and cyber security laws will be selectively applied through various state institutions to persecute any dissenting voices on online spaces. Suffice to say, citizens have the right to freely express themselves online and offline while the media has the right to truthfully report and inform the nation on events as they unfold without fear and undue hindrances as constitutionally guaranteed. Print media As the media struggled for survival and solutions to the unfolding technological advances compounded by dwindling advertising revenue in an unfavourable economic environment, it also came under the spotlight following accusations of its capture, more-so in the context of the Zanu PF succession fights. Both the public and private media were accused of being factional, biased and partisan in their coverage of the Zanu PF succession story. Though unsubstantiated, some journalists were accused of being in the pockets of high ranking politicians, businesspersons and prominent church leaders. During a meeting convened by MISA Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe National Editors Forum in Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo, journalists in attendance acknowledged there were, among them, journalists working in cahoots with politicians across the political divide to the detriment of media professionalism. They said media capture was in the form of interference with editorial independence by government officials especially in the public owned media. The capture was not only restricted to public media, but was also evident in the private media where some journalists were accused of being in the pockets of influential politicians. Appointments of editors along political lines, some of them without journalism experience, also contributed to erosion of ethical practice and conduct, they said. Other journalists were literally moles for political and business gurus making it difficult to work on sensitive stories without being spied on and reported to their paying masters. Media capture also came in the form of intimidation by big corporates threatening withdrawal of advertising revenue in the event of negative publicity. 10