Zimbabwean government threatens foreign correspondents
New York, March 23, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a government press release issued on Thursday threatening foreign correspondents with unspecified government reprisal in the capital Harare over alleged biased reporting. Prominent correspondents Jan Raath of the The Times of London and Peta Thornycroft of Britain’s Daily Telegraph and US-based broadcaster…
ZIMBABWE: Reporter trainee detained, fired for asking questions
MARCH 17, 2007 Posted June 12, 2007 Tapiwa Chininga, New Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency HARASSED, LEGAL Chininga, a reporter-in-training for the state New Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency, was arrested after seeking comments from police officials about a security crackdown following a March 11 opposition rally in the capital Harare, according to news reports.
ZIMBABWE:Two journalists beaten and detained for 48 hours by police
MARCH 11, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, Freelance Tendai Musiyu, Freelance ATTACKED, HARASSED Photojournalist Mukwazhi and television producer Musiyu were stopped by police while driving to cover a gathering of the opposition MDC party in the capital Harare, Mukwazhi later told CPJ. The journalists were ordered to exit their car and lie face…
ZIMBABWE: Journalists fined under repressive law
FEBRUARY 24, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 Peter Moyo, E.TV HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Moyo, a producer of the private South Africa-based E.TV, was convicted of violating Zimbabwe’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and fined 4,000 Zimbabwean dollars (US$16) by a court in the eastern city of Mutare, according to the Media…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Africa Analysis
African Union fails to defend press freedom By Julia Crawford When African heads of state gathered in July in the Gambia’s sleepy seaside capital, Banjul, their host had just shut down a leading private newspaper, jailed journalists, and halted a planned freedom of expression forum on the fringes of the summit. At the summit, the…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE The state-owned daily The Herald marked President Robert Mugabe’s 82nd birthday in February with a 16-page supplement of photos and “congratulatory messages from government departments.” Such hagiographic and pro-government propaganda dominates the media landscape in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party has waged a crackdown on the private press though a series of highly restrictive…
Editor sent bullet in mail over cartoon critical of the army
New York, February 2, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the authorities in Zimbabwe today to fully investigate a threat against veteran editor Bill Saidi who received a bullet in an envelope over a cartoon critical of the army. Saidi, editor of the independent weekly The Standard, told CPJ that a brown envelope…
Charges dropped against Voice of the People employees
New York, September 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision of a court in Zimbabwe today to dismiss charges of broadcasting without a license against 10 employees of independent news production company Voice of the People (VOP). A court in Harare threw the case out, calling it a “circus,” after the prosecution asked…
Cameraman assaulted filming march
September 13, 2006 Posted: September 22, 2006 Michael Saburi, Reuters Television ASSAULTED, IMPRISONED Saburi, a freelance cameraman for Reuters TV, was assaulted by police officers and jailed for filming a banned trade union march in the capital Harare, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, and his lawyer.