MEDIA stakeholders yesterday met with senior Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers following a petition signed by nearly 300 journalists against harassment of scribes covering peaceful demonstrations.
Source: Journos engage police over harassment – NewsDay Zimbabwe September 17, 2016
BY OBEY MANAYITI
Several journalists have, of late, been either arrested or assaulted while covering protests, prompting the media stakeholders to seek a meeting with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to ensure the safety of media practitioners.
Representatives from the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe chapter, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and different media houses met a delegation led by ZRP national police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, at the Police General Headquarters.
MISA-Zimbabwe Trust chairperson Cris Chinaka conveyed journalists’ concerns and their call for the normalisation of working relations between the police and the media to ensure that both parties contribute to the peaceful development of the country.
In an interview, MISA-Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said the meeting was fruitful in that the police acknowledged the journalists’ concerns and expressed commitment to ensure their safety in future.
“Police also expressed concern over some unprofessional conduct by some journalists, particularly in the coverage of police work. The meeting agreed that there was need for continuous engagement to improve working relations between the police and the media, which will ensure that similar cases do not happen in future,” he said.
Ngwenya said the meeting also laid a foundation for future engagements.
“Of course, you cannot expect the results to be an overnight process, but we believe it’s a first step in the right direction. It is through these meetings that we all deal with cases of mistrust that were building up between the police and the media, that were resulting in criminalisation of journalists,” he said.
“It is critical to note that such incidents are not only unfortunate, but detrimental to Zimbabwe at large, as both the police and journalists are critical components in building a peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe.”
In her address, Charamba acknowledged a symbiotic relationship between the media and ZRP in peace-building.
She also implored journalists to be non-partisan when covering protests.
“The relationship between the police and the media is like that of fish and water. We cannot do without each other. It is premised on the observance and upholding of ethical conduct. Journalists must not be partisan in how they report news to members of the public,” Charamba said. “When police disperse an unlawful gathering acting in tenets of their lawful mandate, it is termed brutality, but when a police officer is assaulted, the issue does not make any headlines, thereby indicating that the media condones such acts.”
Charamba also said journalists should clearly identify themselves distinctly by producing their accreditation cards to police officers or to put on Press jackets.
In an interview with NewsDay, Charamba said consensus was reached that “we need to find each other”.
“They raised their concerns and we raised ours too, but most of theirs were on protection of journalists. We also agreed not to fuel violence and that we should all preach peace,” she said, while emphasising the need for journalists to remain objective and report fairly.
Many journalists have been complaining about the conduct of police officers, who, even after being shown media cards, still harassed them.
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