SECTOR 3 3.5 The editorial independence of the state/public broadcaster from political influence is guaranteed by law and practised to ensure balanced and fair news and current affairs programmes Although the Constitution prescribes the editorial independence of the ZBC [61(4)], the reality is that there is little in the way of balanced and fair news coverage. This bias is particularly true for stories dealing specifically with political or economic issues. Other stories (human interest and features) are generally well presented. However, even these social and human-interest stories can often be spun in a political way. This is revealed in the use of sources for stories, whereby independent analysis is lacking, but there is ‘always someone who is supporting the ruling party.’ This also relates to print journalism. Although political reporting is ‘filled with toxic journalism’, coverage of other stories is more professional. The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) conducts regular content monitoring and analysis. 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: Score of previous years: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2.3 2006: n/a; 2008: n/a; 2010: n/a; 2012: n/a; 2015: 1.8 3.6 The state/public broadcaster is adequately funded in a manner that protects it from political interference through its budget and from commercial pressure Although it is supposed to get funding from the line ministry, the ZBC claims to receive nothing from the national budget. Approximately 10% of their funding comes from licence fees and the rest from advertising. There are, however, current proposals for the ZBC to receive funding directly from Treasury. 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2020