MISA-Zimbabwe on 20 April 2016 convened a stakeholders media laws reform priority mapping indaba in Harare which ended with a call for urgent implementation of media law and policy reforms.
Fifty eight participants who included academics, journalists, civil society, content creators, media training institutions and publishers attended the indaba.
MISA-Zimbabwe National Chairperson, Kumbirai Mafunda, lamented the gridlock pertaining to media law and policy reforms almost three years after enactment of the 2013 Constitution.
Said Mafunda: “The new minister Christopher Mushowe in December 2015 said the media industry would be consulted in the context of a retreat scheduled for January 2016 during which a new media policy will be debated and framed.
“To this end, the envisaged meeting is still to gain traction. It therefore gives us an opportunity as media stakeholders to map key the priority areas as a build up for a collective response and for government to wholeheartedly implement media law and policy reforms.”
In defining the scope of the workshop, MISA-Zimbabwe National Director, Nhlanhla Ngwenya urged stakeholders to develop collective lobby and advocacy positions aimed at unlocking the current policy gridlock.
The stakeholders managed to identify the key priority areas which required immediate attention through the following thematic areas:
- Digital migration and the emerging content generation.
- Media content monitoring and consumption.
- Media professionalism and ethics.
- Gender issues on and/or in media.
- Media as a business.
- Working conditions and employment opportunities
- Media law and policy reforms
