On the 2nd of March 2012 Daily News hosted a conference that invited high profile political guests.The notable guests who were also speakers were Dr Simba Makoni who is the Mavambo project president (political party),Mr Goodson Nguni Zanu PF activist (political RULING party),Prof John Makumbe who is a political analyst turned MDC supporter (political party) and Prof Lovemore Madhuku who is a political analyst.
The topic of the conference was Media Freedom,Democracy and Development and each of the guest speakers were expected to say what they thought of the media in Zimbabwe.First up on the panel was Dr Simba Makoni and he said that freedom and development is a state of mind and one has to be developed and free in mind for one to be actually free.He said that the development of a country is also the development of media meaning the development of the media is also the development of a country.He said that there are many laws that are hindering the progress of media such as Aippa (Access to information privacy act) and for one to understand media in Zimbabwe one has to understand law first.He also said that it is a pity that here in Zimbabwe we have had 32yrs of independence but the laws that are operating in Zimbabwe are were formed in Rhodesia by minority rule.I give Dr Simba Makoni credit for this presentation because it was on point and no addition or subtractions were needed.
Mr Goodson Nguni then followed and though his speach was not that long he brought up very interesting points.He said that the media always has to have two sides of the story and not rely on only one side of the story.He brought up many political scandals that involve the Prime Minister and he said that media has to expose all those scandals.He said that a lot of facts are not being said in the media yet they have to be addressed.He said that the media has to first investigate on any news before feeding people ill-information.Though Mr Goodson Nguni's presentation started well he did not say anything that was on the agenda.It seemed as if he had his own agenda to address.
Prof John Makumbe then followed and he said that the role of the media is to expose Tyranny and dictatorship.He said that the media has to express the people's demands and when there is a bad situation the media's job is to show the people that there is an ulternative for all the suffering.Analysing his speech also one can come to the conclusion that he did not even address the agenda but had his own agenda to address.He was very emotional and it seemed as if he was trying to use the podium to address a certain person and not the agenda.(i used to like him when he was still an analyst).
Prof Lovemore Madhuku was the last speaker and he was very on point and he was trying not to be political as possible.He said that the Zimbabwean media exegerates its influence by trying to brainwash people.He said that media is a platform of expression and freedom and the media should not take basis on political parties but on political views.
After all has been said and done,all these political figures and analysts can never agree but they agreed on one thing and that is the media in Zimbabwe is not free,democratic and developed.
