ABSTRACT

This paper investigates journalism practice and newsroom cultures in both private and state media companies in Zimbabwe. The paper moves beyond the gender body count to analyse journalists’ cultural interpretations of their everyday work and actions and how this contributes to the structuring of power relations in the newsrooms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 journalists from selected Zimbabwean newsrooms to unearth their lived experiences of the profession. Using the journalism culture concept, feminist standpoint epistemology and intersectionality, the study found out that Zimbabwean journalists continue to experience gender biases owing to cultural interpretations of the roles of women and men; increasing subtle sexual harassment from both media managers, male colleagues and sources; and deliberate silencing of women’s voices. Further, a poor performing economy contributes to unethical journalism practices. The study also reveals how gender intersects with other social norms such as the location/positioning of women, ethnicity, age, and years of experience in the newsroom to further dis-privilege female journalists. There are deliberate efforts by journalists (both male and female) to employ feminist journalism—with the goal of contributing towards a journalistic culture that is non-oppressive.

摘要

本文调查了津巴布韦私营和国有媒体公司的新闻实践和新闻编辑室文化。该论文超越了性别统计，分析了记者对其日常工作和行为的文化解释，以及这如何有助于新闻编辑室权力关系的结构化。对来自选定的津巴布韦新闻编辑室的 16 名记者进行了半结构化采访，以挖掘他们在该行业的生活经历。该研究利用新闻文化概念、女权主义立场认识论和交叉性，发现津巴布韦记者继续因对男女角色的文化解释而遭受性别偏见；来自媒体经理、男性同事和消息来源的隐蔽性骚扰越来越多；并故意压制女性的声音。此外，表现不佳的经济助长了不道德的新闻实践。该研究还揭示了性别如何与其他社会规范相交，例如女性的位置/定位、种族、年龄和在新闻编辑室的经验，以进一步剥夺女记者的特权。记者（男性和女性）刻意采用女权主义新闻——目的是为非压迫性的新闻文化做出贡献。