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Journalists should be on high alert as 2008 elections loom
Nyasha Nyakunu, MISA-Zimbabwe
Extracted from Monthly Media Alerts Digest March 2007
April 10, 2007

The unlawful arrest and subsequent severe assault of photojournalist Tsvangirai Mukwazhi while in police custody on 11 March 2007 and that of Gift Phiri on April 1 2007, behoves Zimbabwean journalists to be on high alert as they conduct their lawful and professional duties.

The traumatic events of the past two months should also serve as a harbinger of the unknown dangers that lie ahead for journalists and media workers given that Mukwazhi’s whereabouts remained unknown until his subsequent appearance in court three days later on 14 March 2007. Phiri, who is the chief reporter of The Zimbabwean was waylaid in broad daylight at a shopping centre in Sunningdale and taken to Sunningdale police post and then Harare Central Police station where he was brutally beaten and detained.

In several cases involving investigative journalists uncovering stories about government corruption, organised crime or human rights abuses, notably in Algeria and Turkey, journalists have simply ‘disappeared’ after being taken into government custody.

Even more worrying is the fact that Mukwazhi’s valid accreditation card issued by the state-controlled Media and Information Commission under the restrictive and repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) which he brandished did not shield him from the police beatings.

Mukwazhi and Tendai Musiyazviriyo, a film producer, who both freelance for Associated Press, were arrested on the same day with opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, legislator and MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti, Authur Mutambara leader of the other MDC faction, legislator Job Sikhala, Dr Lovemore Madhuku, the chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly and Grace Kwinje, William Bango and Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai faction.

They were admitted to hospital for treatment after they were severely assaulted by the police while in custody following their arrest and subsequent release without charges when the police disrupted a national day of prayer that had been scheduled for Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield on 11 March 2007.

Times of conflict demand professional solidarity that over-rides the egos that are the manifestation and derivatives of the competitive nature of the profession of journalism. Granted, journalism can be a hazardous profession. However, what happened to Mukwazhi and Phiri certainly demanded immediate exposure and condemnation by the media as the worst could have befallen him at the time when his whereabouts in the hands of his captors was unknown.

Mukwazhi’s and Phiri’s trauma was no less than that suffered and experienced by the leaders of opposition parties and civic society organisations who were arrested and similarly severely assaulted while in police custody.

It took the intervention and subsequent statement issued by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression for the local media to publish Mukwazhi’s ordeal.

The statement by the Special Rapporteur who personally interviewed Mukwazhi and inspected the bruises which bear testimony to the attacks he endured was, with all due respect to the sanctity of editorial independence, not given due publicity in the wake of the deteriorating freedom of expression and media freedom environment in Zimbabwe notwithstanding the level of intervention in the context of the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as enunciated by the Special Rapporteur.

Phiri’s narration of his ordeal at the hands of his interrogators at Harare Central police station is reminiscent of events in Nazi Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, the only difference being that this is the 21st century.

Journalists should, therefore, rally behind one another especially where it concerns the unlawful arrest, detention, assault and torture of colleagues as these actions go beyond the hazards that come with the terrain of the profession but blatantly violate the charters, conventions and declarations that protect media freedom and freedom of expression.

With both the presidential and parliamentary elections now confirmed for 2008, lessons should be learnt from the experiences of the violence and inter-party clashes that rocked Zimbabwe in the run-up to the 2000 and 2002 parliamentary and presidential elections respectively. Several journalists were caught in the crossfire then.

As the 2008 elections approach in the absence of any meaningful constitutional reforms that guarantee universally acknowledged freedoms, it will certainly be back to the status-quo ante in the run-up to next year’s election campaigns.

Journalists working in dangerous situations should intuitively know when to retreat and must always re-evaluate the risks involved.

As Terry Anderson now the honorary chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and former Associated Press Beirut bureau chief who was held hostage for nearly seven years in Lebanon has said: "Always, constantly, constantly, every minute, weigh the benefits against the risks.

"And as soon as you come to the point where you feel uncomfortable with that equation, get out, go, leave. It’s not worth it. There is no story worth getting killed for."

As for the assigning editors and managers, the safety of their journalists should be paramount. This entails discouraging unwarranted risk-taking on the part of their journalists.

Above all journalists should be driven and guided by the ethics of the profession and report accurately, objectively and truthfully in a fair and balance manner. This obviously demands checking and rechecking - checking and rechecking the facts to avoid being sold dummies by those with hidden agendas. Journalists are also warned not to trust politicians of any shade especially during election campaign periods for they will go to any lengths to discredit their opponents in order to get into power.

Journalists should lower their profiles during assignments in hostile areas and do everything possible not to attract attention.

Instinct, Intuition and Wisdom should be the operative words for those journalists working in hostile environments. 

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