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Journalists
to pay through the nose
Zimbabwe Times
January 05, 2009
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9568
Foreign correspondents
based in Harare and local journalists filing for foreign news organisations
will now have to pay through the nose to be able to report. The
government has announced restrictive new licensing fees for journalists
working for foreign media and foreign news bureaus, with authorities
demanding a staggering US$4 000 to practice journalism in Zimbabwe
for one year. The announcement was made hardly a month after the
permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Publicity,
George Charamba, threatened to ban foreign news bureaus in Zimbabwe
after accusing them of quoting President Robert Mugabe out of context
following his remarks that the country had "arrested"
the cholera outbreak which has killed over 1 600 so far and continues
to claim more casualties.
Charamba charged
in an interview broadcast on State television on December 12 that
Zimbabwe had no need to accredit the foreign news agencies as required
under the repressive Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). Reuters,
Agence France-Presse (AFP), BBC, Associated Press (AP), France 24
International, and Al Jazeera were singled out as being guilty of
"reducing local reporters to mere runners". Charamba accused
them of "playing God with copy" on Zimbabwe, "in
the process rubbishing the letter and spirit of AIPPA". "There
has to be a robust response," Charamba declared.
And that response
was evident in the accreditation fees gazetted yesterday for journalists
working for foreign news media. A journalist must first pay to register
with the government as a member of the press, and must then pay
another fee to become accredited to work. The new regulations are
expected to put enormous financial strain on independent media outlets,
which must now pay to register and accredit every journalist on
their staff. Media or ganizations must pay an application fee to
register with the government. Once the applications have been accepted,
news outlets must pay another fee to be accredited.
- Zimbabwean
journalists must pay Z$1 million and Z$3 million for an application
and one-year accreditation, respectively.
- Local free-lance
journalists must pay Z$1, 5 million for one-year accreditation.
- Local journalists
working for foreign media organizations must pay US$1 000 and
US$3 000 for an application and one-year accreditation, respectively.
- Foreign
journalists intending to work temporarily in Zimbabwe are required
to pay US$500 and US$1 000 for application and accreditation,
respectively.
- Local media
owners must pay an application fee of Z$5 billion and an accreditation
fee of Z$20 billion.
- Foreign
media houses must pay US$10 000 for the application and US$20
000 for accreditation, payable only in foreign currency. There
is also a complimentary permit administration fee pegged at US$2
000.
For local journalists
working for local media, the penalty for late renewal of accreditation
will be Z$100 000 per day while the penalty for late renewal for
registration has been pegged at Z$500 000 per day. Curiously, the
exorbitant accreditation fees fly in the face of amendments made
to AIPPA in January last year removing the requirement for journalists
to obtain press cards. In terms of the amendments, the government
will reconstitute the Media and Information Commission (MIC), the
licensing authority whose name will change to the Zimbabwe Media
Commission. However, these changes can only come into effect after
the formation of a new all-inclusive government and were part of
agreements reached by political parties during last year's power-sharing
talks.
The commission
will consist of a chairperson and eight other members appointed
by President Mugabe from a list of not fewer than 12 nominees submitted
by the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. The
commissioners will be chosen on the basis of their experience in
the media. The commission will then establish a Media Council, which
will be responsible for developing and enforcing a code of conduct
and ethics to be observed by journalists and mass media services.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission will choose one of its members to
chair the Media Council. Two representatives of an association of
accredited journalists nominated by one or more associations of
journalists that, in the opinion of the commission, are representative
of journalists and are appointed by the commission will be part
of the commission.
Other representatives
in the council will be from associations of publishers, advertisers
or advertising agencies, representatives of mass media trainers,
churches, businesspeople, trade unions, women's groups, youth groups
and two lawyers, one practising and another teaching law at a tertiary
institution. A new clause in AIPPA specifies more clearly what privileges
accrue to accredited journalists and simplify the procedure of accrediting
journalists. Two more clauses will extend the period of registration
of mass media services from two to five years and mitigate the rule
that Zimbabweans alone must wholly own or control mass media services.
Although one
of the commission's stated objectives is "to foster freedom
of expression in Zimbabwe," the group is also endowed with
enormous powers to control, license, and accredit journalists and
can refuse to register newspapers and members of the media. Under
the current dispensation, accreditation of media organizations is
valid for two years. Journalists, who need only register once, must
reapply for accreditation once a year.
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