Sunday Mail has sacrificed two of its stringers after it was found out that someone within the newspapers newsroom was moonlighting for Zimdaily.

Another reporter who is said to have been on attachment or more or less the same a stringer again was relieved of his duties at the paper in light of the same issue. Some time last month a picture taken by a Sunday Mail photographer was published on the Zimdaily website and is said to have caused disharmony in the Sunday Mail newsroom after it was found out. The rules at Zimpapers do not allow reporters or photographers at the company to work for anyone else during the time they will be contracted to them.

Being a government mouth piece it is common sense that if one was to be found moonlighting, it was going to be the last day they set their foot at the companies’ premises. However even though these are the statutes, many a reporter at Zimpapers are into moonlighting. If names could be drawn, a lot of them would be excused from their duties. This has been exacerbated by the fact that journalism in Zimbabwe is not paying and many reporters now rely on writing to outside websites which are critical of government policies.

The growth of internet based news dissemination in Zimbabwe has opened opportunities for many a journalists including those formally employed by government controlled media though it is an offence that can see one to the courts. It is however sad in this incident that innocent reporters had to be send home when the real people writing for Zimdaily were left behind.

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