A Hand Book in

Journalism & News

Writing

Caven Masuku

2012
Acknowledgments

A handbook of this nature, which laps into the knowledge, insights, experience and wide
spectrum of knowledged expert in journalism field, owe a tremendous deal to others. The
completion of this handbook is due to invaluable help from friends who supported me
throughout my career.

Journalism handbook would not have been possible without gifted journalist practitioners like
Oga Ndoro, Stephen Chadenga and many others that I could not mention. They worked
closely with me from the outset and am deeply in their debt.

Special thanks go to my wife Nokuthula Masuku and my daughter Mercy Masuku, who gave
me unfailing support throughout. In addition, am like-wise indebted to my friends, who
assisted me and allowed me to present my ideas before them for discussion. To my editor,
this work could not have come into fruition without his effort.

Finally, I would like to thank God and all colleagues at Midlands State University in the
Media department together with the level 1.2’s whom I taught journalism in 2011.

About the Author

Caven Masuku is a lecturer at Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe. He is in the

department of Media and Society Studies. He is also a freelance journalist who formerly
practiced journalism in both print media and radio broadcasting in Zimbabwe. This is my
second publication after “Practices and approaches of corporate social responsibility by
public relations department at Econet and national railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)
JOURNALISM:

Osborn (2001) asserts that; “The etymology of journalism, from the Latin “diurnals”,
suggests a daily account or record”. This term has come to mean the collection and editing of
news for presentation via one or more forms of media. Journalism can be defined as a form of
writing that tells people about things that really happened, but that they might not have
known about already. The most important characteristic shared by good journalists is
“curiosity”. Good journalists read extensively and develop an insatiable appetite to find as
much as they can about the world around them. In Zimbabwe journalism comes in various
dimensions and a journalist can either be

(i)Breaking News, that is, telling about events that are yet to be heard or as they happen
(ii) Feature Stories, that is, writing with insight in order to share what you know and what
you have researched extensively with the audience. A feature is a detailed article with
something interesting that is not breaking news.
(iii) Investigative stories that uncover information about influential people in the society like
the Clergy, Government Officials, lecturers from universities, colleges that few people knew.
(iv)Editorial that is unsigned stories that express the public opinions. For example in
Zimbabwe the opinions of the general public about the strength and weaknesses of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) signed in 2008.
(v) Columns that are signed articles that express the writer’s views on certain topics like
fashion, use of mobile phones, women, health and so forth.
(vi) Review such as book reviews. In Zimbabwe a journalist can either review a literary book
like the “House of Hunger”, “Coming of the Dry Season” and so forth
Journalism is that it gives people the essential element of an event without making it
simplistic. And if as a journalist, can achieve that then you achieve journalism.( John Pilger
cited in Pridemore No year)
Professional Journalism: “American Heritage Dictionary Journalism is the professional
collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news articles in newspapers, magazines,
radio ,TV broadcasting”.

Britannica:” Collection, preparation and distribution of news and related commentary and
feature materials through media such as print, electronic eg radio, film, TV and Internet….”.
It is writing characterized by direct presentation of facts or description of event without an
attempt at interpretation or analysis.

Clear and Weideman (1997) Journalism involve identifying newsworthy information for the
mass communication media and presenting it in a way that interest people.
It involves two activities (a) gathering news and writing news and then conveying news to a
large, diverse audience through the media whether print or electronic.
It usually implies one-way communication conveying information to the general public
Greer G (1999) Journalism is the profession or practice of reporting about, photographing, or
editing news stories for one of the mass media radio, TV, Newspapers, Magazines or the
Internet
The very best journalists have strong curiosity and interest that they can write about anything.
Journalists must be active listeners and careful observers.
They must be able to see further than those things which are easily seen and understood, ie
must read between the lines (Greer 1999:3)

The nine absolutes’ commandments in Journalism

 Always maintain accuracy

 Always correct an error openly
 Strive for balance and freedom and freedom from bias
 Protect the sources
 Respect privileged information
 Guard against putting the sources’ opinion in a news story
 Never plagiarize or fabricate
 Never pay for a story and never accept a bribe
  Never alter a still or moving image beyond the requirements of normal image
enhancement

Factors that determine News Value

There a number of factors that can be used as a yardstick to determine news value. Brooks et
al (1988: 4) argue that generations of journalists have used similar criteria in deciding the
news value of each day’s happenings and in deciding which news stories are more important
than others. Such decisions take into consideration the readers for whom the news is
intended. Media houses and journalists should always keep their readers in mind when
manufacturing news and the most important criteria for judging news value are:

Impact: How many people an event or idea affects and how seriously it affects them
determine its importance as news.
Proximity: Usually, the same happening is bigger news if it happens in your area than if it is
1,000 km away
Timeliness: Today’s news may be stale tomorrow. In most cases issues of great impact are
timeless. Journalists should tell an important story as soon as they can.
Prominence: It is believed that names do not always make news. Happenings that involve
famous, corporate organizations or institutions are likely to be interesting even if not
important
Novelty: The unusual makes good news. When a man bites the dog it is newsworthy unlike
when a dog bites a man. Anything that breaches the norms and values is news worthy.
Conflict: Most journalists spend most of their time covering conflict, war, politics, crime
such as rape cases, scandals and fights between individuals, organization or football teams. It
should be noted that conflict is both a contributing and a complicating factor in news. Usually
present, it is often hard to understand and cumbersome to describe
A journalist’s duties

1. To educate, inform and entertain

2. Watchdog of a society’s morality
3. Agent of social change.
4. Parameters of social order
5. Commentator of contemporary events
6. Link between government and the people.

WHAT IS NEWS?
-“It is a report about the break from the normal flow of events”
-It is a report of anything of interest to the large part of community and has not been told
before
Clear and Weidenman (1997) asserted that “News” is what newspaper publish, radio
broadcasters broadcast.
In other words it is what the public want to know
Hough (1995) News is what people need or want to know, whatever interests them, whatever
add to their knowledge
-Professional journalism protects “Officialdom”
-Journalism is there to manufacture and control the mind of people

Types of News:

Hard News: of current and immediate nature

Soft News: Include features that lend a human perspective to hard news
(i) At times there are a follow ups to hard news stories focusing on the human
dimension
Key Newsroom Hints

 Be punctual
 Observe deadlines, yours and others
 Conform to office dress standards
 Be courteous to sources and co-workers, always
 Adhere to the chain of command
 Read yours and other newspapers conscientiously
 Listen to and watch radio and television news always
 Do not:
 Vanish from the office
 Telephone family and friends
 Whistle, sing or throw paper balls
 Hints to work effectively
 Do one thing at a time perfectly
 Know the problem and deal with it accordingly
 Learn to listen to others views and respond positively
 Learn to ask your colleagues questions
 Distinguish sense from nonsense
 Accept change as inevitable and be tolerant
 Admit mistakes and apologize always
 Say it simple
 Be calm and smile always

Public relations

Traverse-Healy (1959) asserts that “PR is a deliberately planned and sustained effort to
establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its public. It is
about reputation-the result of what you do, what you say and what other say about you.PR is
two-way process concerned with understanding goodwill

PUBLIC RELATIONS JOURNALISM

Build images of organization identifies newsworthy information
Liase with management Contact various news sources (news gathering)
Write news release Attends meetings, news, conferences, seminar etc
Gathers information for internal and interview sources
external houses publications
Public speaking Conduct research for background information.
Writes articles for internal and external Takes photographs and writes captions for
house publication photographs
Produces publications (editing), writes reports and articles of various kinds
photography and layout
Prepares audiovisual presentations Rewrites news release and news reports received
from news agencies

Conducts research (Public Edits reports and articles and writes headlines
depending on the size of the newspaper
Opinion/articles)

Arranges news conferences, Interviews

(for own publication)
Interviewed by journalists
Arranges special events (Open day,
exhibitions)

Basic Story Structure

A good journalist gets straight to the point and has all the main elements- including context,
background, human interest and description woven in from the top, not tagged on as an
afterthought. The tried and tested “Inverted pyramid” -orders the elements of the story in
descending order of importance is encouraged. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How/
need to be answered. Answers to all basic journalistic questions need to be clearly outlined in
the story for the benefit of the reader.

The inverted pyramid approach works with leads too, with the most important, newest
elements presented on the outset, followed by the supporting details, such as the source.
Journalists should always ask whether the story say what it is meant to say and whether it is
clear and free from ambiguity.

Journalists as professional writers should ensure that the story is balanced, fair and neutral.
Journalists must watch phrases that might suggest that they are taking sides. In fact they
should tell all sides.

News stories should be kept simple, use clear and simple language, verbs must be in the
active rather than passive. Adverbs and adjectives must be avoided at all cost. . The first
paragraphs of a news story are crucial. Tell the reader immediately what has happened and
why it is important. If you have not told the story in the first two paragraphs it is too late. If a
journalist has not told the story, straight away (s) he may as well have missed it.

Count words in your first sentence

In journalism if there are more than 25 words, start getting nervous, if there are 30 then get
very nervous. When your words reach 40 and above one should break the sentence into two.
If you reach 50 you would have missed the point and there is need to simply break the
sentence since it is important to keep your lead short.

A lead of the news story can be supported by a direct quote to strengthen it and is a proof that
you have spoken to someone who knows what happened .Avoid ‘broken’ quotes unless if the
words are unusual, continuous or highly colourful.
Double check your copy before submitting it to the editor’s desk

Ensure information in the story agrees with the headline, and if appropriate, the alert
(bulletin). Are the headline tags and slugs correct and appropriate?
Does the story make clear how you got the information for instance interviews and so forth.
Confirm the day of the week and the date

Watch the spelling of proper names and ensure names are spelled
consistently thought out the story.
Make sure there is a quote to back up a contentious lead
Check for any legal dangers. Does the story cast a slur on the good name of a company or
individual? Does the story expose anyone to malice, hatred or contempt; is the story
balanced, fair, accurate and free from defamation?

Form
Most news stories are written in a traditional form that starts with the most important details
first. The form is called “The following paragraph contains secondary or supporting details in
order of decreasing importance. It is important to note that all the paragraphs of the story
contains newsworthy information and built upon each other, but each sentence is less vital
than the one before it. Anderson and Itule (1984:18) state that, this writing puts the punch of
a story at the beginning, so that it becomes different from the writing form used for novels,
short stories and some news feature which begins with background and ends to a climax.

Most newspapers across the world adopt the inverted pyramid form of news reporting
because it allows the reader to understand the news quickly. Few people budget hours a day
for reading news. Inverted pyramid is the most convenient model of writing that enables the
reader to grasp quickly the most important news of the day by simply skimming lead
paragraphs. Readers can choose whether they wish to continue the story to an end. Inverted
pyramid form is useful in the preparation of the copy and enables the editors to slice the story
quickly from the bottom (Anderson and Itule 1984:19). Furthermore, it enables the newsroom
reporters or editors to write headlines without searching through a story to single out key
points.
Newspaper Organisation

Top Management

Publisher:

This title often is assumed by the newspaper’s owner, although some chains or groups-
corporations that own two or newspaper-designate as publisher the top-ranking local
executive. Brook et al (1988) says that the publisher presides over the entire newspaper
operation but usually concentrates on financial matters and leaves editorial decisions to the
editors.

General Manager:

The general manager is responsible for advertising, circulation and production. In some
chains, however, the general manager serves as the top-ranking local executive and many
have a voice in editorial matters (Brook et al 1988:30).In most newsrooms a reporter has only
limited contact with the manager.
The Editorial Department

Editor:

Most newspaper editorial departments, or news rooms, are headed by an editor in chief, often
known as the editor. The editor overseers’ newspaper content. Editors are responsible for
editing content of the newspaper, including comics to news stories to editorials. The editor
can also decide the lead story and can work on the background of the story including the
newspaper writing style. The editor’s influence is exerted through those who report directly
to him.

