Equally important is the need to guarantee editorial independence in public media institutions and putting in place transparent public accountability mechanisms.
Editorial independence falls into three levels:
(1) it can refer to the right of the staff to make day-to-day decisions regarding editorial matters based on professional journalistic criteria;
(2) it can also denote the institutional independence of the broadcaster from economic imperatives, which may influence it to cover certain events negatively or positively in exchange for financial benefits.
This list of to-do items should not be treated as exhaustive, but as a guide towards addressing fundamental media reforms.
In order to circumvent the duplication of responsibilities within the current media and communications sector in Zimbabwe, it is important to create a single converged regulatory authority which deals with issues like broadcasting (including digital TV, video-on demand and internet broadcasting), postal and telecommunications.
The current set up where regulators for these sectors operate independently creates unnecessary bureaucratic pathologies. In the era of media convergence, focusing on single platforms is counter-productive and militates against innovation.
The government, and political parties, must ensure a safe working environment for professional and citizen journalists and provide leadership within and outside government in raising awareness on the need to ensure the safety of journalists and media workers. Parliament must put in place mechanisms to foster a culture where public figures have a high tolerance for criticism.
There is need to depolarise the media landscape.
The media has, since the late 1990s, mirrored the generally polarised environment in the Zimbabwean society, which saw the public media supporting the government and the ruling political party, while the private media generally gave an opposing perspective supporting views dissenting from government.
The main drivers of media polarisation in Zimbabwe include: political influence, business interests, editorial policies and the bribing of journalists to give positive coverage to some political or economic players.
Political polarisation in Zimbabwe has given birth to media polarisation, which manifests in diametrically opposed news angles on a particular media event.
This is because when political and economic actors who own the media are polarised, then the media institutions are likely to reflect the political polarisation in their content.
There is need for media diversity in terms of language, thematic issues, geographic coverage and cultural representations.
This can be achieved through working with content producers and journalism training institutions, with a view of unlocking potential and diverse content.
Going forward, the licensing of private community radio and television stations should occupy the centre stage in order to expose citizens to diverse sources of information and create the much needed employment opportunities.
There is an opportunity to license more television and radio stations.
This is important, especially in light of the government's digitisation programme, which promises to make available additional channels for radio and television broadcasting.
The ministry also promised that they aim to become a responsive communication arm of the government.
This suggests that listening, listening and more listening will probably become the order of the day, as opposed to the previous stance of speaking, speaking and more speaking without hearing the concerns of the ordinary citizens.
Beyond facilitating a two-way communication between the Zimbabwean citizens and the government, the ministry must also aim to establish multiple channels of speaking truth to power and open both online and offline spaces where citizens can liaise with government on their felt needs, interests and concerns.
Over and above these issues, there is need to find creative ways to support digital native news outlets like TechnoMag, TechZim, 263chat, and others.
This could be through crowdfunding and using money from the universal fund to innovative media business ideas.
The ministry can borrow a leaf from South Africa's Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), whose mandate is to create an enabling environment for media development and diversity, which reflects the needs and aspirations of citizens and redress exclusion and marginalisation of disadvantaged communities and persons from access to the media and the media industry.
