Zimbabwe SECTION 4: The media practise high levels of professional standards. 4.1 The media follow voluntary codes of professional standards, which are enforced by self-regulatory bodies. ANALYSIS: There are no common voluntary codes of professional standards in place yet but there is movement towards the formation of a selfregulatory body. Some media organisations have developed voluntary codes of professional standards, such as the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe made up of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, ZUJ and MISA. They claim that this code needs to be presented to the government in order to minimise its opposition to self-regulation. This approach, however, has met with strong criticism: seeking such approval would mean that the proposed body would cease to be self-regulating. The statutory Media and Information Commission, established by AIPPA, is so discredited. SCORES: Individual scores: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1 Average score: 1.14.2 4.2 The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. ANALYSIS: On the whole, principles of fairness and accuracy are followed. But there are cases of sensationalism, in both the state and the private media, to attract consumers to buy the paper. There is a lack of well-researched articles and proper reporting with many journalists expressing their own opinions rather than trying to write a balanced African Media Barometer - Zimbabwe 2006 31