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Trust Fund Board (TFB) statement on media developments and challenges
in Zimbabwe
MISA-Zimbabwe
July 24, 2010
We the members
of the TFB gathered at the 2010 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of
the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) held on 24 July 2010
at the Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe, make the
following statement:
We take note
of the efforts being made by Zimbabwe's Government of National
Unity (GNU) under the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) to effect law reforms to open up the
media and information sector in Zimbabwe;
We note that
the success of media reforms, including the licensing of banned
newspapers and admission of new players into the media sector, will
depend on the full implementation of the GPA. This requires the
enactment of a constitutional provision that explicitly guarantees
media freedom and citizens' right to access information held
by both public and private bodies;
We thus urge
the Zimbabwean government to make the processes of media legislative
reform and related policy issues as transparent and inclusive as
possible and also that fundamental and international standards on
media and freedom of expression rights are adhered to. These include
Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the African
Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Windhoek Declaration,
African Charter on Broadcasting, the Banjul Declaration on Freedom
of Expression in Africa;
We call upon
the government to engage media players in a process of dialogue
to review restrictive media laws that infringe on media and freedom
of expression rights. Such laws include, but are not limited to:
We have however
witnessed the sanctioned abuse of the national broadcaster by a
single political party. The state-owned print media continues its
divisive practice of spewing hate speech designed to polarize both
the media and the public. Both the national broadcaster and state-owned
print media feed from tax papers' money and yet are grossly
abused to promote the interests of a select few;
We have recorded
a decrease in the number of attacks on, and arrests of journalists
in Zimbabwe. Notwithstanding this, we call upon the government to
ensure the safety of media workers who still face legal and extra-legal
threats from perpetrators of media freedom and free expression violations.
We further urge you to drop any legal cases pending against media
workers or citizens charged for exercising their right to freedom
of expression;
MISA is vehemently
opposed to statutory regulation of journalists and has consistently
promoted effective self-regulation as the best system for promoting
high standards in the media. As such we urge the government to support
the Voluntary
Media Council of Zimbabwe and, in addition, to remove all restrictions
on the practice of journalism.
We welcome the
Information Communications Technology (ICT) Bill which is intended
to merge the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and the Postal and
Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) and create the
National Information and Communications Technology Authority of
Zimbabwe.
Regulation of
the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors should be geared
towards promoting their roles as enablers and conduits of free speech
in line with declarations such as the African Charter on Broadcasting.
The Charter states that the legal framework for broadcasting should
include a clear statement of the principles underpinning broadcast
regulation, including promoting respect for freedom of expression,
diversity and the free flow of information and ideas, as well as
a three tier system for broadcasting.
It is indeed
our view that the long term viability of the broadcasting, telecommunications
and ICT sectors lie in securing the independence of their regulatory
frameworks.
Visit
the MISA-Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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