Harare, (New Ziana) -The Zimbabwe government has signaled a major strategic shift in the future of the public media architecture, affirming that the traditional news agency model is no longer viable and urging a decisive pivot towards strengthening community newspapers as a cornerstone of rural development.
The Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Omphile Marupi said this at the close of the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust (ZMMT) and New Ziana strategic planning workshop in Harare on Thursday.
He said the country stood at a critical crossroads as it concludes the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and prepares to implement the NDS2, making bold and pragmatic decisions unavoidable.
Dr Marupi warned that the once-dominant wire service model, established in 1981, has been overtaken by technological change and the rise of digital platforms, leaving the national news agency in what he described as an “existential crisis.”
“The media landscape has been irrevocably altered,” he said, noting that social media and direct internet access have eroded the relevance of traditional wire services, while declining readership and advertising revenues, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have crippled the agency’s financial base,” he said.
He noted that New Ziana is burdened by substantial debt, persistent budget cuts and an inability to meet basic operating costs, challenges compounded by the fact that when Ziana was commercialized in 2003, it was never capitalized.
Although the government has historically provided grants to subsidize operational deficits, Dr Marupi said the support has failed to keep pace with rising costs.
“In light of these harsh realities, crippling debt, perpetual dependency on Treasury and an unviable commercial structure, we must seriously consider phasing out the outdated, resource-intensive wire service,” he said.
In sharp contrast, Dr Marupi described community newspapers as a highly viable national asset that aligns directly with the national vision to attain upper middle income status by 2030 as well as the devolution agenda of the Second Republic.
He emphasized that the publications play an irreplaceable role in reaching marginalized communities, particularly in rural areas, where access to digital news is limited by the cost of data.
Since 1987, the eight New Ziana community newspapers have helped bridge the information gap between the governors and the governed, articulating rural aspirations, agricultural innovation and local development needs, he said.
“Seventy percent of Zimbabwe’s population resides in rural areas. Your most important mandate is to stimulate rural development,” Dr Marupi said, adding that the free, vernacular nature of the newspapers gives them wider reach in marginal areas than any other media platform in the country.
He said the government intends to formally integrate community newspapers into provincial structures as part of the devolution framework, transforming them into key vehicles for local development communication.
Looking ahead to NDS2, Dr Marupi said the government will also roll out structured incentives for artists and content creators to boost the production of high-quality local content for public broadcasting, aimed at telling the Zimbabwean story and strengthening national pride.
He urged New Ziana to position itself to benefit from these initiatives by prioritizing factual, ethical and development-oriented content.
Dr Marupi acknowledged internal turnaround efforts already underway at New Ziana, including improving editorial quality, expanding digital distribution and increasing readership through free newspaper circulation.
He said the ability of the organization to remain operational despite receiving only a fraction of its pledged budgetary support this year demonstrated underlying viability.
To secure sustainability, Dr Marupi proposed a mixed funding model for community newspapers, combining annual Treasury support, in recognition of their public service role, with diversified commercial revenues, stressing that international precedent recognizes national news production as a public good that cannot rely solely on volatile market forces.
“New Ziana holds a near monopoly in the rural news market and must capitalize on this advantage as Government and business increasingly decentralize to rural areas,” he said.
In closing, Dr Marupi challenged the organization to move away from a culture of dependency and instead seek a once-off strategic capital injection to support a sustainable turnaround.
“The old model is defunct, but the community newspapers are a powerful national asset. By committing resources to a decisive and realistic reform path, you can salvage a core public information service and ensure that New Ziana once again champions the Zimbabwean narrative, especially for the 70 percent of citizens living in rural communities,” he said.
Dr Marupi urged participants to ensure the workshop delivers not just plans, but a secure and sustainable future for public media in Zimbabwe.
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