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Government's
stranglehold on the public media
Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-20
Monday
May 30th – Sunday June 5th 2005
MORE confirmation
of government’s stranglehold on the public media emerged this week
with The Financial Gazette (2/6) reporting that Deputy Information
Minister Bright Matonga was interfering with the editorial content
of the national broadcaster, ZBH.
The paper revealed
that Matonga was "personally editing stories for the main
8pm bulletin" because he was not happy with the way ZBH
was "covering and reporting the government’s ongoing blitz
on flea markets and perceived illegal settlements, claiming the
coverage was unacceptable to the ruling ZANU PF".
According to
"sources" quoted by the paper, Matonga had "edited
out" footage exposing the brutality of the police during
their demolition of illegal structures as it portrayed "government
in bad light". The paper also revealed that this was not
the first time Matonga had interfered with the broadcaster’s editorial
independence. Reportedly, he had also edited reports on the Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair in April.
Such crude and
blatant interference has transformed ZBH into an unbridled conduit
of government propaganda.
The repressive
legislative environment and the authorities’ delay in licensing
private broadcasters have ensured that ZBH still enjoys a de-facto
monopoly and denied the citizenry their right to access alternative
broadcast media of their choice.
Although Studio
7 and SW Radio Africa have tried to give the other side of the Zimbabwean
story, these are niche market radio channels that are only accessed
by the few who have short and medium wave radios.
The government’s
assault on the private Press, which has resulted in the forced closure
of four papers, has left most Zimbabweans with little choice from
the dominant government controlled papers, whose partisan coverage
of daily events is well documented.
Visit the MMPZ
fact sheet
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