MISA Zimbabwe’s latest research report brings into perspective the impact of Covid-19 on media sustainability in Southern Africa. Among other things the report highlights the pandemic’s impact on the media and assesses the nexus between the Covid-19’s impact on the media and the exercise of media freedom, access to information and freedom of expression. Read on to get informed on these pertinent issues.
The focus of the research was to:
- Highlight the background circumstances in which the media has been operating in prior to Covid 19, which include the challenges relating to print media vis-à-vis digital content creation, citizen journalism etc.
- Analyse the impact of Covid 19 on the media industry including a focus on the capacity of media houses to generate content when nations are on lockdown, distribution channels for such products, the capacity of consumers to pay for media services among other aspects.
- Assess the correlation between the impact of Covid 19 on media and the exercise of rights like media freedom, access to information and freedom of expression.
- Provide recommendations on how media sustainability and viability can be maintained or improved in the circumstances including the roles that different stakeholders can play including government, civil society organisations and media houses.
This report focused on the Southern African region and more specifically countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho and Tanzania.
Access the full report here (6MB PDF)
Source: MISA Zimbabwe
