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Government's
warped perception of the role of the media
Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2006-8
Monday February 20th – Sunday February 26th
2006
THIS week Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa provided further insight into government’s
warped perception of the role of the media and who it should be
owned by, which could explain the reasons behind the authorities’
determination to obliterate the country’s few remaining alternative
sources of information.
The Herald
(23/2) quoted the minister seemingly denouncing the ownership of
the private media by "minority interests"
saying this gave "undeserved prominence"
to their "views and opinions", which the
private Press allegedly treated as "being more equal
than others".
Apparently oblivious
to the fact that media diversity, which mirrors the aspirations
of every sector of society, serves as the cornerstone of every participatory
democracy, Chinamasa then called for an "urgent reform"
of Zimbabwe’s already barren and starved media landscape so that
the private media could "assist in beaming out to the
outside world our aspirations, our stories and our world view"
and "inculcate shared values".
ZTV (23/2, 6pm)
carried a similar report.
The minister’s
apparent appeal for yet more control and less diversity in Zimbabwe’s
media wasteland provides further evidence of government’s determination
to suffocate all independent thought and to replace it with its
own narrow, ZANU PF definition of Zimbabweans’ ‘stories’ and ‘values’,
while dismissing all other interpretations as pandering to subversive
neo-colonial, anti-Zimbabwe sentiments.
In fact, the
government’s intolerance of divergent views on pertinent issues
was again illustrated during the week by the vitriolic response
of Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa (The Herald, 22/2)
to a story on President Mugabe’s 82nd birthday interview
in the South African-based Business Day.
Simon Khaya
Moyo described as "mischievous, irresponsible and utter
hogwash" the paper’s interpretation that Mugabe’s attack
on African leaders and his plea to them not to meddle in Zimbabwe’s
internal affairs was targeted at President Thabo Mbeki, who has
tried to find a solution to the country’s deepening crisis.
He also attacked
the paper’s correspondent, Dumisani Muleya, saying he and "his
like-minded (sic) are too small to drive a wedge" between
Mugabe and Mbeki because "Zimbabwe is not for sale".
Visit the MMPZ
fact sheet
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