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Harare to set up 24-hr propaganda radio station
Farisai Gonye, ZimOnline
March 27, 2007

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1104

HARARE – The Zimbabwe government says it will next month set up a 24-hour propaganda radio station to counter "negative publicity" from Western media.

Responding to questions from ZimOnline over the project, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, confirmed the development saying the new station will operate under the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

"That is absolutely true. The management team is (already) in place and my ministry will soon be releasing funds to launch the station," said Ndlovu.

The launch of the propaganda radio news channel, to be called News24, will see President Robert Mugabe’s government tightening its grip on the airwaves.

The government already controls the four radio stations that operate in the country. The government also runs the country’s sole television station.

The Harare authorities have used the radio and television stations to vociferously defend Mugabe’s policies at the exclusion of oppositional voices.

There are, however, two private radio stations that operate from Washington and London.

Harare accuses the two stations, SW Radio Africa and Voice of America’s Studio 7 of broadcasting propaganda aimed at inciting Zimbabweans to rise against the government.

"We have hastened the project because of the onslaught (from the West) that has reached alarming levels.

"The station would be a way of telling our story and to react to hostile Western machinations aimed at undermining the credibility and legitimacy of our government," said Ndlovu.

Sources said Happison Muchechetere, a former senior ZBC journalist and veteran of the country’s 1970s liberation war, would head the news channel.

The government had initially planned to have the radio channel operating under state news agency, New Ziana. But the project was later moved to the ZBC because the broadcaster already had equipment in place for the project.

Zimbabwe has maintained a tight grip on the media over the past four years. At least four newspapers, including the country’s biggest Daily News, have been banned since 2003 for violating the country’s tough media laws. – ZimOnline

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