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Fungayi Munyoro Mutare Correspondent
Journalists should report responsibly, especially in their coverage of the 2018 harmonised elections, a Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) consultant on election reporting has said.

Addressing 30 journalists during a media workshop on election reporting held in Mutare on Friday last week, lead trainer and veteran journalist Vincent Kahiya said, scribes must produce stories that are fair and balanced.

“Journalists must avoid leaning towards any political party during the elections. They will lose credibility. Their stories are supposed to be balanced and fair. They must not show that they are favouring or sympathising with any particular party by giving it more favourable coverage than other parties in the same situation with it.

“As journalists, you must watch out for spin doctors. You must be careful and evaluate your news sources very well,” he said.

Kahiya encouraged reporters to also have safety plans during the elections.

“As journalists, you must have safety plans. Ensure to put safety first when covering elections. Media houses should have safety plans in place for their reporters,” he said.

The two-day workshop was officially opened by Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Cde Monica Mutsvangwa.

Minister Mutsvangwa reminded journalists that they had an important role to play in the development of the province during and after the 2018 harmonised elections.

ZUJ programme manager Mr Eric Matingo said as an organisation that stood for the welfare of journalists, it was necessary to train journalists ahead of the elections.

“This is a nationwide training that we are doing as ZUJ. We want our reporters to report more professionally. We have received some reports on issues that have to do with biased reporting and hate language. We hope this workshop will enlighten our reporters and we hope to receive good reports on them in the future,” said Mr   Matingo.