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World Press Freedom Day
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-16
Monday May 2nd - Sunday May 8th 2005

HOPES that the new Information Ministry would help lobby for less hostile media laws and foster a more democratic media environment appeared to be dashed this week following its fervent defence of the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), on the same day the world commemorated World Press Freedom Day.

Writing in The Herald (3/5), Secretary for Information George Charamba defended the repressive law saying there was "hardly any clause in AIPPA you cannot find in world statutes" adding, this is why "no Western embassy dares challenge AIPPA or any of its provisions". That same evening ZTV (3/5, 8pm) reported deputy information minister Bright Matonga echoing his secretary's claims that there was nothing "wrong with AIPPA" because "it was a standard everywhere". As evidence, he cited Portugal and Switzerland as having similar laws.

But, like Charamba, Matonga did not substantiate his assertions by specifying the laws the two countries allegedly had, which were similar to AIPPA. He merely claimed that journalists in Switzerland planned to protest against their government's decision to bar an online publication in that country. This, he argued showed that the "so called democratic countries suppress their own citizens". Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya capped up his subordinates' defence of AIPPA saying media practitioners should "appreciate media laws" in the country because they were "more flexible compared to the draconian laws in Britain and the US", ZTV (7/5, 8pm).

But while the ministry was trying to dishonestly project the repressive law as democratic and premised on universal principles, Studio 7 (5/5) and The Zimbabwe Independent (6/5) exposed the suppressive manner in which the law has made media houses operate on the benevolence of a government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) rather than on the principle of their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. The two reported on how the MIC had further delayed the registration of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) - publishers of the closed Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday - saying it needed additional information on the company's shareholding structure and financial statements before it could consider the company's application.

Meanwhile, in a related matter, The Standard (8/5) quoted MIC chairman saying although the one-year ban of The Tribune was set to expire in June, that "would not mean automatic re-registration" of the paper because it "still [has] to document [its] current status". It is such practices by MIC, among others, that continue to deny Zimbabweans the right to access alternative views of their choice and expose the fallacy of the authorities' claims that AIPPA was a democratic law that could be found in the statutes of any democratic society.

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