SYDNEY SAIZE IN MUTARE
The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) has pledged to assist setting up media centre facilities for journalists across the country.
Executive director for VMCZ, Loughty Dube, told journalists in Mutare that the organisation was working on arranging a safer working environment for freelance journalists who have no working space.
Zimbabwe has close to 2 500 freelance journalists working from the streets.
“It is work in progress to ensure our media practitioners operate from a safe working environment as they play a key role in nation development through informing and educating the citizenry on current issues.
“We therefore need to work out a plan so that they (journalists) operate from a conducive place,’’ Dube said.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists Manicaland provincial secretary Farai Matebvu applauded the initiative saying it would go a long way in uplifting the status of local journalists.
“It is gratifying to note that the VMCZ takes seriously the work of journalists and their welfare and we need to comment on that. It is also hoped that the remuneration of media practitioners is taken up with employers so that they are not destitutes,” Matebvu said.
The meeting with Manicaland journalists was arranged by the VMCZ in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Network of Editors’ Forum and the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe.
It was meant to have first-hand information from journalists on their reporting under the pandemic Covid-19.