Characteristics of a good editor

Motivates and shows enthusiasm

Reporters see you as a partner in producing great stories, not as a schoolmarm ready to catch
their errors. When a story idea or draft is not clicking, you can assist in turning it into
something better, rather than being quick to write it off as a flop. When you have to torpedo a
bad idea or point out bad writing, reporters know it is coming from foundation of respect

Cares about making a story better

A good editor knows how to make a story better. That means a lot more than deleting
unnecessary sentences or making a story clear. He can read a story, digest it and then decide
the scope, goals, tone, voice and character development and then figure out which of those
need to be improved.

Is honest and candid

Interact with reporters and respect the untidy process of developing ideas

Editorial Page editor:

In every newsroom there is a department that specializes on production issues, like designing
the masthead, deciding the positioning of stories as well as the placing of advertisements.
Traditionally the editorial duties have been separated from news gathering to distinguish
between fact and opinion. Reporters deal with facts, not opinion, although occasionally they
may be asked to write analytical articles.

Managing Editor:
The primary responsibility for news-gathering operations is in the hands of the managing
editor. Brook et al (1988) argued that the managing editor is the highest-ranking person who
makes frequent appearances in the newsroom.

On the other hand, the managing editor makes decisions about placement of major stories in
the newspaper. The managing editor does the hiring, prepares the newsroom budget and
makes most of the editorial department’s policy decisions in consultation with the editor.

News editor:
This editor has supervisory control of the copy desk, where final editing of the story is done,
pages are designed and headlines are written. Furthermore, assisting the news editor are copy
editors, experts who polish the wording of stories. They check verifiable information,
including the spelling of names and also write headlines. They also crop and size photographs
and other artwork, layout pages and work directly with the composing room to make sure that
stories fit the space available
The news editor is in charge of enforcing deadlines so that the newspaper comes out on time.
Typical Structure of News Room organization

STYLE FOR NEWS WRITING

Inverted Pyramid and Literal Lead
In Zimbabwe all hard news are written following the Inverted Pyramid. In addition, Inverted
Pyramid is the most space-efficient story form known. It permits writers to go on at great
length, or, as is more often the case, to deliver the most important information in a paragraph
or two. Information is arranged in descending order of importance. The most salient issues
about Inverted Pyramid can be summarized below;

Inverted Pyramid:
Most news stories are written in a traditional form it puts most important details first. The
form is called an INVERTED PYRAMID. It begins with a terse/short opening paragraph
called LEAD that summarizes the principal items of a news event.
The second paragraph and each succeeding paragraph contain secondary or supporting details
in order of decreasing importance. NB All the paragraphs of the story contain newsworthy
information, but each paragraph is less vital than the one before it.
The writing form puts the punch of a story at the beginning.
This writing form is different from the writing form used for novels, short stories, drama and
some news features, where an author begins with background and works to a climax.

Guideline for using the Inverted Pyramid

1. Avoid a “buried lead”.

The ingredients of an inverted pyramid are the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and
HOW of news event. For example:

X“Police Chief John Jones discussed Riversdale crime problem with interested town’s people
at a meeting Monday night. Jones agreed to meet with residents who have grown
increasingly concerned about the safety of their neighbors’. The Chief said there were more
serious crimes reported in the last 12 months in Riverdale than during any year in the city’s
history”

“Police Chief John Jones said Monday night that there were more serious crimes reported in
Riverdale last year than during any 12 months in the city’s history” (Anderson and
Itule 1984)

2. Keep the lead as brief as possible:

If you can do it in 25 words or fewer, fine, but never write a lead with more than 35 words.
The writer should not have attempted to put two ideas into one sentence.
Effective Leads:

“ZIMBABWE Prime Minister Morgarn Tsvangirai warned SADC yesterday that is has two
weeks to settle the pending issues in the Global Political Agreement among the Main
Political parties”.

3. Keep all sentences as simple as possible:

Trim superfluous or hard-to-understand words. Do not clutter sentences with un-necessary

adjectives, advertisements or subordinate Clauses.

4. Write in an active voice

(Subject acting upon object) rather than passive voice (subject is acted upon).
-Active voice is considered more direct and vigorous.

Lead:
“Chicago firefighters battled dense smoke for nearly six hours Saturday to bring a multi-
alarm blaze in a downtown frozen foods storage building under control.

WHO……Firefighters
WHAT….Battle dense smoke in a multi-alarm blaze
WHEN….Saturday
WHERE...Downtown Chicago
WHY……To control a fire

(Anderson and Itule 1984:19)

NB: Hard News uses INVERTED PYRAMID as well as SOFT NEWS use literary lead.

Champagne glass
The style takes a similar form to the Inverted Pyramid with the first top/ first half of the story
containing a strong lead and all the important facts.
There is a strong transition to a chronological retelling of the story from beginning to end
The style ends with a great kicker
It is important to give your readers a “reward” for staying with you for the whole story.
Complex events are simplified in narrative order and it keeps the story in context
NB The only problem though is that this kind of story is much harder to edit.

Stack of block
This style takes the form of a lead followed by several distinct and separate sections and a
strong ending. The advantage of grouping information into specific sections is that it allows
for easier explanation and helps readers remember the major points and explanations.
The major disadvantage is that a reader has to scan an entire story to get all the points.
Editing is easy and less important information can be removed without the rest of the story
not being affected

Anecdote and nut graph

It can lead the reader easily into difficult subjects and complex analyses.
Story written under this style starts with a long soft lead.
The paragraph following the SOFT LEAD is called the “NUT GRAPH”.
Nut Graph tells the reader what the story is all about (ie) it gives essential facts which show
why the story is so important

FUNCTIONS OF A HEADLINE

To summaries the story for the reader

To attract the reader’s attention
To show how important the story is
To give prominence to the newspaper (Greer 1999:143)
B) Summary Lead:

It is used on most hard news stories in fewer than 35 words, it gives readers the gist of the
story and lets them decide right away if they are interested enough in the story to continue.
Even if the readers do not read the entire article, at least they are told the major points from
the beginning.

Example (Anderson and Itule 1984:21)

“President Reagan was shot and wounded in the chest Monday when a gunman lurking in the
crowd fired a rapid Volley of close-range shots as the chief executive emerged from the
hotel”.

C) Anectodal Lead:
Whereas the SUMMARY LEAD is the most common lead used on hard news stories. The
Anecdotal or Narrative lead is the most popular of features because it paints a picture for the
readers, placing them in the action of the story and then drawing them through it.-Summary
leads do not contain names of people unless they are known, but in an ANECDOTAL names
of people can be used/mentioned. It is written in a block of paragraphs and thus builds up to
the major point of the story eg

Example (Anderson and Itule 1984)

“Anderson L Brooks was about to leave home for another day at work. He adjusted his black,
narrow necktie the way he had for 40 years. He slipped on his favorite brown hat, the one
with a sweat ring showing through the band. He lit a cigarette and left for downtown Los
Angeles”
D) Contrast lead
A contrast lead compares one thing with another or several things with each other. These are
“old and new”, “Short and Tall”
Leads usually tell readers what the story will be about. They can be used in any type of news
or feature story.

E) Staccato Lead
The words in a staccato lead help set the mood for the piece. This type of lead emphasizes a
short burst of phrases that carry readers into the story by dangling some of the storey’s key
elements in front of them. It is meant to tease readers and can be used on news or feature
stories

Example (Anderson and Itule 1984)

“Friday 6PM in a tavern. Everyone’s talking until she walks in”

Or “A 17 year old girl was shot dead by the riot police on Sunday”

F) Direct address lead

The writer communicates directly with the reader by using the word you in the lead. Such
leads usually are not acceptable in hard news stories, where the writer should not
communicate directly with readers, but sometimes do work in features

Example (Anderson and Itule 1984)

“Hard starting, black smoke and poor fuel economy sure some symptoms that indicate it is
time to check your cars spark plugs”
G) Question lead

They ask readers a question in the first paragraph and then give the answer in the second or a
later paragraph. Sometimes Editors ban question lead

Example (Anderson and Itule 1984)

“Rome –Was it the lonely odyssey of a single-minded, criminally insane fanatic or the
carefully planned movements of a paid killer, picking up money and support from
international organizations”.

H) Quote lead:
It Vis used on news or feature stories to entice readers. The quote may be the most powerful
one in the story, or it may set the tone for what is to follow. Using good, strong quote in leads
is affective writing.

I) Delayed lead:
It introduces suspended-interest stories that string along readers until the end, when the news
peg or the main point of the story is given. Readers are given news in the lead paragraph and
the kick of the story is saved for last. These leads are popular for the short humorous “bites”
that are used in newspapers. They can also be used in features.
NB. Be objective because SAID is a neutral verb, it should be used in the attribution for news
stories.
ADDED can be used because it, too, is an objective verb.
Do not use words/verbs that have connotations. Avoid verbs such as: asserted, claimed,
contended, cried, declared, demanded, emphasized, hinted, maintained, stressed, stated etc.
SECRET FOR GOOD WRITING
1. Be fair. Present all sides of a story
2. Observe good state of news writing
3. Make LEADS provocative, clear and simple
4. Sentences should be short
5. Quotes improve stories. Use them
6. An important story need not be long
7. Select adjectives carefully. Too many are dangerous
8. Don’t be impressed with an important assignment
9. Go directly to the source on every story.
10. Leave no reasonable questions unanswered. Do not assume readers know the background.
And do not be afraid to write a good story you think readers already know.
11. Be polite, but don’t be servile that is do not be submissive.
12. Get details clearly, accurately/correct.
13. Even if you have mastered the language use shorter and simple words.
14. After the lead, blend the story from paragraph to paragraph.
15. Do not insult a race, an ethnic group, a minority or other entity.
16. Do not abuse your privileges or the weapons of your industry.
17. Admit errors quickly and fully.
18. Protect your sources, but in your quotation mention your sources.

Compilation of the news stories that were published by international News Agents and Local
News Papers in Zimbabwe from 2005 to 2010

Accidents condemned through arts

By Caven Masuku

Imagine an accident occurs and many people lose their lives. We all bleed from the
unfortunate incident, but one unique "crier" goes a step further to capture the disaster in an art
form. This is the world of Zvishavane born 30 year old Visual artist, Godwell Mkandhla. His
painting "Spirit Blood" captures the horrific experiences caused by the numerous carnages in
Zimbabwe's bad roads. But "Spirit Blood" was evoked in particular by the 2005 Shurugwi
bus disaster.

In an interview with Caven Masuku Mkandhla said: "The Shurugwi disaster evoked my
mental emotions about the ills of road accidents. I had to reflect the pain through what I know
best-Visual Art. Hence I came up with a painting, "Spirit Blood." The untimely death of the
young, middle-aged and old is painful and I had to express it in art form."

The 30 year old artist who did his primary and secondary education in Bulawayo and
Hwange respectively did not follow the usual route followed by many of pursuing degrees at
University but rather opted to train in visual arts at Surprise Center situated 20 km along the
Gweru-Shurugwi road.

To exhibit his artistic diversity, Mkandhla is also into stone sculpture and weaving.
Mkandhla said that visual art is all about feelings and giving a sight of objects around. Visual
artists teach people through artistic works like painting to honor their culture. Painting is one
medium and means of communications that was used by the Bushman and the Mesopotamia
to communicate to the society.

