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Samantha Chigogo Herald Correspondent
Journalists across the country joined the rest of the world yesterday in commemorating World Press Freedom Day amid calls for improved working conditions and guaranteed safety during the course of their work. To mark the Press Freedom Day commemorations, several media partners marched from Gazaland in Highfield to Machipisa Shopping Centre in the same suburb, where journalists took turns to reflect on the state of the media in Zimbabwe.

In an interview during the commemorations, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary-general Foster Dongozi said the welfare of journalists should be urgently addressed.

“A bad operating environment and low salaries which journalists earn do not match the hard work they put in. Employers and Government need to ensure that journalists are well paid and looked after to avoid mishaps in the profession,” he said.

“Unfriendly media laws are still there and we encourage Government to repeal or align the media laws that we have with the Constitution because our Constitution is good in protecting and ensuring media freedom.”

Dongozi hailed Government’s willingness to work on improving journalists’ welfare.

“These commemorations are a milestone achievement because there is the full involvement of Government, as it is showing the willingness to work with private media partners to ensure Press freedom is achieved,” he said.

“What it means now is that we do not have to arrange a private meeting with the Government to put our concerns forward. As it is, their inclusion now in our commemorations means Government is ready and prepared to step in and address media queries.”

Dongozi said digitisation will create more opportunities for Zimbabwean journalists.

“We have been mourning about the closure of media organisations but with digitisation many opportunities are being created in the broadcasting sector and the print industry,” he said.

UNESCO director Professor Hubert Gijzen said journalists should embrace new media at the same time preventing the abuse of media freedom. “The challenge of hostile media laws is not Zimbabwe’s problem only. The whole of Southern Africa is affected by stringent media laws which we should collectively act on. Some countries have sound media laws but implementation should be totally effective,” he said.

The European Union’s representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Federica Mogherini, said the Western bloc remained committed in promoting and protecting freedom of opinion and expression worldwide.

“The EU condemns the increasing level of intimidation and violence that journalists, human rights defenders, media actors and other individuals face in many countries across the world when exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression online and offline,” she said.

The World Press Freedom Day ran under the theme “Media Sustainability in the Digital Age: Digitise and Sustain the Media – Information is your Right!”

See also Page 9