ZEC Speaks On State Media Bias

Outgoing Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) spokesperson Joyce Kazembe has expressed concern over the partisan coverage of the upcoming by-elections by State media.

Kazembe implored State media to provide equal coverage of political parties and candidates during elections. She said:

The public media is supposed to cover everybody fairly and so we expect the State media to come up with a schedule that allocates equal time to all the political parties taking part in the elections and to the individuals running for office too.

Everybody should be allocated space so that they can inform the rest of their intentions.

Those that feel that they want more space can then pay extra for that.

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We have noticed that there is partisan coverage in some media and there is more coverage of the ruling party.

The excuse they give us is, this is the head of the State and they are in government and they are updating the population about what they should expect on development projects.

Kazembe also said ZEC has written to State media organisations and urged them to ensure that they give equal coverage to all political parties.

She made the comments on Tuesday while contributing to the debate on the topic “Media, Elections and Access to Information” hosted by the National Movement of Catholic Students in Zimbabwe.

More: NewsDay