Visual art as a genre in arts like oral and written literature cultivate good culture to the
community. Visual arts through drawings remind people of their past, their learned ways of
living, behavior and attitudes. "Through my paintings I reflect harmony within the
community and preserve the culture of my people', said Mkandhla.

He added that Visual art unlike oral and written literal works of arts uses the voice and words
to disseminate information related to social, cultural, economic and political issues within the
community. Visual art on the other hand is silence and is loaded with meaning that can be
determined by the viewer’s cultural background that sometimes can be different to the
intended intention by the artist.

Visual artist assist people to learn about their traits using the animals, birds, trees and natural
vegetation surrounding them through attaching meaning to it. It needs talented artists like
Mkandhla to apply his visual artistic talent to remind people and educate them about their
learned ways of living.
Economically, visual arts assist in drawing the attention of the foreigners, who can bring
forex through buying artistic artifact’s and improve the financial well-being of the country.
Again artist can earn a living like formal employed workers and can create employment to
the youths, said Mkandhla.

In responding to the current problems faced by Gweru artists, Mkandhla indicated that many
artists in Midlands, Gweru faces financial constraints which contribute negatively to the
standard of their products.

Furthermore, Gweru unlike Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare has no art gallery to show case and
sell their artefact's. "As artists in Midlands, Gweru we have tried to talk to the Military
Museum so that they can allow us to display our products for exhibition", said Mkandhla.
Stop violence is another visual arts product that was produced by Mkandhla in 2005 and
reminds parents that domestic violence is not health for their children. This art product
condemns violence that affect the performance of the school going children who witness the
fight between their parents on daily basis.

In 2006, Mkandhla produced the "bushman paintings", a product that was produced through
the mixture of soil with paintings. Such paintings that sometimes can be done on stones as a
medium benefit society to learn history much better than written words that can be subject to
bias.

Mkandhla told Masuku that so far he has only exhibited in Gweru Agricultural Show for
2009. In this show a new visual artifact’s called "Sad faces" was displayed to educate a
person about the strange happenings that catches them by surprise. "As artists there are
difficult times that we pass through that makes sad moments for us and this is what i was
communicating to the society through my paintings', said Mkandhla.

The talented artists Mkandhla advise other artist to be perseverance, persistent and hard
working. Artists should take time and not rush things and admire people like Dominic
Benhure and Gutsa who came a long way and have laid a good example to all artist in
Zimbabwe, he said.
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, Provincial Arts Manager, Abigal Sivanda said
Mkandhla as a visual artist in Gweru has modern tendencies and his work has not been
exposed. Sivanda said that, "Mkandhla once visited Bulawayo Arts Gallery for assistance in
his artefact's but did not get the help he needed at that time". She promised that for the next
four weeks as the new administration in Gweru, they will organize an exhibition to enable the
business community to meet with local artist. She said that as a marketing strategy this will
promote Gweru artists and enable them to sell their arts products to the local business people.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Caven_Masuku

The Vulnerability of Women and Men to HIV & AIDS

By Caven Masuku

Socialization plays a vital role in educating men and women about the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Gender stereotyping and power relations make women and men, girls and boys vulnerable to
HIV/AIDS infection.

In Zimbabwe my culture socials men to believe that having many partners is not wrong and
that it is part and parcel of manhood. It has been researched and analyzed that men at times
are shy to condoms, citing a loss of manliness as a reason for not practicing safer sex. In
Africa and around the world, men's prowess and his ability to produce many children are still
seen as a sign of strength. Hence the attempt to prove manhood has caused Africa men to die
from HIV/AIDS in many numbers.

In Zimbabwe poverty which is becoming more and more deep-rooted, with large pool of
children who have lost parents to AIDS moving into urban cities, young boys too engage in
sex work increasing their risk of contracting HIV.

The vulnerability of women and girls is locked into their lack of equality in resources,
opportunity and voice throughout societies to condemn men's practice that jeopardize their
lives. Women and girls powerlessness expose them to immense risk of HIV infection.
Empowering women and a girl child is essential for reducing the vulnerability of HIV
infection.
Many women worldwide still lack control over their bodies and do not have the right to
decide freely and responsibly matters related to their own sexuality. Infected women in
Zimbabwe endure further forms of discrimination and less care as this is devoted to caring for
the man if both are affected.

Gender violence which is caused by the unequal power relations and family politics between
men and women, boys and girls exposes women and girls to rape and sexual abuse, making
them vulnerable to HIV infection.

Our societies need to be structure in such a way that both sex males and females have equal
chances to stand and defend their rights. Fostering the rights of community members lead to a
health society with health relationship. A health society can improve its life style and
production can be boosted as most of the time will be spend working instead of attending to
the patience.

Interview with NAMA 2007 Winner

By Caven Masuku

Who is Mthombeni?

My full name is Catherine Mthombeni and was born in Harare on the 29th of August 1984 in
a family of three girls and a boy. I'm the first-born and have to set a pace for those who come
after me.

Can you give me your detailed academic background?

Well ah! Yeah! I started my primary education in Harare at Thomlson Primary School from
Grade One to Seven. I then proceeded to Form One up to Form Six at Daramombe "Christ"
the King that was 1996-2000. Currently I am at Midlands State University completing my
Degree in Media and Society Studies.
What is art and how do you relate it to media?

Art is a form of communication that can be literary, visual, dramatic and musical. It can be
performed in an open space where the community members can celebrate with the artist. Art
is a vehicle that perpetuates the culture of the society that is the totality of the people in a
given space. It is a social cement that keeps the society in solidarity and bound together. It
enhances language and transmits the norms and values. Media are used as the means to
perpetuate and promote arts. It enables a multiplicity of views to circulate among the
community members.

In your family who do you emulate and why?

Not any one in particular! but had to achieve what had not been achieved by anyone in the
family. Through zeal and determination together with the global atmosphere that we are
living in, I had to develop the attitude of hard working and the result have been achieved.
What contribution do media give to art discipline? Both the print and electronic media give
wide coverage of stories, acts, artistic shows and columns that disseminate culture to the
entire society. Such programs help the artists to realize their weaknesses and improve them.
Media also makes artists to be popular celebrities. Media assist artistic products to be
marketed at a broader scale. Media help in the wrapping of the message in a manner that will
make the audience to like it.

What does it take to meet NAMA qualities?

Ah! That is a coaxing question, anywhere talking from experience there are a lot of things
that have to be improved. Craftiness in writing the stories, competence in handling language,
effectiveness in putting ideas across and having the taste of arts, l suppose is all what it takes
for someone to emerge as the NAMA nominee. Criticizing artist, albeit that at times it sours
relations and helps the artist to know their strengths and weakness.

Do you think Midlands State University (MSU) is an institution which contributes to

arts, if so how?
Yes it does extensively. Programs like musicology, African languages and Culture, and
Media studies are the programs offered at MSU and impart skills and knowledge that are
artistic in form. Many MSU products have started recording studio in most urban centers and
have recruited many intern students for attachment.

What do you think is lacking in Zimbabwe in promoting artistic talent?

Currently, in Zimbabwe there are a lot of problems that the arts industry is encountering.
Lack of money to purchase instruments is a major challenge. Funding is another problem that
this industry is facing, unlike in other developed countries where such disciplines can be state
funded or sponsored by big companies. In Zimbabwe it seems that it will never happen. Only
if we can get more programs like the "Chibuku Road to Fame.

Who inspired you to pursue the arts?

Well l cannot tell where exactly l got the inspiration from, but what l can say is that l like
listening to music and reading novels. At The Sunday News, l got lured to the entertainment
desk.

Do you think the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) needs to be hailed for
facilitating NAMA, and why?

Yes! Like in my case the award is my first achievement time to be recognized by NACZ. I
am happy that l was the first person to attain that award as a woman. Secondly, it encourages
journalists writing stories to work hard by rewarding them accordingly, depend on their
abilities. NAMA Award encourages journalist to write arts stories. Respecting media as a
discipline and giving recognition is something that needs to be hailed.

Whom do you want to thank In the Media studies department and why?

General l would like to thank all my lecturers who contributed immensely by nurturing my
skills and writing talent. However, special thanks go to Mandava the Media Chairperson for
the message that he gave us when we were going to an attachment. Not forgetting Oga Ndoro
who taught me the craftiness of writing the stories.
Any words of encouragement to the NAMA Award aspiring individuals?

Yes! They should not write expecting to win the NAMA Award, but all the same have to
write competently and effectively to whet the appetite of the reader. Determination, zeal and
hard work is all what it takes to scoop an award. Craftiness and good handling of language is
a prerequisite. Anywhere in journalism if you cannot handle language properly you
automatically do not qualify to be there.

Midlands Sculptor Exhibits Artistic Prowess

By Caven Masuku

Behind a sculptured metal bull adorning metal spectacles and putting on metal shoes stands a
relaxed dread locked young man. His right hand resting on his exceptionally magnificent
work of art. The young artistic is none other than Shurugwi born Coaster Mkoki. Through his
artistic work, the young man has travelled to places. He has been to South Africa and the
United Kingdom where his works scooped awards in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London.
His mission statement speaks volume about his artistic talent. "Through my work I wish to
reflect the time behind and the time ahead. I create my art in response to the challenges of
working in different places and environments". As a sculptor, he familiarizes his work to the
Stone Age paintings and believes that sculpture is a form of visual communication which is
non-verbal but places strong emphasis to the society.

Sculpture can be traced as far back as the first attempt of pictographic communication that
was used to convey an idea in Mesopotamia in about 350 BC. As a molder the stone was a
medium of mass communication since it involves drawing paintings and photographs that
convey information that has political, social, economic and historical as well as religious
connotations

In a face to face interview with Caven Masuku from Midlands State University, Mkoki
shared his social background.
"I was born in the Midlands mining town of Shurugwi but grew up in Gweru's Mkoba
suburb. I worked at Zimbabwe Alloys as a fitter and turner for eleven years on a part time
basis," said Mkoki. I started my art gallery in 1993 and received two awards in 1995.
In addition, Mr. Mkoki worked as the co-coordinator of the 2007 Land Mark exhibition that
was conducted at Gweru Military Museum. Coaster said that he started sculptor long back as
a child."I was born an artist and worked with Tapfuma Kiuts, a, my mentor who is now based
in Austria," he said.
As a brilliant sculptor who has exhibited beyond borders, Mkoki understands sculpture as
creation and touch of things which can be admired. Mkoki told Caven masuku that he is
inspired by God, who is the best creator ever to be witnessed.

"I am imitating what God has created through molding works of art that can be emulated by
society. The community benefits a lot from sculptures and Land Mark exhibition was
supposed to be my soul exhibition. It creates life and helps the community by engaging them"
As a sculptor, Mkoki said they lacked financial backing and he had to use his money to
facilitate the Land Mark exhibition.

Mkoki suggested that the school curriculum needs to be revisited, and artistic genre like
drama and music does put more money as compared to sculpture. Art sculptor like Dominic
Benhura who were mentored by Tapfuma Kiutsa, are highly contributors of the economic
turnaround

Sculpture contributes immensely to our culture. It enables the use of hands as an icon or
metaphor. Moses in the Bible used sculpture to build turbanacles. The Zimbabwe ruins,
Egyptians Pyramids and Matopos are the work of sculptures. Mkoki perceives sculptor as a
ruler that can elevate creativity, Inca in America, stone Hange in the United Kingdom. Cave
paintings and sculptures are works that communicate effectively to the society. Behind every
sculpture there is God who gave us the knowledge to imitate his works. National Arts
Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) provides the sculptor in Gweru with moral support.

