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The Zimbabwe Media Commission ZMC in conjunction with UNESCO have released an Election Reporting and Peace Journalism Manual today in Harare.
UNESCO comes in as a financial and technical support partner in the development of the manual.
According to ZMC Chairperson Professor Ruby Magosvongwe the drive behind the creation of this manual is to provide a framework for media on how to operate when covering elections.
“The main objective of coming up with the manual is to equip media practitioners and media houses with the necessary knowledge and skills on how to report elections to assist in the creation of a conducive environment for the holding of free and credible elections,”
“The manual gives media practitioners an opportunity to understand basic electoral processes as well as the electoral cycle,”
The Election Reporting and Peace Journalism Manual will be used as resource material to train journalists across the media fraternity towards the appreciation of the electoral cycle.
UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa Lidia Brito expressed the importance of equipping media with election reporting guidelines as they play a non-negotiable role in monitoring misinformation, disinformation and mal information disseminated during elections while upholding ethical standards in conveying information to the public.
“The media also has a role to play in promoting the highest standards of ethical and conflict-sensitive reporting, accurate transmission of results in close collaboration with election monitoring bodies, promoting peaceful dialogue between citizens and political parties, providing voter information to indigenous groups and citizens living in hard to reach areas,”
Follow up trainings on election reporting will be conducted for journalists by the Zimbabwe Media Commision before this year’s elections.
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