Headlines !!!

Some of the latest headlines of the Chronicle:
FIGHT OVER WOMAN DEATH

BODY PARTS VANISH AT UBH MORGUE

TEEN SEX PROBE

When looking at the above headlines, it leaves no wonder that the paper is slowly turning sexist. As a national paper, the Chronicle should be tackling more serious issues than bedroom issues. It is the plight of the Zimbabwean citizens that media improves and assumes its watchdog role.

Ubuntu or Teleology?

Zimbabweans are a cultured society which believes in the spirit of ubuntu. Ubuntuism entails that such values as compassion, dignity, harmony, reciprocity, and humanity that are considered important building blocks for realising social harmony should be considered in reporting. As a newspaper operating in a country underpinned by ubuntu, the Chronicle should publish stories that build, lecture, align and respect others.

At the same time, there is again another approach to ethics. This approach, teleology approximates that there is no harm in reporting on something in false light as long as it is going to achieve a greater good for the greatest number of people. Most of the stories in this paper therefore seem to be more teleological than encompassing ubuntu.

To the reader

If you refer to history, you are going to discover that around 1988 the Chronicle was a topping publication, unearthing corrupt tendencies under the famous Willow-gate Scandal. It was in those by-gone times that The Zimbabwe Monitoring  Media Trust (ZMMT) not only kept a watchful eye on these publications but also created a buffer zone between the media and the state as well.

Today it is however a different story. It is either the Chronicle is worried about increasing sales or something else.

Research has revealed that the lack of balance in news is caused in part by the public refusing to open up and in part by journalists attaching themselves to different camps and then reporting from there. According to a research by Wallace Chuma in 2013, the state media is bent on protecting "national interests" and in the process opinions are reported.  A closer look at these pictures reveals that the dominating subject are sex-scandals. In the process of covering such stories, one cannot run away from publishing information that puts the person being covered in false light.

The Chronicle should minimise harm - Readers

The cartoon that is steering anger

The Chronicle should be cautious of using cartoons that cause harm, readers have said.

Readers who exclusively spoke to this blog expressed their disgruntlement over a cartoon (pictured left) that the Chronicle published in its issue of the 19th of April 2014. The cartoon featured a razor wire and cartoons of two men and a lady with a baby strapped on her back and from the drawing they were trying to cross into neighbouring South Africa.

The cartoon was accompanied by an inscription from the cartooned spectator which read "why do they call them border jumpers when they actually cross under a fence".

"This cartoon is a direct insult to those who cross the border into South Africa, running away from the unfavourable economic conditions in this country that for long no one has fixed," said Andrew Chadya, a regular Chronicle reader.

Mr Chadya emphasized that such cartoons are very offensive to a society which is grieving over the loss of beloved ones who die on their way to South Africa in search of greener pastures after the country has failed to offer jobs.

"It makes these people appear as if they are silly by so doing. The cartoon is trivializing the pain that these people go through. I would say that it has been misplaced," said Chadya. The cartoon comes barely two months after more than 20 Zimbabweans lost their lives in a disused mineshaft in South Africa during their attempts to make fortunes (see 22 Zimbabweans who died in South Africa mine named).

Another reader who declined to be named however said the that was just a "joke". According to journalism ethics, to minimise harm is to desist from publishing information that is likely to offend or put someone into false light.

The Concept of Objectivity Violated

According to media studies, one way to distract audiences from the real issues of the day is to use expurgation. This concept involves the deliberate and artistic creation of a visualized enemy. The Chronicle has succeeded in doing so using the continuous use of the sanctions. In the picture, the sanctions' story has been resuscitated to take a new twist. all the blame has been placed on the US yet everyone clearly knows where the problem is.

Not all Zimbabweans are media literate and therefore at face value they will probably believe that the "illegal" "sanctions" resulted in the nonpayment of the workers. simply put, the paper is simply detracting the attention of the audience from the real issues by making this sanction issue to be prominent.

The sanctions issue is nothing more than just a political gimmick and it will always appear to pacify the nation. According to media ethics however, one would not take time to realise that readers are not being objectively informed. the chronicle should unpack this sanctions issue and objectively inform Zimbabweans.

Posting pictures of the deceased - Ethical or Unethical?

The picture that raised eyebrow

The Chronicle should minimise the use of graphic images on the front page as these may cause fear and resentment from the public, Ibhetshu likaZulu secretary Mbuso Fuzwayo has said.

On the 15th of April last week the Chronicle posted a graphic image of a person who had been killed by elephant.

"Some people fear death and these pictures should therefore not be published for public consumption," said Fuzwayo. According to the ethical value of minimising harm, graphic images that contain scenes of terrible accidents and toddlers should not be posted as they leave sad memories.

Fuzwayo also said the Chronicle should also limit on leading with stories on sex scandals.

Meanwhile, other media practitioners said there is no harm in posting the picture of the deceased on the front page as long as they are late and their family has agreed. Research has however shown that people who have their pictures posted on the front page have relatives who do not understand the impacts of posting them on the front page. Media practitioners have the responsibility to employ professionalism when doing their work.

VMCZ Slams Chronicle for unethical conduct

Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) projects officer Loft Dube has slammed the Chronicle for repeated unethical conduct.

Speaking at a media conference in Bulawayo, Dube said the ZBC and Chronicle should be critical of ZANU-PF rather than to rubber stamp it.

“ZBC should fairly cover issues rather than rubber stamp ZANU-PF,” Dube said. “This increases tension and hostility in the post election period.”

The objection by the ombudsmen comes at a period when once again the Chronicle has reiterated on sanctions, taking it to be their lead story.

“I think this sanctions thing is nothing but a ZANU-PF political gimmick to obscure us from the real situation,” said Brian Sibanda, a regular Chronicle reader.

Research has revealed that it has become a tendency that once in a while, the state media reiterates on sanctions, blaming on them while forgetting the role that the sitting government should play.