The sculpture industry kindly requests the government to assist as they contribute immensely
to the economic turnaround of the country. Mkoki said that it is disheartening that Gweru
Civic centre has no sculpture artifacts as compared to Bulawayo and Harare. Sculpture has no
boundaries; instead a sculptor has freedom to speak out his mind.
Mkoki said that they is a lot that needs to be done to promote arts and sculpture in Gweru.
The Midlands province needs more shows and the corporate world to host art galleries.

Interviewing HIV Positive People

By Caven Masuku

Interviews in journalism are one of the most important and critical activities in the process
of gathering information. Both broadcasting and print media rely extensively on interviews to
craft a good story that wets the appetite of the reader.

Interviewing people who are HIV positive or those living with AIDS poses an extra challenge
to journalist who must adorn a cloak of sensitivity, while being able to break through the
silence and taboo in many cultures of openly talking about sex. In Zimbabwe as well as many
cultures, it is a taboo to discuss issues of sex and to name them explicitly. Certain words
associated with sex such as virus and condoms do not exist in the Zimbabwean local
languages. Worse still human private parts in an Africa context cannot be freely and easily
mentioned without infringing the taboos.

For a journalist to be recognized and to be respected has to be aware of the cultural factors
that can compromise people being open with information which is salient for a good
interview. Culture is a complex and contested phenomenon that can be defined in a
multiplicity of ways. While it can be defined as "ordinary”, that is what people do at a given
moment. However, on the other hand it can perceived as a "totality of life learned across time
and is transmitted from generation to generation."

The complexity of culture can be experienced through the way people form and express their
sense of identity. As a way of life, it is made up of norms and values which inform thought
perceptions and behavior.
In many cultures, because of gender roles women are less eager to speak openly, or honestly,
about the "private” and issues related to sex and sexual behavior. When an interview takes
place where both men and women are present, women will fall silent and leave the discussion
to the men.
In an African context a good woman does not openly reveal her hurts, pain, sexual abuse,
violence and denial of sexual rights. Such silence perpetuates the violation of women and
other human rights.

Understanding gender role in journalism tells the whole story why women may tend to be
silent or less forth coming during interviews which have to do with sex or HIV/AIDS. As a
journalist knows gender relations, culture and social traits that underpin the society you are
informing, help all journalist to become better forearmed and understanding "what is to be
said."

Through interviews as a method of gathering news information and understanding the

complexities of important issues, journalist may begin to uncover the stories of everyday
efforts by women and men who make small decision to protect themselves but come up
against obstacles.

In Zimbabwe, several workshops have been conducted to educate journalist to be guided by

media ethics in their day to day business. Among the issues that the media associations have
been reminding journalists is that they should tell the truth, respect the individuals, protect the
source, report objectively and give their audience the right to respond.

FEATURE WRITING

Introduction

A good feature writer is neither wordy nor flowery. He is precise and straight to the point and
is guided by the ABC of Journalism that is Accuracy, Balance and Clarity. Before one starts
crafting a feature article, he must master the nitty gritty of writing so that even the ordinary
man in the street and intellectuals can easily understand. Remember that writing is an art that
need to be blended with knowledge and wisdom.

What is a Feature?

Ask a journalist what a feature is and he or she is likely to respond: Anything isn’t news.
True, very few newspapers would put a feature on the front page where a lead story ought to
be (although it has been known), but many writers would say that a lot of their features are
news-based in that they are linked to something topical, interesting and news (Pape and
Featherstone 2006).Nick Morrison cited in Pape and Featherstone 2006:2, says that “features
are often used to provide background to an existing news story and to go into more depth”.. It
can be argued that as news story tells you the ‘what” about an incident, a feature article
explains the ‘why”. A feature article can be recognized by its length which can range from
600 to 2000 words- and its use of facts, pictures, graphics and illustrations. One entry reads;
“an item or article appearing regularly in a newspaper. A second definition says that: A
feature article is a distinctive part or aspect of a landscape, building or book.

A feature article is different from hard news in many ways. First and foremost, a feature
article is timeless and has a human interest written with a deep insight of the writer. It is
designed to entice the reader eyes and minds forcing them that the story is worth reading.
Feature articles are mainly found in magazines and stand the test of time. The new genre of
feature articles I have seen so far uses some of the Ws, but a good one would use all the Ws
and the following leads;

Question Lead: This lead starts by interrogating and do not require the answer instantly. It
borrows heavily from rhetoric and prepares the reader for an answer as (s)he peruses further.
For example “Is there life after death”. The reader will either get the answer in the middle or
towards the end of the story. Question leads enable the reader to be involved and at times
correspond well with the term inclusive.

Quote Lead: Writing as an art, the writer can start by a quotation. For instance: “We are
not of yesterday, but we are of today”. Such quotation operates as “Emphatic Communion”.
In other words, it is there to open up the conversation with the reader and to a certain extent
guide the reader as they read through.

Narrative Lead: This is part of Literary Allusion were the writer can start in suspense to
relax the reader. Narrative is like storytelling and as a genre it is more literary and entertains
the reader throughout, while telling the whole story in stages. For example’ “There was
sunshine as students at Midlands State University were preparing for the rehearsals for the
Gweru agricultural Show to be convened next week”.

Descriptive Lead: Descriptive lead gives the detailed information about the whole
scenario. It can provide detailed information about the scene or a place in a pellucid as a
manner as it demands. For example;

“The sky was blue the birds air’s wings seemed to be the relievers of tense heat from the sky.
This was mid of September when Caven Masuku was graduating after completing his first
degree with Zimbabwe Open University in 2005
.

The role of the Feature

It can be argued that the role of a feature article is simply to fill the page of a newspaper. This
claim can be digested differently since feature articles in newspapers and magazines plays a
salient role to entertain, educate, inform, amuse, explain and to give the readers something
interesting, new and perhaps enjoyable to read. Pape and Featherstone (2006) say that “all
writing serves one or more functions: information, entertainment, education or persuasion
and these can be broadly explained as follows:

Information: Telling you something you did not know before such as in a
News story-breaking news
Match report-and the final score
Review- is it worth it?
Personal column- I really think you should know this
Profile- did (s)he really say that
Entertainment: A good read such as in a:
News story-oh my goodness!
Match report-Sounds like it was a great game…..
Review-Wish I did been there…
Personal Column- You do not say…
Profile- I do not believe it!
Education: this will improve your quality of life as in a:
News story New evidence that smoking is really bad for you
Match report-So that is how they won 16-0
Review-Well, I never knew that was the meaning of Lucky in the sky with Diamonds…
Personal Column-Perhaps, if I do that I can…
Profile-Oh, now I understand where (s)he is coming from
Persuasion: This is how you should think, feel and so on, such as in a:
News story-that is terrible, it should not happen again…
Match report-(s/he is so inspiring…
Review-Ok, I will give it a try….
Personal Column-Yes, I get your point…
Profile-Perhaps, he is got a point about….
(Pape and Featherstone 2006:5)

FEATURE ENDING

There are six basic feature endings namely;

Lead Replay: This goes back to the beginning of the feature article. The Lead of a feature
story can be used to sum up the article .Writing as an art at times need a creative writer who
can be manipulative, cunning and at the same time embellish his or her words using rhetoric,
connotative and emphatic words which can cause the reader to smile, wryly, shade tears,
click the tongue and perhaps drove into a felicity mood.
Proximity Ending: Proximity simple means nearer or adjacent and here the writer uses
information from the paragraph right before the concluding paragraph of the feature article.
Restatement: This is another interesting feature article ending that reminds the reader of the
story’s purpose by restating it.

Word Play: This end in feature writing is well plated with words that play game to
entertain the reader. The writer uses a play words or catchy phrase that leaves the impression
in the readers mind.

Quote: Quote ending can sometimes be called borrowing direct from elsewhere and uses a
striking everlasting quote that can be remembered for a long period of time in life. For
instance, the write can end a feature article by saying; “Crime does not pay”.

Surprise Ending: This is an ending that can sometimes shock or startle the reader. This
ending is mainly associated with literature and can make the reader to enjoy the article even
at the end more than the beginning or the middle of it
.

Feature Writing do’s and don’ts

The expert of feature article uses the juristic persona what sometimes is called the thirds
person. Here the writer can use the past participle tenses, present participle tenses so that an
article can prolong and stand the test of time. This could be the reasons why articles from
magazines can sound new and relevant to our day to day lives despite the year’s lapse.

A feature article just like a novel should follow the three tiers that is the introduction, body
and conclusion. The article can start using any of the leads discussed above and be concluded
using any of the endings mentioned in this book.

As part of journalism and effective writing, feature article should name all the people
involved fully begging with their first name, middle and last names if possible. Places and
events relevant to the article as propare nouns need to be mentioned.
Again a feature article must flow in a logical transition just like water along the river. Facts
should be placed one after the other in sequence to better the gist of the article.

It is important always for the writer to use simple and clear language when writing. The
writer needs to use strong action verbs that will give a vivid picture in the minds of the
readers. Tactile, aural, visionary and so forth must be felt in the article without missing a
point.

The writer also needs to vary the sentence structure. Simple, compounding and sometime
complex sentences have to be inter-twine in a feature article. Just as a human being will dress
to suit the occasion and impress the on-lookers the feature article writer has to do the same
with the article. The fact that most of the world’s misunderstanding is because of the lack of
grammar can be better understood through sentence structures in a feature article.

A feature article at time need to be written in a natural form and should capture the feeling
and personal reaction of the characters talked about in an article. If the journalist conducted
an interview before writing a feature story people’s comments direct words can be quoted in
an article and at times be used to conclude the article.

Don’ts

When writing a feature article there is need to follow the following format; introduction,
body and conclusion
Avoid using words or phrases with dual meaning. Diction is important and the journalist must
be simple in their writing and straight forward to avoid confusion to the reader.

Journalist as professional writers must not use fake names or unfamiliar acronyms that are
beyond reach to the readers. There is need to clarify issues especially if dealing with
unfamiliar abbreviations and terms. Take your time to simplify the matter.
Journalists must not use certain terms that can kill the gist of an article like “therefore, so,
thus, hence, as a result and so forth excessively as this can become and sound more academic
that journalistic.

Avoid stating or repeating the headline in the first sentence of your feature article. You
cannot become a good journalist with poor English language skills.

Apart from handling well the language the journalist must master the journalism writing
skills and select the words appropriately for effective communication. A feature article is
there to communicate with the reader indirectly.

Profile

Profile involve personalities, celebrities, who have done something news, unusual or
extraordinary (Pape and Featherstone 2006:83). However, writing a profile gives feature
writers the opportunity to meet all types of people not available to the public. The important
idea when writing a profile is that you need to get a snapshot of your interviewee. The writer
looks at a personality who might not be in the news, but who could be interesting reading.
The journalist have to interview the person he decide to compile a profile for and then tape
facts about the personal life of that person. For example, a well known journalist who would
have collected several awards, a stout woman in the village, a war veteran with several wives
or a well know professor with hundred publication can be interesting to read about. Profiles
can also be of organizations, such as MISA, Econet, Midlands State University and so forth.
Profiles must be inclusive and informative enough to capture the minds of the reader. In other
words, it is the manner in which the profile is written that makes the reader want to read it. It
is important to note that at times profiles are not just about the famous and wannabe famous.
In Zimbabwe, sometime profiles about ordinary people who have done extraordinary things
like passing A Level examination are interesting to read. The good example of a profile
feature can be similar to the one compiled below;
Profile: EDUcare College

EDUcare College is one of the best tertiary institutions in Gweru that has produced
competent professionals working in various industries country wide. As they say, behind
every great institution is a great person, and Joseph Sungai, the acting Executive Director of
EDUcare is no exception.

Meet him and you will find a humble, candid and well focused man exuding vast experience.

