On corruption in the media, they attributed this to poor working conditions and low salaries.
The meeting recommended, among others, that:
•

MISA and ZINEF should convene a national indaba or meeting to discuss the state of

affairs with the view of coming up with solutions to free the media and reinforce media
freedom, professionalism and accountability.
•

Media houses should be encouraged to have in-house press ombudspersons to instil

ethical conduct and practice in newsrooms.
•

There is need for a strong union and a compulsory media employment council that

sets standards for recruitment, working conditions and salaries for the media sector as a
way of countering corruption in the media.
•

Media freedom and self-regulation as provided for in the Constitution should be

backed by statute to ward off unwarranted interference with media rights and editorial
independence.
•

Implementation of the IMPI findings and recommendations.

•

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/Telecommunications/ICTs
The broadcasting sector largely remained constricted despite the licensing of eight provincial
urban-based commercial radio stations by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), in
March 2015. This was in addition to the prior 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 privately owned television station, 16 odd years after enactment of BSA, which
provides for community radios. The government continued to prevaricate on the licensing
of community radio stations. In 2016, the government said this would be done upon
completion of the digitisation process with preference being given to rural communities.
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