HARARE - Journalist and media trainer Patricia Made has urged the media to expose violence in all its forms regardless of whether it is politically motivated or not.
Speaking during a recent workshop organised by the Humanitarian Information Facility Centre here, Made said it was the duty of the press to expose and ensure that the voices of victims are heard.
She said violence is prohibited under the law but said labels such as political violence or domestic violence one often reads in newspapers appeared to suggest that violence is in certain cases acceptable.
“Political violence is wrong. When you put adjectives in front of violence you are finding a way of excusing it. Violence is a crime in terms of the law. By law it is wrong. Murder and rape are crimes in terms of common law. But in times of crisis we’re usually trying to justify what is wrong,” Made said.
Politically motivated violence and human rights abuses have accompanied elections in Zimbabwe since the emergence in 1999 of the then main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as the first potent threat to President Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF)s decades-old stranglehold on power.
Violence has continued in may parts of the country and on commercial farms even after formation last year of a power-sharing government between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
However, widespread political violence over the past decade has meant that the media has often paid a blind eye to domestic and other forms of violence and abuse against women and children also common across the country.
Post published in: News