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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Talks, dialogue, negotiations and GNU - Post June 2008 "elections" - Index of articles
Journalists
barred from covering talks
MISA-Zimbabwe
October 28, 2008
Several journalists
were barred from covering the SADC Troika mediated talks held in
Harare on 27 October 2008 as part of efforts to break the impasse
over the allocation of ministerial positions in terms of the agreement
for an inclusive government signed by Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
Security details manning
the entrance to the premises of the Rainbow Towers Hotel where the
talks were being held turned away a number of freelance journalists
who are not accredited with the statutory Media and Information
Commission (MIC) demanding they produce MIC accreditation cards
for them to cover the national event.
Accreditation
of journalists by MIC is no longer compulsory following the December
2008 cosmetic amendments to the repressive Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Two weeks ago on 15 and
16 October 2008, an official from the Ministry of Information and
Publicity approached two local foreign correspondents and ordered
them to leave the same hotel where they were mingling with other
journalists who were maintaining a journalistic vigil on the talks
that were being facilitated by former South African President Thabo
Mbeki. The official reportedly told the journalists that he was
acting on instructions from his superiors.
MISA-Zimbabwe
position
MISA-Zimbabwe
calls upon the Parliament of Zimbabwe to repeal AIPPA as a matter
of urgency as it poses serious violations to media freedom and freedom
of expression and also vitiates against the 2002
Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression
in Africa which frowns upon statutory regulation of the media as
is the case in Zimbabwe under the MIC.
The Banjul Declaration
states that self-regulation is the best system of instilling professionalism
in the media. MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates that journalists have the
professional mandate to cover and report on the country's
socio-economic and political developments as they unfold without
any hindrance.
Visit
the MISA-Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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