By Mthulisi Nxumalo

Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet responsible for Presidential Communications George Charamba has renewed his call for public funding of journalism, arguing that the media should be treated as a public good and supported through mechanisms that protect plurality and the survival of smaller publications.

Writing on his X account this week, Charamba said his previous calls for public funding of journalism had been met with accusations that he wanted to “corrupt and control journalism”.

He, however, argued that journalism was fundamentally a public service and pointed to international examples in which governments support media organizations through direct funding and tax concessions.

“The one thing you are taught in Journalism 101 is that it is a public service, indeed a public good,” Charamba said.

“In many jurisdictions, the media get public funding in many ways: direct funding by the State – not Government! – or indirect funding through numerous tax concessions especially around inputs into their production processes.”

He said some countries, particularly in the Nordic region, had adopted what he described as “bottom-up” support, in which greater assistance is extended to smaller and struggling publications to preserve plurality of voices.

Charamba’s comments come against the backdrop of growing concerns over the financial sustainability of Zimbabwe’s media industry, with declining advertising revenues, digital disruption and changing audience consumption patterns putting pressure on traditional media businesses.

A 2025 Zimbabwe Media Policy identifies economic sustainability as one of the major challenges facing the sector, citing declining advertising revenues, the shift towards social media, struggles facing print media and the proliferation of free online content.

The policy proposes diversifying revenue and funding streams and operationalising and broadening the objectives of the Media Fund administered by the Zimbabwe Media Commission.

The Media Fund is already provided for in the Zimbabwe Media Commission Act of 2020. The legislation provides for the Fund to support capacity building, training, research and development, public awareness of access to information and privacy, with funding potentially coming from media levies and appropriations by Parliament.

This existing framework gives added context to Charamba’s argument that public support for journalism does not necessarily have to mean direct control of newsrooms, but can instead take the form of broader mechanisms designed to sustain the industry.

The debate has also gained urgency as donor funding for media organisations faces uncertainty. A May 2026 media-sector meeting in Harare, organised around the sustainability of public-interest media, highlighted failing business models, shrinking donor support, digital disruption and pressure on advertising markets as major challenges facing Zimbabwean media.

Switzerland’s development agency also announced a 2026-2029 project worth CHF3.1 million to support two Zimbabwean media organisations, with a focus on investigative reporting, sustainability strategies and journalist safety, illustrating that external support remains part of the media-financing landscape.

Charamba, however, questioned the criticism directed at State support while foreign-funded initiatives have been accepted by sections of the media sector.

He argued that describing foreign-funded media support as a guarantee of editorial independence ignored the political and economic interests behind such funding.

Charamba also revisited the creation of the Institute of Mass Public Information (IMPI) during the tenure of former Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, saying the initiative sought to engage journalists and other stakeholders on expectations surrounding media products.

He said the initiative produced what he described as a “seminal report” which remained the only study in Zimbabwe’s history to gauge expectations of different stakeholders regarding media products.

“That report is there, gathering dust!” he said.

He also criticised the longstanding distinction between “private media” and “Government media”, arguing that the terminology had contributed to a polarised media environment.

Charamba pointed to government advertising as one example of the financial relationship between the State and supposedly private media organisations, arguing that private publications routinely accept State advertising.

He further cited the recent provision of two vehicles to journalists Zenzele Ndebele and Robert Tapfumaneyi through the Office of the President and Cabinet to assist their work documenting the experiences of Zimbabwe’s liberation war veterans. The assistance had previously generated debate over the role of government support in journalism.

His latest comments come as Government has also signalled plans to ease financial pressure on media houses. In March, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Zhemu Soda said authorities were working on reforms to reduce media taxes, levies and other costs, with the stated objective of improving the sustainability of traditional media companies.

Charamba said the changing funding environment, including what he described as the decline of foreign governmental organisations operating under the guise of NGOs, had forced journalists, managers, trade unionists and media proprietors to confront the question of how journalism should be sustainably financed.

“Journalism is a public good which can and should be publicly funded,” he said.

His comments have therefore placed the question of who should finance journalism, and under what safeguards, back at the centre of Zimbabwe’s media debate, particularly as traditional revenue models weaken and smaller publications struggle to remain viable.

Community Newspapers Association of Zimbabwe (CNAZ) secretary general, Willie Mponda welcomed the news saying such an announcement from a senior government official was refreshing. “ The independent media in Zimbabwe is on the verge of lapse collapse.

Over the past few years, we have seen more than 15 publications close down due to financial challenges, and this has caused a lot of fake news to circulate on social media. “ Without fake checking media organisations in the county, ofcourse more fake news on social media will be spread.