New York, March 14, 2005—Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court today upheld a widely criticized law requiring all independent journalists and media organizations to register with a government commission, but ruled that the Media and Information Commission (MIC) must reconsider a 2003 decision to deny registration to the banned Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News…
Overviewby Julia Crawford With the rule of law weak in many African countries, journalists regularly battle threats and harassment, not only from governments but also from rogue elements, such as militias. Repressive legislation is used in many countries to silence journalists who write about sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses. If…
Zimbabwe CPJ named Zimbabwe one of the “World’s Worst Places to Be a Journalist” in 2004, with the government of President Robert Mugabe continuing to crack down on the private media. Repressive legislation was used to close the country’s only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News, and to detain and harass journalists. Authorities were particularly…
MARCH 7, 2005 Posted: March 17, 2005 SW Radio Africa CENSORED The shortwave transmission of SW Radio Africa, a private broadcaster based in the United Kingdom and founded by exiled Zimbabwean journalists, was jammed in Zimbabwe during the run-up to March 31 parliamentary elections, the station and other news media reported. According to the South…
New York, February 28, 2005—Zimbabwe’s Media and Information Commission (MIC) has closed the independent regional newspaper Weekly Times after just eight weeks of publication, saying the newspaper violated the country’s media legislation, according to news reports. Local journalists believe the closing is part of a systematic clampdown on critical media in the run-up to parliamentary…
FEBRUARY 25, 2005 Posted: March 17, 2005 The Weekly TimesCENSORED The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) shuttered the independent regional newspaper The Weekly Times after just eight weeks of publication, saying the newspaper violated the country’s media legislation. Local journalists told CPJ the closure was part of a systematic clampdown on critical media in…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at your government’s harassment and intimidation of three Zimbabwean journalists working for international news agencies, which has forced them to flee the country in fear for their security. Last week’s police action against freelance reporters Angus Shaw, Brian Latham, and Jan Raath seems aimed at silencing these senior journalists in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s general elections on March 31. CPJ is also disturbed to learn of police accusations against another freelance journalist, Cornelius Nduna, who has been forced into hiding.
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the offices of three senior freelance reporters for international publications on Monday and Tuesday. Officials first said they were investigating espionage allegations against the journalists. Then they claimed they were looking into the reporters’ accreditation. Finally, the officers said…
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Posted: March 14, 2005 Angus Shaw, freelance Jan Raath, freelance Brian Latham, freelance HARASSED, THREATENED Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the shared offices of Shaw, Raath, and Latham on February 14, 15, and 16. Threats and intimidation from police and government officials led the journalists, who are Zimbabwean citizens, to flee the country…
FEBRUARY 2005 Posted: March 14, 2005 Cornelius Nduna, freelance THREATENED In early February, police began searching for Nduna, a freelance television producer and reporter who worked for several foreign media organizations, on suspicion of possessing “sensitive tapes” passed to him by an employee of the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, according to his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa.