Story by Silence Mugadzaweta
ZIMBABWE’s media industry must become the vanguard of the digital economy and ensure no citizen is left behind in the digital divide, Chief Director in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Jonathan Gandari has said.
Addressing the National AI and Journalism Education Research Summit in Harare, Dr Gandari said digital transformation was now a national imperative as the country advances towards Vision 2030.
Organised by the Zimbabwe Journalism Educators Network (ZIJEN), the inaugural summit brought together academics, media executives, and journalists to build collaborations to enhance journalism sustainability.
“Our pens and microphones are tools for development. Your industry, the media industry, must be the vanguard of the digital economy, ensuring that no Zimbabwean is left behind in the digital divide,” he said.
He described artificial intelligence as central to Zimbabwe’s ambition to become an empowered, prosperous, upper-middle-income society under Vision 2030.
“The challenge of artificial intelligence has become an urgent national imperative,” he said. “Our nation is currently on an unstoppable trajectory towards Vision 2030. This transformation is not merely economic; it is also intellectual and structural.”
Dr Gandari said the shift to Heritage-Based Education 5.0, which expands the traditional university mandate of teaching, research and community service to include innovation and industrialisation, was at the heart of that transformation.
“We have moved away from just teaching, research and community service. We now have a framework that includes innovation and industrialisation,” he said. “Education must produce goods and services. An education that does not do that is short-changing its citizens.”
He said Education 5.0 was a key driver of the National Development Strategy 1 and 2, placing universities and colleges at the centre of economic transformation.
“For Zimbabwe to remain competitive, we must evolve into a knowledge-based society,” he said. “Our economy must be fuelled by ideas, innovation and the application of technologies, one of which is artificial intelligence.”
Turning to journalism, Dr Gandari said a knowledge society required the media to process data, simplify complex concepts and explain how government interventions translate into economic growth.
“Journalism must explain how infrastructure development, education and mining interventions translate into GDP, and how citizens should be mobilised by information which is useful information that is a resource,” he said. “Digital transformation is not a luxury. It is a utility.”
He challenged journalists and educators to move beyond descriptive reporting.
“I challenge you to move beyond descriptive journalism, which simply says what happened, to analytical, predictive journalism powered by artificial intelligence. That predictive journalism will assist Government in policy formulation,” he said.
Dr Gandari dismissed fears that AI posed a threat to the profession.
“Artificial intelligence is not a threat to journalism. It is a force. It is a multiplier. It is an assistant to telling the story,” he said. “It enhances investigative journalism and data analysis, ensuring that we all have stories that are nearest to the truth.”
He said responsible journalism was critical at a time of shifting global geopolitics and an “infodemic” of misinformation.
“When nations lose their borders and identity, journalism must never die. The storyteller must survive to inculcate values in the next generation. This is so important for national survival,” he said.
Dr Gandari urged African journalists to tell the continent’s story more assertively, saying misconceptions about Africa persisted globally.
“The story of Africa requires the African journalist,” he said, urging participants to engage with continental blueprints such as Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area.
He also called for journalism that interrogates and validates indigenous knowledge systems.
“We need journalism that brings the science behind all the things we do, the villager who survives floods or drought using indigenous knowledge systems. That is needed now more than before in the era of artificial intelligence,” he said.
Dr Gandari said Government had already equipped all universities and higher learning institutions with campus radio stations, which should now serve as innovation hubs.
“The expectation of government is that new programming will emerge, new ways of presenting content, and that platforms and applications will be developed, platforms sensitive to our culture, our languages and our innovations,” he said.
He urged academics and practitioners to direct research and teaching towards solving real-world problems and advising Government on the future direction of media policy.
