Moyo must leave reporters alone – Tanonoka Joseph Whande

via Jonathan Moyo must leave reporters alone | SW Radio Africa  December 23, 2013 by Tanonoka Joseph Whande

It is a good media that is “allowed” free reign to report and interpret issues as it sees them.

The media reports things and, after noting the sum total of what they might have witnessed during their foray into information gathering, might infer a certain conclusion.

They are justified in doing so yet they are open to criticism and that, also, is justified.

No one ever said the media’s word is the final word.

Be that as it may, reporters must, of necessity, be left alone to do their duties and that has nothing to do with whether or not they have a slant towards certain issues.
I am, therefore, intrigued that a simpleton like Jonathan Moyo, once again, has the leeway to sway public opinion such as he does…in a way preferred by and beneficial to himself alone.
Moyo thinks being a cabinet minister, in this case responsible for the media and information, gives him the authority to control what Zimbabweans hear, see and read.
Jonathan Moyo is retrogressive.
Freedom of the media is the most important part of a democratic society.
While I do not have time to waste on Mandiwanzira, I dare you, Jonathan.
If Jonathan Moyo wants to be a star, he should leave the media alone and he should teach Mandiwanzira the same.
The less his name is heard, the more he would be desired. As of now, Moyo is full of nonsense and he is staffing the same into Supa Mandiwanzira’s mouth.
That must stop.
Both these kids must stop this nonsense because tomorrow, they will need a free media themselves. Moyo should remember that before he was corrupted into ZANU-PF, it was the private media that made him famous by publishing his scathing attacks on the government. He went on to hog the limelight after he became minister responsible for information and media before being dumped.
During those days in political wilderness, it was, once again, the private media that kept him in the limelight.
The heart of the matter is that there is no minister and there should never be any idiot appointed to be responsible for the media simply because the media does not need a chaperone.
There should only be government person responsible for information and that is a person responsible for the government’s public relations, nothing more.
If Moyo believes otherwise, as I see he is trying to do again, then he is a fool of the worst kind.
I am not enticed by Moyo’s meaningless visits to media houses; he is so naïve and our media houses were too hopeful when he visited them.
Moyo is no messiah and should just stay away from the media.
As the media goes about its business, Moyo’s name should never be heard. That would be the best tribute to him.
But Moyo loves publicity himself yet there is nothing good to say about him. How do Zimbabwe media houses accommodate Jonathan Moyo under AIPPA and POSA?
Last time around, Moyo drafted and pushed through Parliament laws that put the media in chains and he is slowly inching towards the same again.
He is back now and nothing has changed. He tries to fool media houses by visiting them, smiling and appearing genial before he brings the hatchet down.
I hate this thing called Public Relations because it makes liars out of every one and makes victims smile in anticipation like media houses are doing in Zimbabwe right now.
Jonathan Moyo is a desperate chamelion with nothing to lose. He has an ability to fool people. Emerson Mnangagwa fell for him many times over.
But the biggest fool to fall for him is Robert Mugabe himself.
The heart of the matter is that no country or government should have a Minister of Information responsible for the media.
There should be a department that ensures government information reaches the people. There should not be a ministry to control those who gather and disseminate information.
Oh, yes, there could be a department of Information to disseminate government information to the people otherwise no government should set up a ministry to oversee functions of the media because the media needs no chaperone, thank you.
But Jonathan Moyo, the media mosquito, is back in government again.
We hoped that, after his visits to media houses, he would be honest enough to be true to the media…but he is at it again. Jonathan Moyo is a threat to the media again. His veiled threats are very clear.
If Jonathan Moyo has any decency, he should be ashamed of his ministry.
Leave the media alone, Jonathan. The media needs no ministry. The existence of the ministry kills the media.
I watch as journalist after journalist falls at the whim of Jonathan Moyo.
The heart of the matter is that journalists, like Caesar Zvayi, must be left alone to execute their duties. We might not agree with their thrust but it is their chosen path and they should be allowed leeway to practice their profession unhindered.
I do not necessarily have to agree with the journalistic behaviour of Happison Muchechetere either.
He has as much of responsibility as Jonathan Moyo and that is to leave reporters to report…nothing else.
I support both Zvayi and Muchechetere in their efforts to exercise independent professional thought in disposing of their specialized duties, criminality excluded.
While I concede that the ZBC is a dog house, I have no sympathy for Muchechetere because he knew, just like I did when I was there with him, that heading that corporation had everything to do with the “current” political situations, especially imported from Mozambique at independence than with real journalism.
Like all others, he became a victim of the corporation and the corporation is infested by sympathisers of Mugabe, the CIO, and ministers who ran the Information Ministry along the way.
Muchechetere, of all people, knew what he was getting into. No apologies there.
Today, I am particularly concerned about Caesar Zvayi’s treatment. Not that I care about which side of the divide he is in but simply because, like any other journalists, he must be allowed the freedom to publish (as editor) what he has to or must be allowed (as a writer) to put to print what he dares.
I do not care whether Zvayi “breaks” his silence and says something or not. Jonathan Moyo must and should leave the media alone.
I am not privy to what happened to Zvayi or what he thinks. I, honestly, do not care. All I worry about is for him to have his freedom as a journalist so he can espouse his thoughts and report as he sees fit.
That is all.
We, in the media, need no caretaker and I would like to believe that Zvayi believes as much.
It irritates me when someone comes to tell me how to write or say my report. We need our independence and Jonathan Moyo’s renewed effort into castrating a state media that people are already losing faith in is not acceptable.
I say what I say from a journalistic point of view…Jonathan Moyo must not try to manufacture what the people of Zimbabwe should or should not hear.
This little mosquito of a man has no right to tell the people of Zimbabwe what they can say, what they can hear and what they can see.
Jonathan Moyo, leave the media alone!
In the meantime, he should spend some time and teach Mandiwanzira that he, like Jonathan himself, will never manager information. Keep your government secrets, we do not care. We will find out anyway but what happens among us is free and available to all of us.
Moyo must not waste our time trying to control and hide information from us; we will always know because information is free.
So Jonathan, leave Caesar Zvayi and all other journalists alone, whether or not they sing your tune. Just leave the news people alone.
The mere appointment of a Minister of Information is an indication that information is not information.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Monday, December 23rd, 2013.