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Panorama:
Journalists under fire
Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2004-10
Monday March 8th – Sunday
March 13th 2004
Review
the BBC story
Government’s vehement denials of accusations
made in a British Broadcasting Corporation programme ‘Panorama’,
exposing some of the goings-on in Zimbabwe’s closely guarded National
Youth Service (NYS) training centres, received unquestioned endorsement
from the government media.
Instead, these media deliberately twisted
a later "From our own Correspondent" report by the Panorama
producer, Hilary Andersson clarifying her programme’s claims on
ZANU PF’s use of the controversial NYS products to perpetrate violence
against government opponents, as admission that the programme’s
findings were false, ZTV, Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM (9/3, 8pm)
and The Herald (9/3) all suggested that the later report
was an admission of failure.
The Herald claimed that the BBC’s
"onslaught to discredit Zimbabwe’s human rights record has
suffered a major hitch" after its producer had made an "apparent
U-turn" and "admitted that the stories were inconsistent
and could not be substantiated".
To try and substantiate these unfounded
claims the paper then quoted Andersson criticising other media organisations
for misquoting "our findings in their hunt for a snazzy headline"
adding, "we have no evidence that 12-year-olds are taught
to torture, nor that anyone in the camps is taught to rape".
The paper then crucially omitted this
excerpt from Andersson’s report:
"Our wording has been very specific.
The camps contain youths as young as 12. Almost everyone we spoke
to who had been in the camps had been taught to beat and maim.
Most had been taught to kill. Those we came across who had been
taught to torture were all youths, rather than children. Rape
is encouraged, in the testimonies we heard, not taught".
None of the media highlighted this shameless
distortion of Andersson’s report to dismiss criticism of her Panorama
programme.
The next day The Herald (10/3)
continued its relentless attempt to discredit Panorama by
maintaining the lie that Andersson had "admitted the stories
were inconsistent and could not be substantiated". It then
implied that Andersson could not substantiate her findings because
she had not made the programme herself: it had been put together
by "political activists with strong links to the MDC working
with well-known media personalities". Local and international
journalists, including the regional heads of Reuters and
IRIN, were named as having participated in producing the programme.
The Herald’s efforts were complemented
by ZTV (10/3, 8pm), which used the retraction falsehood to source
unflattering comments about Panorama and its "mercenary"
producers.
The station (12/3) dedicated 25 minutes
to a special programme entitled, Panorama Fiction: The British
Propaganda War, in which it tried to discredit the documentary.
The description of journalists as "mercenaries"
also appeared in a statement from Information Minister Jonathan
Moyo, who threatened action against correspondents and stringers
for international media who were allegedly externalising foreign
currency.
Said Moyo: "Mercenaries of any
kind, whether carrying the sword or the pen, must and will be exposed,
and they will suffer the consequences of the law" (The
Herald, 10/3). He criticised the journalists and media houses
for being tempted by "dirty American money" at the
"expense of their country".
Only the private media seemed to take
exception to such unwarranted attacks on journalists, especially
those from the independent media. SW Radio (10/03) quoted Media
Institute of Southern Africa (Zimbabwe) Director Sarah Chiumbu noting:
"journalists are being put under that same umbrella of mercenaries
…it is a direct threat…its quite worrying." The Tribune
(12/3) also condemned Moyo’s statements.
The Zimbabwe Independent (12/3)
revealed that Moyo’s media crackdown was not only targeted at private
and international journalists, but those working for the media he
runs as well. It reported that he was "cracking the whip at
state media outlets to churn more ZANU PF propaganda" to
ensure a "people’s victory" in the parliamentary elections.
It cited unnamed sources at ZBC and Zimpapers as having said this
had resulted in the sacking of journalists who were accused of reporting
for Voice of America.
The Financial Gazette (11/3) also
reported that the Information Department had told editors from government
media that it would "deal with the enemy in the media, the
Justice Gubbay factor in the judiciary and the internal economic
enemy".
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