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Urgent need for alternative daily sources of information underscored
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2004-25
Monday June 21 - Sunday June 27 2004

THE urgent need for alternative daily sources of information was further underscored by The Herald’s censorship of ZANU-PF MP’s historic refusal to ratify the proposed Criminal Procedure and Evidence Bill, which government planned to pass into law on Tuesday June 22 to formalize the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act) Regulations of 2004.

The paper (24/6) merely reported that the ruling party legislators had praised the regulations during their parliamentary caucus but omitted to explain the circumstances under which the meeting was convened.

This only appeared in The Financial Gazette (24/6). The paper revealed that the meeting followed the ruling party MPs’ Parliamentary walkout in protest against some clauses of the Bill, forcing the leader of the House and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to adjourn the proceedings. Reportedly, the MPs then met the following day and tasked Chinamasa to immediately amend the Bill to incorporate clauses that addressed their concerns.

The Herald fleetingly referred to this. In fact, those who rely on the paper and indeed the government media are unaware of this unprecedented rebellion by ZANU PF legislators, who have for long been accused of rubber-stamping every government policy.

Similarly, audiences of the government media, which are now the dominant sources of information following the forced closure of The Daily News, missed the UN’s revelations that, contrary to government’s projections of a bumper harvest, about 2,3 million rural people will face food shortages this year.

According to the Zimbabwe Independent (25/6), the revelations followed a crop survey conducted in April by UN aid agencies and NGOs who form the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee. The committee also includes government representatives.

None of the government-controlled media reported this latest rebuttal of government claims on the country’s food security.

Although the private media have tried to fill the information gap, which in most cases is conveniently left out by the government media, their effectiveness in that role is heavily compromised by the fact they are niche market sources of information and thus fewer people access them.

It is against this background that civic organisations have called on government to repeal its repressive media laws and open up the media space to allow the timely and free flow of information for the benefit of the citizenry.

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