Joseph Sungai was born on 19 October 1950 in Chirumanzu and is currently 61. He did his
primary education in Chirumanzu and proceeded to Gokomere High School for his secondary
education. After form 2 he moved to Lesotho Christ King High School where he completed
his O level. He then enrolled at Marist College for his A levels.

Sungai enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe from 1975 for a BA degree in English and
Geography. He completed his studies in 1977.

After acquiring his first degree he went to Lesotho where he taught for three years before
going to Zambia for his Masters. Sungai had to find him-self back within the corridors of
University of Zimbabwe to pursue his Post Graduate Diploma in Education.

The following year saw him getting employed as a teacher at Sanyati in Kadoma for a year,
he then transferred to Bernard Muzeki College in Marondera before joining Elisi Gladhill in
in Mutare, where he taught for some time. He later moved to Kushinga Phikelela College and
was appointed as a senior Communication lecturer, and then Acting Principle for four years.

In 1989 he went to Botswana and got a job as a Deputy headmaster in Gaborone for five
years. In 1996 he was appointed to run Stock Investment Company based in Bulawayo for
three years before joining EDUcare College for five years, where he was employed as the
headmaster.
In 2005 Sungai came back to Gweru and was asked to head the afternoon school. The same
year in June, he was appointed as the Acting Managing Director for EDUcare College until
the present moment.

Mr Sungai told the reporter Caven Masuku that he was inspired by his former primary school
headmaster, Mr John Singende, who is currently based here in Gweru. “His eloquence,
effectiveness and confidence is all what made me to envy the teaching profession”, said
Sungai.

Mr Sungai’s favourite sport is soccer and during his hey days he used to play a full back
position. Sungai has travelled places and has learnt a lot culturally and socially. He said he
lives his life by the bible. He said:”If I am to reverse all these things I will prefer to give other
people chance to succeed in knowing God better”

Book reviews

Book reviews must tell the reader in brief what the book is about, the opinion, strength and
weaknesses in style or theme plot or language. It is always good idea according to Pape and
Featherstone (2006) to provide story or plot details early but be careful not to give away the
ending. Journalist writing a book review must provide biographical details about the author.
Journalist must quote directly from the book to give substance to its appeal.Journalist
reviwing a book can make comparisons with other writers in the same field. For instance the
example given below is a review of Charles Mungosh’s novel with short stories. This book
was published in Zimbabwe and is used by tertiary institution especially those who study
literature. The journalist who reviewed the book had to make a comparison between the
author of the reviewed novel with other authors like Musaemura Zimunya and Chinua
Achebe. All the authors cited are African English Literature writers and it is important to note
how the deal with the issue of education in an African continent.

Book Review: COMING OF THE DRY SEASON

By Caven Masuku
This week we are going to review the collection of short stories written by Charles Mungoshi,
one of the famous writers in Zimbabwean Literature.

The novel entitled, “Coming of the dry season” by Mungoshi consist of ten chapters and
refers to several issues that affect Africans in today's world.

Education is viewed as a vehicle to success in all endeavors and contributing to political,

social, religious and economic well being.

Mungoshi has a negative side of the story on formal education to Africans, especially during
the colonial periods, where Africans could not occupy influential post despite being educated
more than a white person. Creation of a social system’s in which the educated are granted
higher status than those without cause’s disunity in the society. Alienation between educated
and uneducated is functional to our social well-being.

The debate between two boys who are friends and are on equal level until they entered into
alien school system in the story; “The mountain”, tells a story on the evils of formal
education. Values and social hierarchies imposed by the education system create a rift
between community members. Chinua Achebe in, “Thing Fall Apart”, says that, “Western
education acted as a crush blow leveled at traditional values by aliens and causes the society
to fall apart”. Mungoshi condemns the economic, political, social and educational
configuration brought by white person.

Unlike informal education where communalism is kept intact, formal education encourages
individuals to be awarded on merit. Our contemporary society has an insatiable appetite of
greedy fuelled by western education. One of Charles stories; “The setting sun and the
Rolling” shows how our African community has been left in social shambling state.

Western education does not give us solution to our problems, but it worsens it. Imfundo
yebeLungu kayilabubelo ngitsho lakancane. Dzidzo yechirungu haina pundutso kwatiri.Many
graduands in our modern society from universities and colleges have despaired hope and are
puzzled with the problems they face. Their hope is banked on the old age to offer them
solution. Formal education is good to those who are determined, but fosters bitterness to the
community.

“Shadow on the Wall” is a story that indicates how parents are not caring for their children.
Child abuse, hostility and disputes between parents and their off-springs is the order of the
day. Musaemura Zimunya in one of his poetry books portrays urban area as a place;
Language is difficult to understand, parents deny their children gift of language to express
themselves. Hence children are placed on a solitary plain as they are abused by their parents.

“The accidents” in Coming of The Dry Season depicts an urban area as a bad place for blacks
to reside. Many blacks are caught with misfortune hence unemployment, prostitution,
robbery, poor sanitation and a host of other problems is a product of the urban set-up. In
today's world many people are living in misery. An urban area will never be a permanent
resident for Africans because it was imposed to them by a white person.

“Coming of the dry season”, the title story in Mungoshi's book tells a story of Moab, who
forgets his parents after securing employment in town. There are some people who resemble
Moab in our contemporary society. Embracing western values have made us to shun our
relatives who are poor and uneducated because they put us on shame. Many people have
become wild animals that devour their by-products. They abuse children, and swindle
associates their valuable assets. Women have been turned to the “sugar Pie” of the city, an ice
cream ready to be eaten by the rich men in town.

Art is good to the community as it exposes bad conduct and seeks solution to it. Education is
good some-how, but breathes venom to the society. Mungoshi's stories forefronts the bad
issues imposed on blacks by whites that will never be easy to put an end to. The fact that
some benefit at the expense of others is what makes the whole issue complex
RURAL NEWS REPORTING

There is need for Zimbabwe as a country, to have rural development as the focus of their
national socio-economic and technological development. Communication in Zimbabwe is
recognized but often under-emphasized, it is given lip-service or is not given adequate
attention by government officials. The inadequate attention by Zimbabwe government agents
and the mass media should be addressed. Nwosu (1988) discussed about the urban-rural
dichotomy in news reporting and writing which is skewed against the rural areas which he
said must discontinue.

Defining Rural news reporting

“Rural news reporting is seen as a specialized type of reporting that requires specialized
treatments and specialized skills. But the fact that it shares many other area of commonness
with other types of news reporting and writing should not be lost sight of” ( Nwosu 1988:37)

Furthermore, rural news is news written and reported from rural perspective.” It is news and
other related materials gathered and packaged mainly in the rural areas as opposed to the so
called rural-news written for ruralities in urban areas by urban dwellers and with urban
biases” (Nwosu 1988)

Generally, it can be argued that rural news is news that informs, educates, entertains, reminds
urbanites or urban elites and government about the needs, aspirations, challenges, successes,
joys, values and rural folks way of life about governments policies, activities, programme’s,
philosophies that can either be political, economical, cultural, social and technologically to
better their lives.

In addition rural news reporting supply information to the relevant authorities and
communicates components of the much publicized and recommended approach to develop
the rural set-up.
Roscho (1975) define news as knowledge and divided news into ‘acquaintance with”: news
and: knowledge about news. He further asserts that, “acquaintance with:” types of news
stories refer to straight and some superficial news coverage while “knowledge about” news
types refer to in-depth or interpretative reporting of events. It is argued that Roshco’s two
types and description of news are similar to Hunt’s (1974), ‘event centres” and “process-
centre” news types which he developed in his criticisms of the reportorial process

Nevertheless, “event-centres’ news is more of straight news reporting, while “process-

centres” news refers to in-depth coverage of events.Nwosu (1988:39) state that

“These two news reporting styles should mean much to rural news reporter. The key message
of the news making or sociology of news approach to the rural news reports is that a
thorough knowledge of the process of making or ‘manufacturing” news will immensely
increase his understanding of how much final product of news, is created”

For a journalist to be effective in this specialized area of journalism and mass communication
he or she should be guided by well defined and adjusted rural-oriented journalistic or
communication philosophy as established by Nwosu (1988:38). Philosophy asserted by
Nwosu (1988) means the basic theoretical and pragmatic body of thought that should guide a
person, group or professional practice and which should be determined by such factors as
national or community values or ideas, cultural realities, systems-survivalist and
developmental imperatives.

Strategies for Rural Reporting

There are many strategies applied and are still being applied in the rural reporting. Rural
reporters in Zimbabwe should acquaint themselves with them in order to be able to utilize the
best possible ones.

Touch and go approach

Touch and go approach to rural reporting is rife in many newspapers in Zimbabwe and is
similar to what Cohen (1963) referred to as “the bush reporting syndrome “in the realm of
international news reporting. This kind of reporting rushes to cover a rural area only when a
major calamity has befallen that community. For example, where there are festivals, ritual
dances, cultural rite and a new built dam, school or clinic. Again such reporting gives a
particular community intensive coverage for a short period in order to highlight its problems.
Nwosu (1988) argued that these kinds of “touch and go journalism” do not make effective,
balanced and sustained coverage of the rural reporting and should be discouraged.

Depending solely on government

Depending solely on government information approach is again rife to public media

especially in Zimbabwe. Through this approach journalist rely on information they get from
government officials offices to write and report news about the rural areas. The inadequacy of
this approach is obvious, as government information officers posted to rural areas are usually
not many or enough to cover the wide or entire areas. Moreso, most of them if not all of them
are ill-equipped and sometimes insufficiently trained and motive to do the jobs. As a word of
advice talking from experience journalist should not depend on government information
officers for the output, albeit using what they put out to supplement or expand the scope of
our own media reportorial efforts.

In Zimbabwe some media organizations depend on news agencies reports for their rural
reports. This might be right but is manifested with an avalanche of short falls. Most of these
agencies are not well-equipped that they can assure effective and sustained coverage of all
rural communities and all sectors in rural areas such as clinics, schools, festivals, rites, rituals,
field day ceremonies. Again there is no motivation, since the money paid per story if far
below poverty datum line. To add salt to an injury is the fact that these news agencies can
stay for longer period of time without being paid for.

However, there is some suggestion that in order to improve rural reporting media houses
should establish and sustain well-trained, well-oriented and well-equipped rural press in order
to avoid bias and ill-written news. Nonetheless, effective rural reporting requires reporters
who physical involve themselves in activities and stay together with the community they are
reporting on. Therefore it is important first to understand the language of the community,
their culture, problems as well as the environment. This will assist a journalist to report with
deep insight and to put across to the public the genuine problems faced by the community
they are reporting on. The challenge with this approach of news reporting is that it is
expensive as compared to other approaches, but it pays dividend to the government as well as
to the communities. It fulfills the win-win situation where both parties in negotiations are
satisfied with the outcome –

MEDIA ETHICS

The term “Ethics”, is a contested terrain that can be defined from a multiplicity of ways.
Several scholars under here will be quoted in their attempt to define “ethics” in journalism.
Ethics are very salient and journalist should adhere to it for professionalism and credibility in
their day to day business of gathering, processing and disseminating of news to the widely
dispersed audiences with various norms and values and ethical traits.

