The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) says the media landscape in the country remains unsafe for journalists, especially those working for the private media.
In a research report titled State of the Media Ethics and Professionalism 2023, VMCZ said this compromised ethical reporting and professionalism as journalists resorted to self-censorship.
According to the report, the country recorded at least 30 cases of violations against journalists last year.
“These arrests and other safety issues contributed to the decline of media freedom in the country,” the report read.
According to the report, there is concern over some harsh legislation that VMCZ says had the net effect of criminalising journalism.
“During the period of this research the government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services instituted several legislative reforms to align media laws with the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 20) Act, 2013,” the report said.
“This process resulted in some laws being amended while others were repealed and replaced with new legislation. The infamous Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, is one such draconian law struck off the statute of the books in July 2020 and replaced by three new laws namely the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act of 2020, the Cyber and Data Protection Act of 2021 and the Freedom of Information Act of 2021,” the report read.
“While these new laws can be heralded as bringing a new and positive outlook to media regulation respondents said certain clawback clauses in the new laws were retrogressive and would bring a nought effect on the new amended laws.”
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