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Authorities continue to gag free press
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-08
Monday February 21st - Sunday February 27th 2005

THE authorities' determination to gag the free Press manifested itself again this week in the closure of yet another privately owned newspaper, bringing to four private newspapers that have been closed under the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) within 18 months. The closure of The Weekly Times, whose operations have been under threat since its first issue on January 2 this year, follows that of The Daily News and its Sunday sister paper in September 2003 and The Tribune in June 2004. The Herald and Chronicle (26/2) reported that the government appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) had invoked Section 71 (1) (a) of AIPPA to cancel the publishing licence of the newly established weekly citing misrepresentations or non-disclosure of material facts by the paper's owners.

The papers quoted MIC chairman alleging that, contrary to the publishers' undertaking "to focus on development journalism", the paper had "dedicated itself to partisan political advocacy" and adopted a thrust that was "even separatist". Instead of condemning this continued clampdown on the remaining few alternative sources of information, the papers seemingly endorsed MIC's undemocratic decision by giving the impression that, like other closures in the past, this latest gagging of the private media was justifiable because the paper had broken the law. The unconstitutional nature of AIPPA, which MIC has selectively used to silence the private media, was conveniently ignored. It was only The Standard (27/2) that quoted media activists condemning the closure. But while the MIC has continued to hound the private Press, it has been conspicuous by its silence on the deteriorating standards of journalism at the government-controlled media.

For instance, this week The Herald and Chronicle (23/2) selectively used South African President Thabo Mbeki's interview with The Financial Times to suggest that the authorities' governance of Zimbabwe had a regional seal of approval. The papers narrowly used excerpts in which Mbeki described as an "exaggeration" a statement by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Zimbabwe was one of the world's "outposts of tyranny" to give the impression that Mbeki approved of government policies. His condemnation of governance in Zimbabwe, particularly the irregular nature of the voters' roll, the persecution of the opposition and the way land reform was implemented, was censored. ZTV (22/2, 8pm) handled the story in the same manner. A more accurate representation of Mbeki's interview appeared in The Financial Gazette (24/2).

It is such unprofessional conduct by the government media that again confirms their status as unreliable sources of information and slavish defenders of government policies. Such unprofessional journalism should, under AIPPA, attract MIC's response, but the commission has remained deafeningly silent on such matters, corroborating allegations that MIC is selectively applying the law.

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