending on who they write for, and the accurate story may be somewhere in between. The unprofessional and unethical behaviour of journalists can be attributed to a number of things: laziness, inadequate training, poor salaries, corruption and a shortage of skilled staff in the newsroom which puts the experienced staff under constant pressure. 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: 2.4 (2010:2.0; 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. The media viewed collectively cover the full spectrum of events and publish a lot of business, cultural and local stories. 52 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2012