Media need to understand strategic non-violence

Women activists working on human rights and peace building, called on the media to be more comprehensive in their reporting, noting that ignorance shown by the media was diminishing the efforts done by human rights in accomplishing non-violent protests.

“Members of the media have not done enough to understand strategic non-violence, not only will they fail to cover the issue that would have motivated the protests. Sometimes they will even not bother to mention the story unless there was violence involved,” said Jenni Williams, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) leader, during a Ladies Night discussion to honor Black History Month at Harare’s premier journalist meeting place, the Quill Club.

Black History Month which honors the struggles of millions throughout the world over the most devastating obstacles - slavery, prejudice, poverty — as well as their contributions to the global cultural and political life.

The event is being held to honor the role played by women the struggle for civil and political rights. In the US, Rosa Parks is one of several notable figures, an African-American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama- who refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Her defiance spurred a movement that advanced the journey toward justice and equality for all.

Margaret Dongo, who facilitated the discussion with Williams and Netsai Mushonga, added saying there was no need to resort to violence to make a difference.  “One does not need to hold a gun to be called a liberator; we have all in our ways liberated this country,” said the former legislator, “In these elections especially we should use the Rosa Park model as a workable model on peacefully handling the elections.”  

Mushonga, the national coordinator for the Women Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ), challenged women journalists to create their own platforms where they could be able to champion and manage the coverage of women issues.

“There is a need for a radical shift in the media; I would like to encourage women journalists to investigate how women can have their own radio and television stations, so that women’s issues can begin to be covered,” she said. “About 13% of women issues are covered in the media and that’s a gross ignorance of the efforts women are doing around Zimbabwe.”

She expressed disappointment on the polarization of the media, which was affecting balance of stories. “You only get half of the story in the paper and to get the full story you have to read two newspapers, one from the Herald and another from one of the papers.”

Williams indicated that the media were in the same boat as activists as they also had the mandate to expose injustices in their reporting. “If we are exercising our rights to protest and we are persecuted, we need help to expose the injustice, and so the media plays a very important role,” she said. “You are in fact our partners in this struggle in exposing the injustices and bringing democracy.”

“Journalists are going to have to start telling the story of the ordinary person, and do that by telling the story of the ordinary woman. In that way, we can know how to rebuild this society,” Williams said.

The Ladies Night discussion series is an initiative of the Women Journalists Mentoring Program (WJMP) which is jointly implemented by the US Embassy Public Affairs Section and the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC). WJMP was started in September 2011 as an experiential learning program designed to motivate women to stay in the media. It seeks to promote the empowerment of women journalists through mentoring, training and field visits. Each year the program recruits 15 young women journalists who are assigned mentors and undertake a series of leadership and writing skills courses as well as field visits to local and regional institutions.