By Lerato Ndlovu.
Journalists encouraged to report ethical news so as to promote good governance and community development.
Addressing journalists at the recently held Zimbabwe Union of Journalists provincial award ceremony Mashonaland West Minister of State Provincial AffairsMary Mliswa-Chikoka said that it is the responsibility of the media to give ordinary citizens a voice so that participation in governance and development of the nation is done without discretion.
“I want to encourage the media to go down to the villages and farming compounds so that everybody participates in the governance and development of their province in order to consolidate our position as Mashonaland best,
“We need to move away from the culture of only paying attention to officials to the exclusion of ordinary voice. A well rounded and complete story includes as many as many voices as possible.”
Minister Mliswa urged journalists to embrace the use of technology so as to cover all areas despite not being physically on the ground but urged them to be wary of wanton fake news which has become a menace through social media.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists national Secretary General Cde Foster Dongozi said the seven categories had a staggering of 52 entries from journalists across the province.
“Let me start by thanking all journalists who submitted their entries for adjudication. We received a staggering 52 entries for the 7 categories and I would like to say congratulations for that.
“This was despite the very short notice that colleagues had in order to submit but because we have people who work with deadlines we were able to get these entries”, said Mr Dongozi.
This year’s ceremony ran under the theme: “A Strong Media for Community Development and Accountability”.
The categories being awarded were Environment/Mining reporter, Agriculture reporter, Photos/Visual reporter, Courts/Crime reporter, Sports/Arts reporter, Upcoming reporter, Health/Child reporter of the year.
