This involved engagement meetings with various political parties and the police to apprise them on the role of the media and what could be done to ensure the safety of journalists during elections. building trust between themselves and their sources. (2) On the other hand, the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa, (UNESCO-ROSA) produced a peace reporting manual. These concerted efforts paid off, as the election period passed without any reported harassment of journalists by security forces or political factions — a significant victory for the advocacy work carried out. This manual was distributed to all newsrooms and to freelance journalists across the country. ZMC also trained a number of journalists on their safety during elections. (3) Nevertheless, this positive outcome may also reflect a concerning trend of self-censorship among media professionals — following decades of being intimidated, harassed, and arrested by state authorities. One of the issues that emerged during these initiatives was that journalists were not visible during public disturbances. Police said that in their quest to quell public disturbances and riotous situations, journalists were often caught in the crossfire. While it is difficult to measure self-censorship, the possibility that journalists are muting their reporting to avoid conflict cannot be overlooked. To remedy this, UNESCO and ZMC, in collaboration with MISA, distributed press jackets nationwide to enhance the visibility of journalists and protect them from inadvertent harm. Safety of journalists Zimbabwe recorded a marked reduction in the number of recorded attacks against journalists in 2023. All these initiatives, brought together, helped reduce the number of attacks on journalists in 2023, particularly during the elections. This was partly due to the advocacy efforts of media support organisations that engaged the police and political parties ahead of the elections. While the issue of the safety of journalists remains high on the agenda, Zimbabwean civil society, working with the police and the executive, through ZMC, have provided a blueprint for what can be done to reduce attacks on journalists. Led by the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Zimbabwe chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe), media support organisations held meetings with police commanders throughout the country’s 10 provinces. While these interventions were ad hoc, with a particular focus on the elections, there is need for a more sustained approach to ending violence against journalists. This went a step further in provinces that are seen as hotspots for violence against journalists such as Bulawayo, Harare, Masvingo and Midlands, where several meetings were held in an effort to reduce media violations as well as build an understanding between journalists and the security services. This safety mechanism is known as the Police Media Action Plan. In future, there is a need to work with the judiciary, with the aim being to end impunity for crimes against journalists as perpetrators of crimes against journalists often go unpunished. Developments in law To add onto this, MISA Zimbabwe developed a pledge for ethical reporting for journalists to endorse. The idea of the pledge was to build trust between journalists and their audiences. President Emmerson Mnangagwa assented to amendments to the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, popularly known as the “Patriot Act”. There is general consensus across the world that trust in the media has diminished over the years, particularly with mushrooming of content creators and the rise in state-sponsored misinformation and disinformation. (1) The law has been criticised for having limitations on freedoms of expression and assembly, which are guaranteed in the constitution and for severely limiting civil liberties. Thus, by committing to the pledge on ethical reporting, journalists were committing to STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023 94