On the worrying issue of corruption in the media, they attributed this to poor working conditions and low salaries. Amidst a range of issues the meeting recommended: • MISA and ZINEF should convene a national indaba/meeting to discuss the negative state of affairs with the view to coming up with solutions to free up the media and reinforce media professionalism and accountability. • Media houses should be encouraged to have an in-house press ombudsman to instill ethical conduct and practice in newsrooms. • There was need for a strong union and a compulsory media employment council that sets standards of recruitment, working conditions and salaries for the media sector as a way of countering corruption in the media. • Findings and recommendations from the Information Media Panel of Inquiry (IMPI) process should be implemented. • Revival of the Mass Media Trust to protect the editorial independence of public owned newspapers from political interference. • Internal life-style audits of editors and journalists by their employers/ publishers where corruption is suspected. Broadcasting The broadcasting sector largely remained constricted despite the licensing of eight provincial urban-based commercial radio stations by the Broadcast- 140 So This is Democracy? 2017 ing Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) in March 2015. This was in addition to the licensing of the first-ever national commercial stations, Star FM and ZiFM Stereo. As of December 2017, the government was still to license a single community radio station, let alone a privatelyowned television channel, even 16 years after enactment of the BSA, which provided for community radio. Government continued to prevaricate on the licensing of community radio stations, but in 2016 said this would be done upon completion of the digitisation process, with preference being given to rural communities. However, in 2017, the ministry’s permanent secretary, George Charamba, was to bizarrely claim that the government had in fact licensed community radio stations, in apparent reference to the afore-mentioned commercial radio outlets. Community radio stations by definition are not for commercial profit and the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has never called for applications for community radio stations, let alone licensing one, as provided for in terms of the BSA. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), which is supposed to be a public broadcaster, firmly remained in the clutches of the state and continued with its partisan coverage to the exclusion of diverse views and opinions. This was despite assertions to the contrary by then Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services, Christopher Mushowe, relating to ZBC’s impartiality.