Back to Index

Gono blames media for economic mess
The Zimbabwe Independent
January 27, 2006

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2006/January/Friday27/4101.html

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has blamed the media for the economic crisis gripping the country.

Gono's remarks conform with the official line which prompted press laws that have resulted in the closure of four newspapers and seen over a dozen journalists arrested.

Since 2002, the Media and Information Commission, which enforces media regulation, has failed to process accreditation applications by a number of foreign correspondents.

Gono said the media had destroyed the economy.

"The negative international image on Zimbabwe has largely been (based on non-factual) bad publicity," he said.

"The negative publicity by local, regional and international media has thus, in effect, worked to undermine and destroy business confidence and investor sentiment towards Zimbabwe," he claimed.

Gono said Zimbabwe has been perceived as a war zone, a development that has seen tourist arrivals dropping from a peak of 600 000 in 1999 to 281 105 in 2002.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP