EXPRESSING concern over the current practice where media outlets feature one person on programme at a time, Ministry of Information and Media permanent secretary Thabo Kawana has urged the institutions to adopt a debate format in program presentation to combat misinformation.
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Speaking at the launch of the Freedom of Expression (FOX) Report by Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) yesterday, Kawana stressed the need for media organisations to ensure balanced representation, and factual reporting to uphold the integrity of journalism.
He said this would provide the public with accurate information.
“As a matter of fact, I want to urge the media to adopt the debate format of programme presentation” he explained, “when a lie is posed, it is dismissed there and then.”
“The situation where you feature one person at a time is contributing to misinformation. You feature one person now and states a lie then feature the other person another day to clarify, those who heard the lie will go off misinformed,” added Kawana.
Kawana urged media practitioners to play their role responsibly in promoting transparency and accountability in society.
The permanent secretary also expressed concern about the spread of misinformation.
“Freedom of expression is one of the rights that Government wants to prioritise. Government’s desire is to see that freedom of expression is anchored on the truth.” said Kawana.
“We have noted with regret a growing trend where falsehood is generated and people go to freely express themselves based on that falsehood that themselves have generated.”
Meanwhile, Kawana said the United Party for National Development’s (UPND)’s campaign promise track sheet is looking good.
“We have developed a fact sheet to track progress made towards beating the campaign promises and I can tell you that the picture is looking good.” he said.
“Around 80 percent of what we promised has been achieved in just two and a half years. your government for example, promised that they will bring free education and it implemented free education so how can one say that we lied?”
By Elesani Phiri
Kalemba April 26, 2025
