A report consigning Harare into the league of media rogues was released as government stepped up pressure against the local private media. The attacks until this week included harassment of newspaper vendors to limit circulation, with government launching an all-out war against the independent media, using weapons ranging from lawsuits to physical violence.
Verbal abuse, frayed propaganda and lies, incitement of hostility and bombs are part of the arsenal the free press assailants have employed.
The RSF report said: “Zimbabwe’s press today lies in ruins. If, in 2007, Reporters Without Borders has recorded fewer press freedom violations than in previous years, it is because there are very few journalists left to arrest, newspapers to close or foreign correspondents to expel.”
The press freedom group said a handful of the privately-owned publications that still appear, are under tight surveillance, forced to come to terms with the president’s party.
The report cites several instances of official interference in the media by the spy Central Intelligence Organization, including the ouster of Sunsleey Chamunorwa, an independent-minded editor of the privately-owned weekly the Financial Gazette (FinGaz), taken over by the CIO, after a financial operation using the governor of the Central Bank, Gideon Gono, as cover. Â
Post published in: News