FACTSHEET: Zimbabwe media and COVID-19 - ZimFact
Ngoni Mhuruyengwe
May 15, 2020
Zimbabwean journalists receive personal protective equipment donated by Sweden’s FOJO Media Institute, Denmark’s International Media Support and the World Association of News Publishers on May 3, the International Press Freedom Day. Photo:MAZ
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest global crisis in a century, which has forced countries into lockdowns and devastated economies.
The media internationally has been largely focused on this life and death issue since early 2020.
What has Zimbabwe’s media been doing around the crisis, in terms of coverage or programmes? Here’s a snapshot of what different Zimbabwean media outlets are covering the COVID-19 health crisis:
An online survey commissioned by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) – the world’s largest organization of professional journalists – to figure out the journalism environment during the COVID-19 outbreak shows the following results:
The IFJ survey also shows that more than a third of journalists have shifted their focus to covering COVD-19 related stories. Zimbabwean media have not been spared the impact and effects of the pandemic.
There are questions over the media industry’s sustainability, and the future of jobs as companies might be forced to review their operations in an economy hit hard by the health crisis. Newspaper printing has been temporarily shelved or drastically reduced due to a lockdown ordered by the government to try to contain the spread of the disease.
Many newspaper publishers have shifted focus or migrated to digital platforms.
Background:
COVID-19 is a respiratory tract infection caused by a newly emergent coronavirus that had not been previously identified in humans. It is highly contagious and spreads through droplets (coughing, sneezing) and close personal unprotected contact with an infected person (touching, shaking hands etc).
Signs and symptoms are typically respiratory related symptoms and include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and other flu-like symptoms. For more information about COVID-19 visit https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus and for daily updates from the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care visit http://www.mohcc.gov.zw
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