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Statement on the raid on NewsDay offices
Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe
April 27, 2011

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) strongly condemns the illegal entry into NewsDay offices and the theft of a laptop belonging to the paper's editor Brian Mangwende by unknown people on Monday night.

The unknown criminals vandalised computers and also got away with hard drives and other components from computers used by senior editorial staff at the independent daily.

VMCZ views the break in at the NewsDay offices as an attack on the freedom of the press in Zimbabwe and as an act that is aimed at crippling the newspaper, in an attempt to stop it from fulfilling its mandate of informing the citizenry.

The VMCZ is concerned that this raid on NewsDay comes barely a few days before World Press Freedom day on 3 May, 2011 and believes that the raid is calculated at instilling fear among media personnel in the country.

The raid on the Newsday offices add to a deteriorating and already compromised media environment in the country and VMCZ calls on the police to bring those responsible to justice. The VMCZ also urges members of the public to actively protect the media fraternity and journalists from unwarranted attacks or to report any threats or intimidation of journalists to the police.

Visit the VMCZ fact sheet

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