Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) has urged government to promote the rights of community radio journalists.
By Richard Zimunya
In a statement to mark the World Press Freedom day, ZACRAS said urged government to ensure the safety of community radio journalists especially during the election period.
“Government of Zimbabwe must promote the rights of community radio journalist by ensuring their safety especially during the election period.
“Also government must fully respect editorial and programming independence of community radio stations,” reads part of the statement.
ZACRAS also urged the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) to adopt a new system in licensing community radios.
“We recommend BAZ to adopt an open-ended mechanism of licensing community broadcasting services by accepting applications any time of the year.
“Also we recommend BAZ to lower the fees for licenses to ease the financial burden for applicants for community broadcasting services,” said ZACRAS.
So far a total of 14 community radio stations have been licensed in Zimbabwe and as of now only one ( Avuxeni in Chiredzi ) is on air.
This year’s WPFD celebrations were running under the theme ‘Journalism Under Digital Siege’.
The country commemorations were held in Bulawayo and saw a number of government officials attending.
