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Oswell Moyo Chronicle Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S independence has brought far reaching changes in the country’s media from racist, single voice approach and oppressive narratives into a pro-development and people centred press. To media practitioners, independence came with freedom of the media. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary general Forster Dongozi told Chronicle yesterday that the media has experienced a remarkable transformation since independence, capped by the advent of new radio stations such as ZiFM, Star FM and the recently licensed eight commercial radio stations.

Dongozi said this was a positive development and the media was moving in the right direction.

“There is pluralism in the media sector compared to the colonial era when we had few media houses. People can access various sources of information to get news. In the past we would wait for newspapers to just tell us about the results of football,” said Dongozi.

When white settlers came to Zimbabwe, they established forms of communication that told and celebrated their own stories while reducing the black majority to second class citizens in a bid to entrench their undemocratic system.

Cecil John Rhodes used the press in establishing British and South African hegemony in Southern Africa.

Dongozi said before independence, journalism jobs were reserved for whites.

He said the mainstream media was a mouth piece used in advancing colonialism and the exploitation of blacks by settlers.

“In the past, blacks were not allowed to be journalists. Journalism was a sole preserve of the whites. Mainstream media didn’t reflect the views of the marginalised but was a propaganda mouthpiece meant to advance the interests of the colonialists,” he said.

Dongozi who has more than 20 years experience in journalism, hailed the government for establishing training institutions for journalists.

“Before independence, we didn’t have any school of journalism. Whites used to undergo in-house training but our black government was able to build training institutions for journalists. Today we’ve many journalism schools, equipping journalists with necessary skills,” he said.

Before independence, nationalistic sentiments and ideologies were suppressed by the media. Stories that supported colonialism and the exploitation of black race dominated the white owned press.

The colonial press was there to gag blacks to ensure that they do not rise against the white settler regime that was plundering the country’s mineral and other resources to enrich and empower themselves economically and politically at the expense of the black majority.

A Media Lecturer at Midlands State University (MSU) Professor Nhamo Mhiripiri said there is now media diversity in the country.

“There is diversity of ownership but private media has at times been destructive and reactionary but what’s important is that the media is keeping the government on its toes,” he said.

Mhiripiri said there is a need to promote female journalists to senior positions as part of measures to ensure gender equality.

“If you conduct a study, you will notice that many top positions are dominated by men. There’s never been a major change in managerial composition of our media. The majority of female journalists end up diverting to become public relations officers,” said Mhiripiri.

Amid the growth of the media industry and the flourishing of alternative voices, sanctions imposed by western countries are reversing some of the gains of independence in the sector.

Dongozi said some media organisations are starting to fold up because of economic sanctions that have destroyed the country’s industries.

“People don’t have disposable income to spend due to deindustrialisation caused by economic sanctions,” said Dongozi. “Media freedom which came about as a result of the protracted armed struggle mustn’t be sold away, lets guard jealously our independence. Zimbabwe must never be a colony again.”

Recently, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said government is set to meet the June, 2015 digitalisation after the government secured $200million to fund the migration from the analogue system.

The migration is set to create thousands of jobs in the broadcasting and other downstream industries.