In a report presented at the awards dinner gala held in Harare last week, the four-member team of judges also expressed dismay over the deteriorating reporting standards in the broadcasting sector in the country.
“Cognisant of this year’s theme of NJAMA, which seeks to eliminate hate speech in our media, we observed that some reporters displayed a fixation with hate language that characterised the media landscape during the years of polarisation.
“The language used was designed to aggravate divisions rather than build unity. In most cases, this stripped stories of the element of objectivity and could have been avoided,” noted the judges in their report.
The adjudicators said several journalists whose copy was tainted with hate speech were disqualified from the competition. “Hate speech hurts Zimbabwe and the media should avoid fuelling conflict at all costs,” read the report presented by one of the judges, Matilda Moyo, a former journalist who is now an Information Officer with the United Nations.
Concerning broadcasting in general, the adjudicators were also worried about the poor standard of programmes that were entered as documentaries from both radio and television.
“A documentary is a film or radio programme providing factual accounts of events or developments intended to educate, entertain and inform the public.
Most of the producers don’t seem to have a grasp of the basics of compiling radio and television documentaries.
“What we were presented with…were mostly lengthy interviews with officials in which the listener or viewer was left wondering what the programme was about. It was evident to the listener/viewer that the producer did not even understand what the interviewee would be discussing,” said the report.
The report also further noted appalling standards in camerawork.
“Camerawork for most of the documentaries was atrocious to say the least. We strongly recommend that ZUJ and other media players assist in designing and running training programmes to ensure adherence to the basic standards of television journalism.
Universities offering journalism could also provide specialised refresher training courses in this important area,” said the adjudicators.
Other shortcomings cited by the judges in the report include limited use of language and clichés, lack of creativity, lack of a culture of reading among journalists and editors’ failure to play a mentorship role.
Post published in: News