Ethics is broadly understood as a fundamental factor that deals and plays a role in human life
and interaction between individuals, and the individual and society. Ronning (2002) notes
that “it is about how we should live our lives as media practitioners. In addition, ethics
applies to issues of virtues and vices, and questions basic principles and rules in the
evaluation of human conduct and social relations. It is concerned about character and
conduct. Ethics can also be understood as the systematic study of morality and examines
basic moral attitudes, dispositions, beliefs, standards, principles, ideals and practices
(Ronning 2002)

Nevertheless, Days (2000:3) submit that, media ethics involves the accepted values or moral
norms of a society's notion about what is right or wrong and the distinction between virtue
and vice. It can therefore be argued that ethics defines what is morally acceptable using
values as the basis of human behaviour, where the decision about right or wrong are made
( Seib and Fitzpatrick 1997:3) Ethics is seldom practiced in the same way in different
societies and cultures.
Moreover, Hohenberg (1976: 320) argued that reporters and editors as a rule are much more
concerned about ethical consideration than their critics believe. The old notion that you “get
the story and to hell with everything else have no responsible defenders”.

It is important and cannot be overemphasised that code of ethics can be; (i) aspirational (what
we aspire to be) (ii) educational (this is how we can address ethical questions),(iii) regulatory
(this is what we do if the code is breached) or a mixture of all three (Frankel 1989 ,Sri Lanker
Press Institute ). Chadiwick (1995) states that ethical codes usually have the following
segments: (i0 aspirations, (ii) standards, (iii) Disclosure, (IV) value and Enforcement

In addition, Professor Black (1997) says that “ethics entails making tough decision-not the
obvious choices between right and wrong, but the tough choices between not-quite
completely-right, or even choosing between the lesser of two wrongs.” One salient issue
about ethics is that; “Ethical journalism can never be guaranteed simply by resorting to a list
of do’s and don'ts, Emmanuel Levinas (1969:178) one of the French philosopher said that;
“It is only in approaching the other that i attended to myself... In discourse i expose
myself to the questioning of others, and the urgency of the responses acuteness of
the present-engenders me for responsibility; as responsible i am brought to my final
reality”.

Therefore judging from the above quotation media practitioners should be guided and be
influenced by others, that is the society at large. Their discourse should not harm others and
should always tell both side of the story without taking sides. Every word, message and
expression from media houses to the audiences should be a reality. Facts instead of rumours
or hearsay should not find its way to the media.

There are three ethical philosophies postulated by Brook et al (1998) that guides and oils the
codes of ethics in journalism as follows;
Absolutism ethics:

Absolutism holds that there is a fixed set of principles or law, from which there should be no
deviation (Brook et al 1998). Principles become rules that in turn, are treated like laws. Some
refer to this kind of ethical philosophy as “legalism”. This philosophy is based on the
meritocracy that “if it is wrong to lie, it always is wrong to lie. If a rapist asks where his
intended victim is the absolutist could not lie to save a life. If the action is right, it does not
matter whether a friend is killed. The consequences are irrelevant. Another scholar Harcup
(2007:138) says that; “respect for truth is the first principle in journalism and journalism is
about informing and empowering the citizens of a society, holding the powerful to account,
and facilitate a public sphere of rational discussion. An absolutist or legalistic ethical
philosophy could spawn a conscientious objector who not only would refuse to take up arms
but who would refuse even to go to war as a medic.

Furthermore, Brook et al (1998:462) state that “absolutist journalist is concerned only with
whether an event is newsworthy. If it is interesting, timely, significantly or important, it is to
be reported regardless of the consequences”. The absolutism philosophy is attractive to some
journalists because it assumes the need for full disclosure. Nothing news-worth ever is
withheld from the public. In the end, these journalists believe, publishing without fear of the
consequences or without favour for one group's interests over another is the highest ethical
principle. This ethical practice indicates the seriousness by media practitioner in their day to
day business of news coverage.

Antinomian ethics:

Antinomianism rejects all rules and in effect, all ethics. According to Brooks et al (1998),
“the antinomian has neither a predetermined standard of conduct nor moral rules”. Actions in
any situation are spontaneous and unpredictable. Antinomian journalists are not concerned
with motives, consequences or obligations. That does not mean that they would always lie,
cheat or steal. Antinomian journalist might pose as someone other than a journalist in an
attempt to gather information on some occasions, and they would not be bothered by doing it.
Antinomian's have faith in their ability to extemporize in any situation. No premeditation or
preparation is required. While the concept of absolutism is attractive to many journalists, few
chose antinomianism. The principle that the press has a responsibility to the reader implies a
concern for the consequences that antinomians do not have.

Situation Ethics

Situation ethics lies between the two extremes of antinomianism and absolutism. Unlike
antinomianism, situationism does not hold that everything is relative. The Situationism
knows, understands and accepts the ethical maxims of the community and its heritage and
weighs them carefully before making a decision (Brook et al 1998). However, unlike the
absolutism, the situationist is prepared to compromise them or to set them aside completely if
unselfish love for one's neighbour demands it. For example, a situationist most likely belies
that lying is unethical, but if a rapist ask where his intended victim is a situationist would lie
to save a life. In a broad sense then, for the person holding to situation ethics, people always
come first. Sometimes this takes the form of utilitarianism. The prevailing ethics in
journalism today is what Mill (1960) called “utilitarianism”; the greatest good for the greatest
number.

It can be argued that the purpose of codes of ethics in journalism helps a group define and
redefine itself, declares to others what the group is about with regard to purpose, values and
standards. Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) 2005, states that;

“In the context of journalism, the code of ethics is seen as a fair and comprehensive
account for events and issues, founded and presented in truth for “Public enlightenment”
and serve as a “forerunner of justice”

This means in essence that for the news media to serve the public well, it must be free from
distorting pressure exerted by politicians or economic forces and must continue to obtain,
keep and increase freedom in order to be trusted and protected by the general public and to
gain the support of readers, listeners, viewers to which accountability is to be rendered
(Independent Press Council (IPC) 2005).

It is salient to note that there is no single media system that is better than the other. Whether
media system is self-regulated or government-controlled, there will be different aspects of
ethics that need to be addressed. The code of ethics practiced by journalist is dependent on
the defined and accepted values or moral norms in the particular society where the journalists
are, and these defined codes of ethics determines the right and the wrong (International
Journalists network (2005a).

The Society of professional Journalists (SPJ) asserts that;

“The duty of the journalists is to further those ends by seeking truth and
providing a comprehensive account of events and uses. Conscientious
journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with
thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a
journalist's credibility...”

The most important ethical codes of journalism that permeates both in print, broadcasting and
on-line journalism are as follows;

(i)Seeking the truth and reporting it

(ii)Fairness
(iii)Minimize Harm
(iv)Act Independently
(v)Accountability

Journalist as professionals need to adhere to ethics and should often ask themselves the
following questions;
(i) What is public interest?
(ii)What precisely, is the public interest here?
(iii) How, precisely, will it be served by my actions?
(iv)Am i confident i can defend my answers in public?
(MEAA (1997) Ethics in Journalism)

Seek truth and reporting it

A journalist should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting
information. Professional journalist

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error.
Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

A Journalist should diligently seek to subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to
respond to allegations of wrongdoings.

A Journalist must identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much
information as possible on sources reliability.

A Journalist worth the salt should always question sources' motives before promising
anonymity.
A Journalist and newsrooms must clarify conditions attached to any promises made in
exchange for information.
A good and professional journalist keeps promises
Media practitioners must make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material,
photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should
not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of contexts.

A Journalist and media houses should label montages and photo illustrations.
Media practitioners must avoid misleading re-enactments or stage news events. If re-
enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
A Journalist must at all cost avoid under-cover or other surreptitious methods of gathering
information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the
public.

Use of such methods for professionalism seek should be explained as part of the story.

Never plagiarize information. Plagiarism is tantamount to shop lifting.

A professional journalist examines their own cultural values and avoids imposing those
values on others.
Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation,
disability, physical appearance or social status.

A Journalist at times should support views, even views that are repugnant.

Give voice to the voiceless, officials and unofficial sources of information

A Journalist should recognise a special obligation to ensure that the public business is
conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

(IJNET (2005a) Singapore code of ethics: Journalist's code of professional Conduct,

International Journalist's Network)

Fairness

(A)Fair and reasonable opportunity to reply should be given to ordinary people or

organizations in respect of factually incorrect statements endangering their reputation,
dignity, honour, feelings, privacy and office. The reply should be confined to the
complainants' version of facts and no longer than necessary to correct the alleged inaccuracy.

(b) newspapers or journalists who respond to a complainant's reply other than to apologize or
regret the error, must then be prepared to offer the aggrieved party a fresh opportunity to
reply
(Sri Lanka press institute)

Therefore journalist should avoid at all cost to produce inaccuracy or distorted information,
surreptitious gathering of information (eg) undercover techniques, deception and duplicity,
subterfuge etc.
(Sri Lanka Press Institute)

Minimize harm

An ethical journalist treats sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of
respect Above all journalist should among other things;
(a) Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.
(b) Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
(c)Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit
of news is not a license for arrogance.

(d) Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves
than do public officials and others who seek power, influence and attention. It is only an
overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy.
(e) Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

(f) Be judicious about naming criminals suspects before the formal filing of charges.
At last balance a criminal suspects fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.
(SPJ (2005) SPJ Code of Ethics)

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.
Therefore a journalist should adhere to the following practices;
(a) Avoid conflict of interest, real or perceived
(b)Remain free of associates and activities that may compromise integrity or damage
credibility.

(c)Refuse gifts, favours, fees, free travel and special treatment, and political involvement,
public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic
integrity.

(d) Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

(e) Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.

(f) Deny favoured treatment to advertisement and special interests and resist their pressure to
influence news coverage.

(g) Be wary of sources offering information for favours or money avoid bidding for news.
(IJNET (2005a) Singapore Code of Ethics: International Journalists Network)

Be accountable

media houses and journalist should be accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and
each other. In addition, journalist should;
(a) clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public.
(b) encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media
(c)admit mistakes and correct them promptly
it can be argued that journalist owe it to the public

Objective reality

It is argued that journalist owe it to the public to report things that are objectively true,
although this is not always possible. Given little time reporters have to check on the facts
they are reporting (Ronning 2002) in objectivity the reporter write factually without being
coloured by biases. This is an ideal-writing without any prejudices, distancing oneself from
the facts. Objectivity is the opposite of subjectivity (Misa 2002). in addition, empiricism
plays a big role in objectivity. Objectivity also means writing fairly and that the concept
presumed neutrality in journalism. it is important for journalist to cross check what sources
are telling them with other sources to ensure that what they finally report corresponds to the
objective reality. Ronning (2002:122) say that in Africa “vendetta journalism” has been
practiced. This is untrue but still goes ahead and reports it so that they square up or hurt their
enemy who is the subject of news. Vendetta journalism is clearly unethical

Plagiarism

Media practitioners must note engage in plagiarism. Plagiarism consist of making us of

another person’s world, pictures or ideas with permission and without proper
acknowledgement and attribution of the source of those words, pictures or ideas
(international media support 2009)

Bribes and inducement

Media practitioners and media institutions must not publish or suppress a report or omit or
alter vital facts in that report in return for payment of money or for any other gift or reward.
((International Media Support 2009)

Confidentiality of sources

confidentiality is associated with many professions, including medical doctors, lawyers,

social workers and accounts and is also central to journalistic ethics. every journalist has a
moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information, until that source authorities
otherwise. The principle of confidentiality imposes a duty on the journalist to with hold the
names of sources from third parties. An illustration of the problem surrounding
confidentiality is the case where in October 1992, the editor and a journalist of the Zimbabwe
weekly financial gazette were called before a parliamentary committee investigating
corruption by senior officials. in 1933, the then editor of the Bulawayo chronicle Sydney
Veats, was imprisoned for refusing to reveal a source (Ronning 2002:74)
The journalist shall regard as grave professional offences the following:
* plagiarism; * malicious misrepresentation;
* calumny, slander, libel, unfounded accusations;
* acceptance of a bribe in any form in consideration of either publication or
suppression.(IFJ 1954)

It can be concluded that journalist should adhere to the ethical norms in order for them to
produce credible information that is free from distortion and credible to the audiences. The
plethora of the ethics quoted from various scholars reflects that a journalist worth a name
should be faithful. In a summary journalist should be truthfully, fair, minimise harm, remain
independent and to be accountable in the news coverage and production.

