Staff Writer
The two-day National Media Indaba for online content creators ended Wednesday in Kariba with Zimbabwe Online Content Creators president Toneo Rutsito imploring media practitioners to prioritize principles of factual content and fact checking.
Toneo said it was the responsibility of online content creators to maintain credibility, ethical standards, and professionalism in content creation.
“While we strive to deliver breaking news in a timely manner, we should prioritize the principles of factual content and employ various fact-checking mechanisms,” he said.
“Zimbabweans rely on us as their gatekeepers of information, expecting us to provide accurate content. Therefore, it is our duty to verify information to prevent disseminating unverified, false, or sensationalized content.
“Major media houses have achieved their success not solely by rushing to publish first, but by consistently verifying their content and earning the trust of their audience.”
He said quality should never be compromised, as spreading misinformation may generate temporary traffic but ultimately leads to a loss of credibility.
“Furthermore, reputable brands prefer not to associate themselves with clickbait or unethical content creation. Engaging in such practices would hinder our progress.
“I urge all content creators to remain committed to factual and professional practices on our journey towards media greatness. Each publication should be a step forward in achieving this goal,” he said.
Media practitioners from Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces gathered in Kariba for a post-election workshop where topics that include hate speech in online spaces, online media’s role in countering hate speech, fact-checking and online coverage of hate crimes were tackled.
The event was organized by UNESCO, Zimbabwe Media Commission and Zimbabwe Online Content Creators.
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