MEDIA REPORT PRIVATE PRESS UNDER SIEGE; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 001049

SIPDIS

AF/PD FOR COX AND ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT AND
SCHLACHTER, AF/RA FOR DIPALMA, INR/R/MR, NSC JENDAYI
FRAZER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT PRIVATE PRESS UNDER SIEGE; HARARE


1. Under headline "State wants to save its media by
killing the private Press," the independent daily "The
Daily News" dedicated its May 1 editorial to
criticizing Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. Moyo
recently warned parastatal institutions that they
should not place advertisements in the independent
press. Excerpts:


2. "The threat by a government minister to
parastatals to stop advertising in 'The Daily News'
is an act of desperation, designed to force these
companies to direct all their business to the loss-
making government-controlled media houses, in order
to save them from bankruptcy. The government is
aware that their own media operations cannot
compete fairly for business on the market, hence
the directive. But this is a worn-out strategy
often resorted to by those intolerant to critical
or alternative views.

". . .The statement by the minister that 'The Daily
News' is bent on the destruction of this country is
utter balderdash. It can only be made by someone
who assumes they have a monopoly on patriotism.
What it, however, indicates is the government's
frustration with its efforts to silence, once and
for all, alternative and critical voices. . ."

SULLIVAN