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June 23, 2002

What is the definition of a falsehood?
William Bango

Today, our reporter Lloyd Mudiwa appears in court, charged under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It is The Daily News on trial ­ the first of a long list of similar cases we expect to be brought up under a section dealing with journalistic work. The result, either way, will set a
precedent with a potential to change the manner in which we speak or speak out against anything in our beleaguered country.

The core of the charge sheet states that a journalist shall be deemed to have abused his journalistic privilege and committed an offence if he falsifies or fabricates information; publishes falsehoods; and except where he is a freelance journalist, collects and disseminates information on behalf of a person other than the mass media service that employs him without permission of his employer. He faces a fine of $100 000 or up to two years in jail.
The heart of the matter is the definition of a falsehood. Two senior ministers of government, Ignatius Chombo and John Nkomo, on Tuesday were quoted live on television, declaring categorically that squatters at Whitecliff farm near Snake Park in Harare would be forcibly removed by the morning of 19 June. Chombo is the minister responsible for local government.

Nkomo supervises the police. If what the two say does not happen because Information Minister Jonathan Moyo stops it, could the ZBC be charged with publishing a falsehood? Could the ZBC be accused of having failed to check
the "truthfulness" of the stance taken by Chombo and Nkomo, key officials who handle squatters whenever they pitch up their makeshift structures? Somebody recently told The Herald there had been a flurry of activity at the British High Commission involving officials from the Law Society, the opposition MDC and Western diplomats plotting to overthrow the government. On that day, the High Commission was closed for the Queen’s jubilee. In this case, who shoulders the blame for publishing a falsehood? The source or the newspaper? If it is the newspaper, then why did the government not take action?

If a Minister tells a Press conference that a new railway line, linking Harare and Chitungwiza, will be built in the next two months and that does not happen, could a newspaper which reports that be prosecuted for reporting a falsehood? This story was published just before the 2000 parliamentary election. In fact, a company won the tender and a ground-breaking ceremony was held. There is still no railway line there two years later.
The key to the definition of the word false, in the case of information gathered from sources, lies in the determination of whether the journalist wilfully and intentionally published a story knowing the information to be false. In any case, it is abhorrent to criminalise journalism. Truth-telling in journalism, and in society generally, is an ideal which we all strive for. The truth, says the adage, has many facets. A major ethical challenge to journalism is to investigate any material that we process in order to get the total truth and nothing else.

Mistakes do occur in the process as some sources refuse to divulge information. In the case of The Daily News, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena, has publicly vowed to deny us vital details on anything, for his own personal reasons, despite the fact that, as a public official, he is compelled to do so.
As we have stated before, the Act is being applied selectively to destroy the privately-owned Press. The state media’s open lies have gone unquestioned and are sometimes peddled with government blessing.
Today, media houses, all registered companies, are being asked to re-register with a government-appointed Media Commission.

The Act defines a journalist as anybody who earns a living directly from a media service. That includes editors, reporters, sub-editors, editorial secretaries and messengers, photographers and darkroom assistants, origination clerks, production assistants, cartoonists, librarians and vendors.

For them to work, they must have licences. Failure by any one of them to obtain a licence results in the suspension of the company’s operations. This is a tall order which must never be accepted in a democratic society.
The consequences of Mudiwa’s case, preceded by that of Andrew Meldrum, a native of Ohio, US, the
correspondent of the British Guardian newspaper, are set to resonate beyond our borders. They threaten to change the face of our journalism.

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