MEDIA UPDATE; HARARE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 002104 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS AF/S FOR RAYNOR NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA UPDATE; HARARE ¶1. Begin summary: Two independent newspapers "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday" remain shut as the government of Zimbabwe makes sure that Zimbabweans are bereft of voice and answerability. The government of Zimbabwe recasts some sections of the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) into a lethal piece of legislation that is more convoluted, treacherous and vindictive. The Administrative Court will rule this week in a case in which the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) is challenging the state-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) for rejecting its application for registration. Friends of "The Daily News" help the newspaper to put together an online edition from South Africa. The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe clips the wings of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo. Read on. End summary. ¶2. By closing the "Daily News" and the "Daily News on Sunday" on September 12, 2003 the government of Zimbabwe literally threw spanners into the works of many Zimbabweans who are urgently campaigning for a better future, political freedom and sanity. With bold editorials and meticulous exposes, the two newspapers, especially "The Daily News," had become vibrant searchlights of responsibility and had shone brilliantly for everyone to see and enable them to have a handle on the good, the bad and the ugly events happening in a jagged and ever-shifting society. Only those with the capability to access the private and international media, particularly VOA's Studio 7 and Short Wave Radio Africa, are able to obtain news reports closer to reality on what is happening in this volatile southern African nation. ¶3. The ubiquitous state-run print and electronic media is working day in and day out to keep the public in the dark ofn the socioeconomic and political challenges facing the country. For example, the public media downplayed a recent nation-wide strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to show displeasure against the run-away inflation, absence of rule of law, shortage of the local currency, the inhibitive fuel and transport costs and the continued violations of human rights, among other grievances. Instead of giving an accurate account of the arrests and police brutality against the demonstrators, the government-controlled media carried vague reports about the nationwide demonstrations and drenched the public with soccer news. ¶4. In the absence of "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday," Zimbabwe's meltdown will never be fully articulated. Although we still have three weekly independent newspapers, it will remain a tall order for this small but vibrant press to challenge the official version of events put out in the ubiquitous government print and electronic media. ¶5. It's not over until "The Daily News" is back on the streets. Although the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ),publishers of the outlawed newspapers "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday," has lost a couple of court challenges in the last few weeks against their closure after a Supreme Court ruling that ANZ was operating illegally, the group has not lost hope nor thrown in the towel. Last week ANZ was at the Administrative Court where they challenged the state-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) for declining its application for registration. The case was even heard, for the first time in many moons, on Sunday when all concerned parties presented their closing arguments. However, judgment was deferred to either on Thursday or Friday this week, as announced by Justice Michael Majuru soon after the court heard closing submissions from the ANZ and MIC. Many media critics and commentators are not comfortable with this delay in handing down a verdict. They fear political manipulation. "The ANZ has a strong case, but we are losing because the judges are making political decisions at the expense of handing down impartial judgments," said Mr. Bill Saidi, Editor, "The Daily News on Sunday." ¶6. Assisted by "Friends of The Daily News," the paper has re-launched its electronic edition from Johannesburg, South Africa. The new home for the online edition is www.daily- news.co.zw. "The move has been inspired by our unwavering commitment to serve the millions of people who read the `Daily News' every day," ANZ said in a statement to announce the new Internet edition. Adding: "The government would not be able to stop it from operating on the information super-highway as it had no power to do so." All articles to be posted on the website will originate from the newspaper's journalists in Zimbabwe, a move that could be made impossible by the government through the Media and Information Commission. At the moment, all the journalists working for the ANZ have not been accredited by the MIC as required by law. The October 17 edition of the government-controlled daily "The Herald" published a damning article on page 2 in which the paper accused ANZ of "resolving to once again break the law" by having its journalists "who are not accredited with the MIC" to gather and write news in the country for the online edition. The newspaper also quoted Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as saying: "We advise those people to think of their careers. If they want to be outlaws, they should be prepared for the legal consequences. . .We are double determined to insist on the rule of law and the rule of law shall prevail come rain or sunshine." ¶7. In a separate development, The Media