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Monopoly
of the airwaves
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-35
Monday September 12th – Sunday September 18th
2005
THE authorities’
reluctance to relinquish its monopoly of the airwaves and allow
the growth of diverse, independent news outlets was again confirmed
by the decision during the week of the Broadcasting Authority of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) to deny Munhumutapa African Broadcasting Corporation
(MABC) a broadcasting licence.
The Zimbabwe
Independent (16/9) reported that the government-appointed broadcasting
regulatory authority had rejected MABC’s application on the grounds
that the aspiring broadcaster had allegedly failed to "demonstrate
that it had the financial resources to operate a television station"
and cited as an "aggravating factor" the
"undisclosed amount of money" the applicant
allegedly owes ZBC.
MABC reportedly
accrued the debt when it rented broadcasting space from ZBC in the
late 1990s.
This development
further erodes the citizenry’s right to freedom of expression and
exacerbates the information drought affecting Zimbabweans, who have
long been denied their right to access media of their choice and
have instead, been subjected to incessant government propaganda,
offensive insults and blatant falsehoods in the now-dominant official
media.
The latest example
appeared in The Herald (19/9), which passively allowed deputy
Information Minister Bright Matonga to lie about the MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai’s "walk-to-work" protest against crippling
fuel shortages. The paper supinely reported Matonga claiming that
Tsvangirai had not walked "all the way to work"
but had only done so for a "short distance for photographs,
before boarding his red fuel guzzling truck" in a bid
to seek "cheap publicity". The paper even
quoted Matonga saying "We were monitoring his movements…"
and, "…we all saw him arriving in (his truck) at Harvest
House at 11.30…"
The fact of
the matter was that Tsvangirai set off from his Strathaven home
on foot at 7am and walked to his Harvest House offices, arriving
at 8.15am. But The Herald once again abandoned every basic
journalistic principle to allow these blatant lies to pass as fact,
reaffirming its role as a disseminator of government propaganda.
It also emerged
during the week that government was considering restricting Zimbabweans’
freedom of movement by promulgating a law that would make it mandatory
for Zimbabweans travelling abroad to obtain "exit visas".
SW Radio Africa (14/9) and the Independent reported this
news following the gazetting of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
Act, which contains an amendment that allows government to withdraw
passports of those perceived to be "enemies"
of the State and a threat to the "national interest".
The Independent,
in an IRIN report, quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa justifying
the move saying there was need to "protect the country
from all forms of attack - verbal and physical" by
"its own citizens who choose to lie to the world about
their own country" thereby reducing Zimbabwe’s "international
status".
However, Studio
7 (15/9) reported Chinamasa as having denied that government was
planning to introduce an exit visa law.
Typically, the
government media avoided this issue, which clearly exposes the extent
of the assault on Zimbabweans’ basic rights.
Visit the MMPZ
fact sheet
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