(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 10 May 2001 WPFC press release: COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS COMMONWEALTH PRESS UNION INTER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE PERIODICAL PRESS INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE Preliminary Findings of Press Freedom Delegation to Zimbabwe Members of the […]
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 10 May 2001 WPFC press release:
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
COMMONWEALTH PRESS UNION
INTER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTING
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE PERIODICAL PRESS
INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE
Preliminary Findings of Press Freedom Delegation to Zimbabwe
Members of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, meeting on Sunday, May 6, 2001 in Windhoek, Namibia, delegated representatives of the International Press Institute, the Media Workers Association of South Africa, the South African National Editors Forum, and the World Press Freedom Committee to go to Zimbabwe to look into the press freedom situation.
The delegation arrived in Harare on May 7 and has made the following preliminary findings:
From conversations with government officials, the delegation learned that the government is in the advanced stages of drafting a “Freedom of Information Act” that is in fact a press law to control the news media through such devices as licensing of journalists in the guise of accreditation and the establishment of a government-created and controlled two-tier (statutory and “voluntary”) press council system.
The delegation has found that in recent months, journalists in Zimbabwe have come under severe pressure from the government, which has reacted harshly to the media’s attempts to report on developments in the country.
Throughout this period, violence against journalists has increased; foreign journalists have been expelled, and the government has sought to preserve the monopoly of the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation. Furthermore, government ministers have verbally abused journalists in public and used criminal defamation laws to silence critical reporting. Ministers have threatened to single out journalists individually as targets for attack.
In particular, the bombing at the offices and printing press of the Daily News this year and last and the subsequent failure to condemn these acts or institute a timely and full investigation has profound implications for the way in which the government views the media. The government has appeared to condone violence against journalists. This has created a climate of intimidation in the country.
The decision to rush new broadcasting legislation through Parliament has created a situation in which independent broadcast news stations appear to be precluded in advance of presidential elections next year.
Press freedom is supported by the rule of law; the erosion of the rule of law actively undermines this. Journalists have been victims of lawlessness.
The delegation calls on the government of Zimbabwe to:
– uphold the rule of law;
– meet its international obligations to the principles of press freedom and freedom of expression;
– ensure the safety of journalists and carry out full and proper investigations of abuses against press freedom;
– cease its campaign of intimidation against the news media;
– uphold the judgment of the Supreme Court, which removed the monopolistic rights of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation;
– halt the use of criminal defamation suits against journalists and remove from the statute books insult laws granting special protection of officialdom.
David Dadge, International Press Institute, Vienna
Marilyn Greene, World Press Freedom Committee, Washington, DC
Ronald Koven, World Press Freedom Committee, Paris
Raymond Louw, South African National Editors Forum, Johannesburg
Joe Mdhlela, Media Workers Association of South Africa, Johannesburg
May 10, 2001