and Information Commission has ordered the Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) to register under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). In a letter to MISA dated June 4, the MIC told the media watchdog to urgently comply with the regulation. MISA has since filed an application in the High Court seeking a declaratory order that it is not a media organization. No date has been set for the hearing of the MISA challenge. ¶8. Following the controversy surrounding the closure of "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday" by the government of Zimbabwe last month, the October 15 edition of the government-controlled daily "The Herald" surprised readers by publishing the full Supreme Court judgment that led to the decision to close the newspaper. According to the newspaper, the publication of the judgment was "intended to clear distortions that have emerged in the interpretation of the ruling." ¶9. Meanwhile, police have charged five ANZ directors and 45 journalists working for the ANZ for "illegally operating a media business and working without accreditation or working for an illegal media group," respectively. All signed warned and cautioned statements before being released. However, police will proceed by way of summons. According to press reports, police are now interested in questioning the ANZ owner, Mr. Strive Masiyiwa, for the same offense. ¶10. In a notice in an extraordinary Government Gazette - released suspiciously at the weekend - Robert Mugabe is reported to have assented to the newly recast Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIIPA). The new Act has been heavily criticized by MISA as "an oppressive piece of legislation" that is "not compatible with democratic moral values." Legal and media experts have characterized the amendments as "largely cosmetic and fall short of addressing the concerns of journalists practicing in Zimbabwe." Analysts interviewed by the independent weekly "Financial Gazette" in the October 16 edition were disappointed with the inconsequential facelift of the Act, arguing that the amendments dwelt mainly on replacing a few sections of the Act that had been struck off by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. "It is my considered view that apart from changes to Section 80, the amendments were so superficial as to fail to change the character of AIPPA," lawyer Sternford Moyo of Scanlen and Holderness was quoted as saying. Adding: "AIPPA remains objectionable and inconsistent with what one expects in a democratic society. Its character as an obstacle to free flow of information, ideas and beliefs remains." The president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Matthew Takaona, criticized the new Act saying, "The law gives too much power to the MIC. It actually silences journalists." ¶11. Part of the amendments to AIPPA include the insertion of a new section on the abuse of journalistic privilege after the Supreme Court struck out section 80 of the Act which mad it an offense for a journalist to publish falsehoods as unconstitutional in May last year. Section 80 made it an offense to publish a falsehood but made no reference to the intention of such publication. The new section makes publication of falsehoods a criminal offense only when there is a deliberate intention to publish a lie or when the author of the falsehood is totally reckless about whether the information is false or not. A new section on abuse of freedom of expression states that a person who makes use of a mass media service for the purpose of abusing freedom of expression by publishing falsehoods shall be guilty of an offense and liable to a fine or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both such fine and imprisonment. ¶12. The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has clipped Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's wings. In a well-received ruling passed last month, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional section 6 of the Broadcasting Services Act that gave the minister unfettered power to veto the granting of a license by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, as well as the requirement to have only one national radio and television station in addition to the public broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. This verdict was made following an application by "Capitol Radio" challenging the refusal by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe to give it a license to operate in the country. The Supreme Court struck off Section 6 of the Act that made Information Minister Jonathan Moyo the sole licensing authority, saying, "This seriously undermined the independence of the regulatory authority." ¶13. Comment: The closure of "The Daily News" and "The Daily News on Sunday" has effectively destroyed one of the pillars of democracy. Without reliable and balanced sources of information about what is happening in government and the society, Zimbabweans have been denied an extremely important source of information, providing news and analysis about what is happening inside their country, and of the solutions to national problems. Instead, the ubiquitous state-controlled print and electronic media is failing to inform the nation fully and objectively. Zimbabweans are fed a one-sided view, which does not give the full story of events and issues. In commenting about the closure of "The Daily News," "The Post" newspaper in neighboring Zambia aptly sums up this new entry in Zimbabwe's sorry record of media oppression by declaring: "The Zimbabwe government has never shown much commitment to the defense of a free, independent and robustly critical press. It has never accepted the freedom of the press as its inalienable right to be a critic and a monitor." SULLIVAN