(MISA/IFEX) – The state-owned daily newspaper “The Chronicle” has called for the government to ban Zimbabwe’s only private daily newspaper, “The Daily News”, for what it calls “abuse of journalistic privilege.” The call was made in the newspaper’s 3 May 2002 edition, which ironically is celebrated internationally as World Press Freedom Day. In a front-page […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The state-owned daily newspaper “The Chronicle” has called for the government to ban Zimbabwe’s only private daily newspaper, “The Daily News”, for what it calls “abuse of journalistic privilege.” The call was made in the newspaper’s 3 May 2002 edition, which ironically is celebrated internationally as World Press Freedom Day.
In a front-page lead story, “The Chronicle”, which is based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, said the arrests of “irresponsible” journalists are insufficient. Quoting “analysts” Godfrey Chikowore, Norman Mlambo and Rino Zhuwarara of the University of Zimbabwe, the newspaper said that such newspapers as “The Daily News” should not be allowed to exist. “There should be high penalties for newspapers which seek to compromise efforts by the people of Zimbabwe to peacefully participate in national, regional and international development processes,” said Chikowore.
Chikowore added that “The Daily News” had sought to subvert the reality of the political, economic and social situation in Zimbabwe. Zhuwarara said that “people are in a hurry to publish without verifying facts.” He also called “The Daily News” a “tabloid, which does not seek to develop but to destroy.” Zhuwarara is a member of the government-appointed Media Ethics Committee.
“The Chronicle” went on to list alleged lies “The Daily News” has published.
Background Information
According to reports from the Media Monitoring Project in Zimbabwe (MMPZ), the state media has, specifically in the week of 29 April to 5 May, been preoccupied with a controversial “Daily News” story and the arrest of its journalists (see IFEX alerts of 8, 7, 3 and 2 May 2002).
The journalists’ arrests follow the publication of a 23 April article in which “The Daily News” alleged that two young girls had witnessed the beheading of their mother by alleged Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) supporters in the rural area of Magunje. Andrew Meldrum, a Zimbabwean permanent resident and correspondent for the British newspaper “The Guardian”, was arrested on 2 May over the same story, which was carried by “The Guardian”.
In a 27 April front-page story, “The Daily News” apologised to the ruling party, ZANU-PF, and to the government after it was revealed that the husband of the victim had misled the newspaper.
