JULY 18, 2005
Posted: July 21, 2005
Daily News and Daily News on Sunday
CENSORED
The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) refused, once again, to license the banned independent Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, both of which were shut down in September 2003 for violating the country’s draconian press laws.
According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, the MIC rejected the newspapers’ application on the grounds that their parent company, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), had violated the 2002 Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which requires all private media and journalists to register with the commission–the same grounds used by the MIC to shutter the paper in 2003.
In its decision, the MIC accused ANZ of publishing an unregistered newspaper and of employing unaccredited journalists, the Herald reported. However, when journalists working for the Daily News have attempted to register in the past, they have been turned down because they were employed by an unregistered company, according to CPJ research.
Sam Sipepa Nkomo, chief executive of ANZ, said he was shocked by this decision. In an interview with CPJ, he said the refusal indicated that the MIC “has not considered the current application at all,” despite its repeated requests for additional financial and other documentation. Nkomo said that ANZ would challenge the commission’s decision in court.
ANZ filed thi application for a license in March, after the Supreme Court ruled that the MIC should reconsider its 2003 decision to deny ANZ registration under Zimbabwe’s repressive media laws.