THE FOUNDATION OF AFRICAN ETHICS

(AFRIETHIC) AND THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
OF JOURNALISM

Kasoma (No year) argues that the world, and in particular the African Press, seem to be
abandoning the noble objective of serving the people for the selfish cause of serving self. In
addition, he added that the journalist of the North, which Africans have been imitating, can
therefore, today be said to be characterized by an individualized and agitational approach of
reportage. Journalists from Africa should recognize the values and norms of their community
as they gather and report news. In Zimbabwe the media have been violating the ordinary
citizens for selfish means. Watchdog role is important in professional journalism but should
be done with the respect to the community.

African newspapers, particularly the independent tablotisation in Zimbabwe have resorted to

multi-party politics and have not spared no one to muckracking journalistic exploits such as
blackmailing, invading privacy, defamation in what Kasoma described as “vendetta
journalism”. Vendetta journalism may be described as journalism of hatred, revenge, and
dislike against people in the news. In Zimbabwe such practice by journalists and media
houses is rife, but is unprofessional. Kasoma (no year0 says that in Africa journalists display
‘vendetta journalism” in four ways as listed under here;

Using abusive language against sources

Here abusive language like prostitute, stooge of the west, detector and so forth is used when a
person angry. Journalists in Zimbabwe display their anger by using abusive language. Instead
of reasoning the journalist insults the person or the source. Yet the role of journalists is to
convince people through well-presented facts and reasoned arguments and not insult. In
addition, uses of hate speech by public relations type of journalism jeopardize professional
journalism.

Choosing not to approach a source for a comment on a story that incriminates him/her.
This practice is unfair as people in a story should be given the space and voice to be heard.
Kasoma (no year) state that finger pointing by the press should be done very carefully, since
this can destroy not only the rapport of a journalistic profession. Journalists must try within
their means to establish the truth of the accusations.

Selectively choosing facts that paint a bad picture of the source and writing a biased story.
This can include among other things quoting sources out of context in order to make them
appear stupid so as to square with them.

Using sarcasm in reporting sources the journalists hate or dislike .Sarcastic reporting makes
people reported on appear foolish and the reporter clever. Sometimes sources or people in
news are demeaned. Here journalists take a know-all position which is unprofessional since
they are suppose to be factual and not take sides.

In his Afri-ethics philosophy Kasoma ( no year) indicates how important African journalists
should respect their community. Afriethics is rooted in African communal approach to life. It
deals with moral issues of the community and distinguishes good from bad behavior.
However, on the other hand this type of approach deters journalists from engaging in
“investigative journalism”. Most African leader and those occupying the public office need to
be scrutinized since they get their salaries from tax payers. Kasoma (no year) strong argued
that journalists or media houses should in true African spirit be conselled by other journalists
to behave well and not to be immediately condemned as misfit in the ‘family’ of Africa
journalism. African Journalists are unable to speak with one voice and incapable of checking
each other’s mistakes. This is a result of cheque book or Khaki envelops journalism albeit
that some are easily carried by those who fund them and end up becoming boot lickers which
is bad journalism. In Zimbabwe there is tag of war between journalists from public media
against those from private media. What these journalists are failing to recognize is that first
and foremost should guide their profession and not become strongly aligned to the media
organization they are working for. Journalism is not just any trade, but rather it is a special
type of trade whose wares, news, has traditionally in African society, been given free.

Traber (1989) suggest that, a person who has spent the greater part of his life working as a
journalist in Africa or in activities connected with African journalism, like many other
African or African based media analysts who have made the same submission as Merrill
which have largely been ignored by Africa journalists, has bemoaned the lack of Africanness
in African journalism.

Traber (1989:93) submit that honesty and truthfulness are highly valued African virtues, and
telling lies is utterly despicable. Now consider the half truths, misinformation, disinformation
and lies contained in our press. That is not only wrong in itself, but in Africa it is culturally
alienated.

Ubuntuism Philosophy and the media

Taking ubuntuism’s emphasis on the community as point of departure, Blankenberg (1999),
Christians (2004), Okigbo (1996), Shutt (2001) and Wasserman and De Beer (2004) show
how an ubuntu normative framework may emphasis a media and journalism whose primary
role may be to provide a space for the concerns, ideas and opinions of the community. The
overall purpose of the media may be to play a developmental role in the sense of stimulating
citizens and community participation, and obtaining consensus based on widespread
consultation with the community. Fourie (2008:13) argued that in the contexts of the needs of
developing countries, it may encourage action towards civic transformation and community
renewal. In the process, the media may need to ensure the well-being of the collective, rather
than the protection of individual rights. In the study the researcher will examine the extent in
which ubuntuism influences the manner in which journalist report children based stories.
What is interesting is to assess whether journalist from mainstream media collectively
protects the rights of children without breaching the media ethical norms that coincide with
the African culture.

Freedom of expression may be interpreted firstly in terms of the freedom of the community to
articulate, its opinions, questions, concerns and needs. In addition, freedom of expression
may thus be measured and valued in terms of its relevancy only to the well-being of the
community. Wasserman and De Beer (2004) suggest that to put differently, media freedom
may be seen as a positive freedom that should contribute to the well-being of community and
not only to the largest number of individuals. Ubuntu morality does not construct an
apparatus of professional ethics. Rather, it works and provides an ethic of generally morality.
It does not develop rules of professionals, but urges a sensitivity and preoccupation with the
moral dimension of everyday life. Professionals occupy the same social and moral space as
the citizens they report on. The ultimate standard for media professionals is not role specific
ethical principles, but a general morality. This presupposes media workers knowledge and
sharing of the community’s general morality. In the study it is important to establish how
journalist from the mainstream media like the Sunday Mail, Sunday News, The Herald and
The Chronicle occupies the same social and moral space as the citizens about the children’s
rights they report on.

Nevertheless, in ubuntu journalism objectivity may neither be necessary nor desirable

(Okigbo 1996). The journalist is seen to be involved member of the community and cannot
remain a spectator. Through the journalist’s work, a voice must be given to the community.
Active involvement and dialogue with the community rather than detachment in the name of
objectivity and neutrality may be required (Blankenberg 1999). A journalist must enable
people to come to terms with their everyday experiences. Acknowledge the historical and
biographic complexity of a matter or an issue. In addition, Blankenberg (1999) suggest that a
journalist must stimulate interaction amongst citizens, between citizens and reporters and
between citizens and politicians. The study assesses whether the mainstream print media in
Zimbabwe stimulate interaction among citizens about the children’s rights. Also to be
examined in the study are the efforts made by the mainstream print media and civil society
organization to engage citizens and politicians about the rights of the children. A journalist
must enable people to come to terms with their everyday experiences. Acknowledge the
historical and biographic complexity of a matter or an issue. Penetrate the moral dynamics
underlying the issue and interpreting against the background of the community contexts,
beliefs, values and needs.

On the other hand, the question crisis whether and how the above differ from what is
perceived to be the functions and social responsibility of the media in Western normative
theory. It appears that whereas western epistemological thinking about the media proceeds
from a focus on the media primarily in terms of (i) information, surveillance, entertainment
and educational role, (ii) the media’s freedom and right to protection in order to be able to
fulfill its social responsibility, and (iii) the individual’s rights to information, surveillance,
entertainment and education, the emphasis in ubuntuism may first and foremost be on the
media’s role in community bonding and in dialogue towards reaching consensus based on the
social values and morals of a community (Fourie 2008:15)

Kasoma (1993) argues that the world, and in particular the African Press, seem to be
abandoning the noble objective of serving the people for selfish cause of serving self. He
further postulate that the journalism of the North, which Africans have been imitating, can
therefore, today be said to be characterized by an individualized and agitational approach to
reportage. Traber (1989) suggest that, a person who has spent the greater part of his life
working as a journalist in Africa or in activities connected with Africa-based media analysts
who have made the same submission as Merrill which have largely been ignored by African
journalists, has bemoaned the lack of Africanness in African journalism. Honesty and
truthfulness are highly valued African virtues, and telling lies is utterly despicable. Now
consider the half truths, misinformation, disinformation and lies contained in our press. That
is not only wrong in itself, but in Africa it is culturally alienated (Traber 1989:93). It is
however, important to examine how the element of half truth, misinformation, disinformation
and lies by mainstream print media is exacerbated when reporting about the abuse of
children.
The distinctiveness of ubuntuism as an African approach to
normative theory

Fourie (2008:66) say that; how distinctive or uniquely African is ubuntuism as a paradigm for
normative theory? Christians (2004) for example shows how ubuntuism can be described as a
combination and extension of European and North American Communitarian philosophy.
Christian (2004) further argued that it embraces the characteristics of political, feminist and
dialogic communitarianism. Like western political communitarianism it emphasizes the
politics of the common good, social fairness and participation guided not by social contracts
but by social obligations. Ubuntuism’s moral rules are grounded in community care group
understanding and group experiences (Fourie (2008:67). Like western communitarianism, as
understood by Paolo Freire, Martin Buber and Levinas, ubuntuism emphasizes that only
dialogue about what constitutes the common good do we become fully human; that restoring
dialogue should be the primary aim of humanity; that interaction between self and the other
should be the guiding principle in public life and of social ethics. It is pertinent in the study to
examine how journalist from mainstream print media in Zimbabwe interacts with the
community in their day to day children’s rights news coverage.
However, the journalism described above closely resembles North_American civic
journalism, founded on the philosophy of communitarianism. Like ubuntuism, civic
journalism seeks to emphasize a close relationship between the media and the community. Its
purpose is to strengthen civil culture, to rejuvenate public life, to reach consensus rather than
provoke conflict, to involve citizens, not as consumers (Dahlgren 1998, Schaffer and Miller
1995). The study seek to find out hoe The Sunday mail, Sunday News, The Herald and The
Chronicle strengthens civil culture in the coverage about children’s rights. Again it is worth
noting how the four print media rejuvenate public life to reach consensus with civil society
organizations that deals with children’s rights. The study inquires the manner journalists in
the mentioned above print media houses engage the citizens in an ongoing debate about the
rights of children in Zimbabwe.

Moreover, even more so the question as to how do all of the above ideas about the
relationship between a community and its public communication differ from the classic
Greek ideas that the purpose of all public communication should be the promotion of
knowledge about identity, belonging, sharing, ability and the survival of the community in
terms of the community’s shared religious, political and civil values and responsibilities
(Rosenfield and Mader 1984). Thus it can be argued that those considering ubuntuism as a
distinctive African way of thinking about the role and social responsibility of the media
should note that they may find well-established similar examples of such thinking and even
journalistic genres subscribing to the ideas of communitarianism in both the west and the
East.

The Political misuse of moral philosophy

Ubuntuism or any moral philosophy can easily be misused or hijacked for ideological and
political agendas. The misuse of Christian nationalism by the Apartheid government in its
claims for a patriotic media in the service of Volken Vaderland is a case in point (Fourie
2002, Hachten and Giffard 1984). There are three threats relating to the ideaological and
political misuse of moral philosophy namely the dangers of intolerance of indigenizing theory
not for the purpose of development of theory but as political act, and of masquerading a
moral philosophy as part of being politically correct. It is important in the study to establish
how ubuntuism influences the coverage of children’s rights that can lead to intolerance to the
protection of such rights. Do mainstream print media in Zimbabwe ignore news coverage that
have to do with children in fear that in clashes with the African values? Do civil society in
Zimbabwe responsible for children’s rights shunned a platform by mainstream print media
because they perpetuate western concept that empowers children more than their parents? All
these are the questions that will be addressed by the findings of the study focusing
particularly in Zimbabwe.

