Posted: June 22, 2010
Country: Zimbabwe
Centring around an interactive web platform, MIZ was launched by a senior Zimbabwean journalist seeking to circulate information that Zimbabwean journalists may find handy in their work and to provide a platform for networking and sharing ideas. The goal is to help create a cadre of journalists who are: sensitive to human rights and democracy; unwilling to discriminate on the basis of tribe, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.; capable of reporting fairly and objectively, without fear or favour; committed to ethics and professional standards in journalism; and enlightened to news and opportunities beyond the eyes of the ruling party.
In short, Media in Zimbabwe (MIZ) seeks to highlight strategies for fighting or evading media repression and media censorship, such as by using the internet or blogging to communicate.
This media development initiative draws on information and communication technology (ICT) to connect and capacitate journalists in a country emerging from a crisis and going through a difficult transition period toward a young democracy. The MediaInZimbabwe (MIZ) website: http://www.mediainzimbabwe.com/ provides a platform for Zimbabwean journalists at home and abroad to converge and debate issues affecting their work – in part through social networking via MIZ’s presence on Twitter and Facebook. The website also keeps journalists abreast of events in the industry, educates them on laws affecting their work and links them with organisations that provide legal counsel, highlights training programmes (e.g., to improve writing skills) with a particular focus on human rights and democracy, and circulates information on awards, fellowships, and scholarships.