Zimbabwe community radio stations are urged to be non-partisan
By Memory Mudzani
Zimbabwe has licensed 21 community radio stations (CRS) in the past three years after two decades of lobbying by media organizations and politicians ,of the 21 stations 14 serve geographical communities while seven are college campus radio stations.
Zimfact recorded that community radio stations have been licensed to broadcast content that is relevant to the respective communities which includes developmental issues, healthcare, basic information, general education, environmental affairs, and the promotion of local culture, however there have been concerns regarding the scope of coverage for governance and political matters.
Section 10 (1) of the Broadcasting Services Act expressly states that one of the conditions for community broadcasting licensees is that they shall not broadcast any political matter and the law does not however elaborate on the definition of political content.
The Zimbabwe Association of Community Radios (ZACRAS) Code of Ethics elaborates that, community radio stations shall not become the mouthpiece or publicity vehicle of any particular political party and shall not broadcast material under the influence of any political party or be prejudiced against them.
The intergovernmental agency UNESCO recommends broadcasting of political content, as recorded in its UNESCO Community Radio Handbook that community radio can effectively monitor and ensure good conduct of elections, and play a vital role in promoting democracy.
UNESCO Community Radio Handbook also notes that, some countries’ legislation specifically forbids community radios from getting sucked into partisan political campaigning and others allow campaigning under strictly controlled conditions only during specified election periods.
According to the information recorded by Zimfact , UNESCO says if a community radio is involved in political campaigns, it is essential that no party or candidate derives undue advantage or suffers undue disadvantage ,a transparent system of providing equal opportunity and equal time to duly registered political parties and candidates must be established.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has room to approve educational content for broadcast in the media and also Zimbabwe watchdog organizations such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and Election Resource Centre (ERC) are some of the organizations that traditionally work with ZEC in this area.
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