The danger of intolerance

Buchanan (1998:2) giving close relationship between ubuntuism and communitarianism,

warns that communitarianism as an ethic and political philosophy (in its negative use) stands
in fundamental opposition to the philosophy of liberalism. Similarly, Mbigi and Marce
(1995:58) warn that ubuntuism can easily lapse into intolerance of any oppositional opinion
or deeds, including an intolerance of media criticism and exposure. Fourie (2008:69) state
that when individual conformity and loyalty to the group is indiscriminately demanded and
expected (then) the dark side of ubuntu means failure to do so will meet harsh punitive
measures such as “Dunlop treatment” or “neck-lacing” (a burning care tyre around the neck
of an accused. As with any moral philosophy, ubuntuism as a normative framework is thus
prone to political misuse. It can be used to subvert constitutionally entrenched freedom of
expression in the same way a liberal constitution can be circumvented by co-opting party
loyalist in key judiciary and regulatory position. Fourie (2008) argued that freedom of
expression can be circumvented if such freedom first and foremost in the service of
community values.

The danger of indigenizing theory

The expectation that scholars should “de-Westernise”, ‘indigenise’ and ‘decolonise’ their
minds in order to free themselves intellectually from their colonial past and the influence of
their colonial intellectual masters is nothing new (Maluleke 2005; Mangu 2005. African
journalists should present a more balanced picture of Africa as non-African journalists and
news organizations may do, then an African perspective is commendable.

Jansen (2004) critiqued the aspect of indigenizing the theory and warns that critical questions
need to be asked about the concept of “Africanisation”, which is closely related to the idea of
de-westernization and indigenizing theory. Fourie (2008:70) ask the following question; “Is it
not africanisation simply a new mode of conducting inclusion or exclusion politics? Is
africanisation anything other than an essentialist response to ethnic politics and ethnic
identity in South Africa? Has the africanisation agenda taken into account of the more
powerful counterforce of globalization? All these questions are politically loaded and
dangerous in a young democracy. All these questions asked by Fourie (2008) need to be
scrutinized especially in the contemporary scenario on the operation of the mainstream print
media in Zimbabwe.
THE LANGUAGE OF NEWS, SENTENCE
STRUCTURE, BREVITY AND CLARITY

It takes much longer to make a piece of writing as clear and precise as possible. McKane
(2006:105) argue that, “it is far quicker to produce something wordy and waffle and getting a
story down to very few words, yet keeping it all the action, drama, colour and human interest
takes a lot of practice”. The best news story must tell the readers as much as possible,
pellucid and as briefly as possible using simple language that can be easily understood by the
reader. In other words, a good story must be direct and snappy. Most seasoned and competent
journalist writer’s sentences that is not complex and cumbersome to understand.

From personal experience it is hard if not impossible, for humanities graduates wanting to
venture into journalism to get into the habit of saying something in the simplest way possible.
At Midlands State University, I spend a lot of time telling students to write in the way that
they would speak when talking to a friend over the mobile phone. In journalism prospective
or aspiring journalist must avoid using the worst kind of words that are difficult to understand
or with dual meanings.

If one is a journalist, he can compare the version of the stories they submit with what appears
in the paper. The News room editor will have made them concise without missing any of the
important points;

Use the shortest form of the verb

Prospective journalist must work out what is happening and make sure that they use one verb
to express their views. McKane (2006:107) said that one must avoid using present perfect
when constructing a sentence with one verb. For example;

Leonora promised to look into the……..

McKane (2006) says that this is more direct, punchier and save space

Avoid unnecessary extra verbs

In news writing there is need to avoid using more verbs than necessary. A news writer should
make a plan to avoid such common mistakes, for example;

Caven suffered a car accident which left three dead from the spot….

Can be simple be

Caven car accident claimed three lives from the spot

Watch out for meaningless words

There are some words that can be left out or be used in a sentence which sometimes are never
needed. The most common of these is “currently”.
Again McKane (2006:107) state that if something is in the present tense, it follows that is
going on currently. If for some reasons you have to stress when it is happening, ‘now ‘is
shorter and more directly than currently. For instance;

Caven is currently lecturing at Midlands State University……

Can be simple be written as

Caven is lecturing at Midlands State University

However, there are words that are often used by people in conversations verbal or in written.
In English these words are really, actually, is that so, surely, basically and in fact. In spoken
English these words are used to emphasize an important point by the speaker. Before writing
any of these words consider whether they are necessary; what do they add to the meaning of
the sentence (McKane 2006)

Beware of lengthy substitute words for said

In journalism the word “Said” is a powerful verb that can be used throughout. The fact in
journalism and news writing is that readers skim news stories quickly by looking for the live
ideas of interest. Sticking to the verb ‘said’ is much better that using terms like note, claimed,
explained, argued, state, commented, which are naff.

Avoid using jargon

Jargon is a term used to refer to the specialized phrases and words associated with certain
occupations such as Lawyers, Policeman, Soldiers, Pharmacist, Journalist, Doctors and so
forth. At times Jargon is misused to mean slang which is not correct.

Write in full unfamiliar abbreviations

Abbreviation are words used in place of something and are usually given in short.
Abbreviations are sometimes called ‘Acronomy’. In Zimbabwe abbreviation such as ZESA,
TM, CBZ, ZOU, ECONET, ZRP, UZ, NUST, MSU, NRZ are common and known by
everyone. In journalism such abbreviations can be given as they are because they are familiar
to most people. There are some that are not familiar to the readers especially for new
organizations and shops. Journalist must write in full such names and then in brackets give
their abbreviations for clarity seek. Mind you that the main reason for news writing apart
from educating, informing, and entertaining the public is to communicate.

Use Concise, everyday words and phrases

McKane (2006:110) listed common phrases or words that can be used by journalist in their
day to day business of manufacturing news. Many of these phrases that follow are taken from
council documents, where it is common to find two or three words when one would do.
McKane (2006) said that is is worth reading these through many times, and eventually, if you
see the phrase in an attempt to you automatically substitute;
Don’t Use
Additional funding more money
Ahead of before
Approximately about
A small number few
A sufficient number enough
Assist help
Aspirations aims/Goals
Advanced planning planning
At a later date Later
At this point in time now
An all time recorder a recorder
AM this mournig this mourning
All of a sudden suddenly
Acquire get
Admitted to admitted
At the price of costing
At present time at present, now
Budgetary allocation money, spending
Companies in the private sector private firms
Completely monopoly monopoly
Completely destroyed destroyed
Convicted on charges of convicted of
Council house residents council tenants
Construction building
Despite the fact that although
Due to the fact that because
Domestic premise homes
End result end or result
Economically disadvantaged poor
Everyone on the electoral roll voters
Exacerbate worsen
Expenditure spending or cost
Finally ended ended
First began began
Free gift gift
For the benefit of for
Forensic medical officer police doctor
Granted bail bailed
Gave birth to a baby boy gave birth to a boy
Have an impact on affect
Hold talks with talk to
Implement carry out
Inform tell
Initiative plan
Prohibited banned
Reach a decision decided
Reach an agreement agreed
Residence home
Retail outlet shops
Sent to jail jailed
Sufficient capital enough money
The purchase of buying
Take into custody arrest
Together with
GLOSSARY

Absolutism: the ethical philosophy that there is a fixed set of principles or laws from which
there is no deviation. To the absolutist journalist the end never justifies the means
Anecdotal lead: A newspaper story beginning that uses humor or an interesting incident
Angle: The focus of, or approach to a story.
Antinomianism: The ethical philosophy that recognizes no rules. An Antinomian journalist
judges every ethical situation on its own merits. Unlike ethicist, the antinomian does not use
love of neighbor as an absolute.
Background: Information that may be attributed to a source by title, but not by name eg
“white House aide”,said
Byline: A line identifying the author of a story
Cub: a beginning reporter
House style: The art of writing for a particular media house which is distinct from the rest eg
Alpha media vs Public
Hard lead: A lead that reports a new development or newly discovered fact
Invasion of privacy: Violating of a person’s right to be left alone
Inverted Pyramid: The organization of a news story in which information is arranged in
descending order of importance
Soft lead: A Lead that uses a quote, anecdote or other literary device to attract the reader
Layout: The completed page drawing, or dummy
Lead story: The major story displayed at the top of page one
Morgue: The newspaper library, where published stories, photographs and resources material
are stored for reference
News room: The place, sometimes called the “city room”, where reporters and editors work
News Value: How important or interesting a story tend to be
Off the record: Usually means “Do not quote me”. Some sources and reporter however, use it
to mean, “Don’t print this.
Payol: Money or gifts given in the expectation of favours from journalist
Plagiarism: The use of any part of another’s writing and passing it off as your own
Profile: A story intended to reveal the personality or character of an institution or person
Scoop: An exclusive story
Slug: Is a word or combination of words and numbers appearing at the start of a stories to
identify each one and, where necessary, establish links with related stories.
Sniff: The preliminary phase of an investigation
REFERENCES

Anderson D.A and Itule B.D (1984) Contemporary News Writing. New York. USA, Random
House
Berry D (ed) (2000) Ethics and media Culture; Practices and representations. Oxford. Focal
Press.
Brooks et al (1998) News Reporting and Writing. USA. St Martins Press.
Day (2000) Ethics in Media Communications; Cases and Controversies 3rd Edition. Belmont,
CA. Wadsworth.
Emmanuel L (1969) Totality and infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, Pittsburgh, Dusque ne
University Press.
Greer G (1999) A New introduction to Journalism . South Africa. Cape Town . Juta
Hohenburg J (1976) The professional Journalists Fourth Edition. London. University of
Kansas.
IFJ Declaration of principles on the Conduct of Journalists (1954); Amended by the 1986
World Congress.
IJNET (2005a) Singapore Code of Ethics: Journalists' Code of Professional Conduct,
International Journalists Network.
http://www.ijnet.org/FE Article/Codeethics.asp (Accessed 20 July 2005)
Independent Press Council (IPC) (2005) About this Site; Independent Press Councils
http://www.PressCouncils.org/htm/frameset.php; (Accessed 21 August 2005)
Council for Communication Education (ACCE).
Kasoma F.P (no year) The Foundations of African Ethics (Afriethics) and the professional
practice of journalism: The case for society-centered media morality
Kasoma, F. P. Ed. (1994b). Journalism Ethics in Africa. Nairobi: African
Mbige .L and Maree .J (1995) Ubuntu: The spirit of African transformation management.
Pretoria. Knowledge Resources.
McKane A (2006) News Writing. London. Sage Publications
Pape S and Featherstone S (2006) feature Writing: A practical Introduction London. Sage
Publications
Ronning H (2002) Media Ethics: An Introduction. South Africa. Juta and Co
Seib P and Fitzpatrick K (1997) Journalism Ethics. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Co.
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (2005) SPJ Code of Ethics Society of Professional
Journalists
http://www.spj.org/ethics.code.asp: (Accessed 21 August 2005)
At the back
A journalism handbook offers numerous and varied exercises involving writing, researching
and rewriting, thus equip students with tremendous opportunities to practice news gathering,
writing and reporting skills. This is a useful tool for lecturers as well and media practitioner.
Journalism handbook can serve as a reliable means to measure the competence of student’s
means to measure the competence of students, progress and mastery of skills in journalism.
The most important thing is to do what you feel happy doing and do not push yourself too far.