(MISA/IFEX) – The President’s Office’s Department of Information and Publicity has threatened and castigated “The Daily News” for alleged malicious reporting on the recent events surrounding President Robert Mugabe’s visit to Belgium. In a press statement copied to “The Daily News”, the department said that a 6 March 2001 article published in the newspaper about […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The President’s Office’s Department of Information and Publicity has threatened and castigated “The Daily News” for alleged malicious reporting on the recent events surrounding President Robert Mugabe’s visit to Belgium.
In a press statement copied to “The Daily News”, the department said that a 6 March 2001 article published in the newspaper about the president’s trip to Brussels, Belgium was remarkably out of sync with other international media coverage. The department stated that the British “Guardian”, the “Daily Telegraph”, the South African “Star” and “The Herald” reported on the incident as it really occurred, saying that Peter Tatchell provoked and got what he deserved. Allegedly, “The Daily News” sought to fool Zimbabweans that the president was nearly arrested by a “gang [gay] gangster”.
The statement goes on to say that while “The Daily News” has pretended to be a stickler for the rule of law, the truth is that the paper is at the forefront of celebrating lawlessness, displaying arrogant disrespect for the head of state and shamefully abandoning all professional journalistic ethics in favour of a blatantly political and oppositional stance. Under the circumstances, the statement continues, “The Daily News” should not henceforth seek protection under freedom of expression as a newspaper but under freedom of opposition, where it belongs. The paper should not cry foul when it is exposed for what it is, a mouthpiece for Rhodesians and now a “gang gangster’s mouthpiece”.
