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Press freedom in Zimbabwe suffers another heavy blow
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-10
Monday March 7th - Sunday March 13th 2005

AS this report was being compiled, press freedom in Zimbabwe suffered another heavy blow with news that the Supreme Court had defended the legitimacy of several controversial clauses of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which the authorities have selectively used to gag the private media.

This followed a court application by the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) - publishers of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday - challenging the closure of its two publications and the constitutionality of 13 clauses of AIPPA.

The Herald, Chronicle and The Daily Mirror (15/3) reported that the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of 12 of these clauses, which among other issues, deal with the composition and constitutionality of the Media and Information Commission, the registration of media houses and licensing of journalists.

The Court only struck down Section 80 of the Act, which criminalized the abuse of journalistic privilege. But this had been struck off the statute books anyway as a result of amendments to the Act. In fact, the same court had already declared the section unconstitutional in February 2004 after a legal challenge mounted against it by the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.

Instead of analysing the underlying implications of this latest ruling on freedom of expression, ZTV (15/3, 8pm) celebrated this latest development and used it to dismiss concerns by the opposition and civic society that laws such as AIPPA and POSA rendered the country's electoral playing field uneven. It claimed that the judgment showed that the electoral environment, including the country's laws, were conducive for a free and fair poll. During the week an unprecedented and mysterious loss of television transmission denied many Zimbabweans a rare opportunity to hear some of the policies of the MDC as some cities mysteriously lost ZBH's signal during ZTV's interview with the party's secretary for economic affairs, Tendai Biti, on March 7. Under the headline, 'ZBH poll coverage 'trick' exposed', The Financial Gazette (10/3) reported that it was only in Harare and Masvingo that transmission was clear. In Gweru and Mutare the programme was badly affected by "severe interference in the form of feedback..." while Bulawayo completely lost the signal just before the interview, which only resumed after it had finished. ZBH merely told the paper to find out what had happened from Transmedia, the signal carrier company established by the government to carry and manage broadcast signals.

ZTV (9/3, 8pm) then misrepresented Biti's comments on why MDC MPs had failed to initiate developmental projects and quoted selected members of the public attacking the opposition's policies. As a result, those who were denied the opportunity to watch Biti's interview were given the wrong impression of what he had actually said.

Such unprofessional behaviour by the national public broadcaster further justifies the urgent need for its urgent and total reform. It also makes a strong argument for the establishment of alternative independent local and national broadcasters that would professionally discharge their duties to inform the public.

Meanwhile, those who rely on SW Radio Africa, which is one of the few remaining alternative sources of information for the Zimbabwean public, could barely access the station due to what SW Radio Africa (11/3) claimed were deliberate attempts to jam the signal by someone...frightened of our broadcasts". The Sunday Mail (13/3) quoted the authorities denying that they were responsible.

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