IF one is to go by the Herald of May 11, the much publicised Media Conference on media reform organised by the Ministry of Information and Publicity confirmed fears that many had, and indeed the fears that led many in the media to stay away that this was a sham of a conference.First the Herald says the main issue that came out of the conference isthat sanctions should be lifted to level the media playing field. Itboggles the mind how that issue ever arose in a conference around mediain Zimbabwe, of all places.
And which level playing field is the Herald talking about? Does thislevel playing field relate to the dominance of the state media, theHerald included, in information dissemination in Zimbabwe? This matteris made so obvious by the fact that the only daily newspapers inZimbabwe are those owned by Zimpapers after the violent shut down ofthe Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe.
Does this level playing field relate to the dominance of the ZBC whichis the sole broadcasting station in Zimbabwe? Does this playing fieldrelate to the detention of Andrisson Manyere who is languishing underpolice guard in hospital, after being abducted, detained incommunicado?
We ask the question whether this level playing field also relates tothe bombings of the Daily News, the hounding out of the country ofhundreds of journalists and the arrest of Zimbabwe Independent editorsfor publishing the story on police complicity in the abduction ofJestina Mukoko, Manyere and others in December.
The Herald did the sceptics of this conference a huge favour byconfirming that nothing has changed in the thinking of the Zanu PFgovernment.
The much talked about media conference obviously came to nothingbecause it was never meant to be about reform, but a confirmation ofthe desire by the new government to perpetuate the current media lawregime by tinkering with the periphery while leaving the centre intact.
This conference completely missed the point by attempting to be apublic bus open to all views, including the absurd, to be discussed,except genuine reform.
This newspaper questioned a few weeks ago why some strange topics were included in the programme for this conference.
This conference, we later heard from the former Minister of Informationand Publicity Jonathan Moyo writing online, was meant to address thosesame queries that the media has on the continued harassment of themedia. Does it take a conference to raise complaints on the arrests ofjournalists? Has Zimbabwe sunk this far?
Coming back to the issue of the conference, the Herald story did usfavour by exposing, from the unity government point of view, a failureto grasp what a media law conference or discussion is all about.
Such an issue cannot be tackled from a chaotic point of view as hasprevailed where all and sundry could present as they please and talkabout what might amount to a desire to build a ladder to the moon,censoring the web and shortwave broadcasts.
The main issues around media and freedom of expression in Zimbabweremain the skewed, repressive media laws and abuse of the state mediaby Zanu PF and its functionaries. Media reforms in Zimbabwe wouldtherefore have to look first at the state policies in relation to mediaissues, especially how the state, through its arsenal of laws, hasvirtually destroyed the media in Zimbabwe save for a few newspapers harassed for exposing state abuse of citizens.
The critical matter around levelling the Zimbabwe media playing fieldis removing restrictions on the operations of the media and theenactment of laws and policies that guarantee the independence of thestate media.
Those in support on this conference cannot pretend that the state mediais under any sort of pressure and that the private media in Zimbabwe isa domineering giant suppressing or misrepresenting the voice of thosein government and Zimbabwe. The role of the international media is nota concern to Zimbabweans because we neither own, nor have the power tochange, the CNN or BBC.
We can however change our own situation, after all the majority ofZimbabweans get their news locally and would appreciate having morelocal media. In this regard the conference had to acknowledge that theprivate media is so vulnerable and weak in Zimbabwe and any seriousdiscussion on levelling the playing field has to start with the reasonsfor this decline, the closure of the Daily News, Tribune and othernewspapers.
Such a discussion has to start with genuine policy issues aroundopening the airwaves and guaranteeing the independence of the ZBC sothat it can represent all voices. The unity government cannot speak ofregulation of the print media, success so far.
Who does not know of the successes of Zanu PF in regulating themedia. Does it take a conference to know that the MIC shut down fournewspapers and hounded hundreds of journalist out of the country? Andis it the intention of the unity government to continue with theMahoso-style of media regulation? If so shame on the unity governmentfor this kind of thinking.
Serious discussion on reforms should look into the BroadcastingAuthority of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Media Commission and the Post andTelecommunications Regulatory Authority and how these are notdemocratically constituted to play any meaningful role in advancingmedia and communication issues.
The unity government cannot pretend, serve out of ignorance, that thesebodies can license, regulate the media and the communications sector ina fair manner while they are not only weak, but directly under thecontrol of politicians. The bodies also lack any technical capacity andindependence to make decisions without political interference.
Media reforms cannot start on or be built on lies that we haveregulatory bodies when in fact we have bodies that play a secretarialrole to the decisions of politicians.
What did the conference say as an example about the closure of theDaily News, and other newspapers? What did the conference say about thecontinued detention of journalists? What did the conference say aboutthe biased reporting of Zimpapers publications and ZBC?
What did the conference say about the continued coverage of Zanu PFcell meetings and not those of MDC-T, MDC M, NDU, Zanu Ndonga etc?
It is a shame that the unity government, especially those from the MDC,is being misled and abused in validating Zanu PF's cover-upconferences. Without fundamentally looking at what the problems in themedia in Zimbabwe are, we might as well forget about any meaningfulreforms coming up.
The first point of call for any serious media conference is thereforethe state or precisely Zanu PF polices on the media. Once we agree thatthese need reform, everything else will fall into place and citizenscan agree on the media we all want. The failure by the unity governmentto condemn and do away with laws such as Aippa and BSA, among others,shows a lack of sincerity.
The media conference should have understood that in this day and ageyou cannot waste time discussing radio stations that are broadcastingon shortwave and internet-based sites. Who has control over these andwho has the power in Zimbabwe to stop them?
The unity government however has the power to remove Aippa, license newbroadcasters, reform the ZBC and Zimpapers to make them relevant to theneeds of the people. These are the reforms that people are looking for.
Rashweat Mukundu is a Programme Specialist: Media Monitoring andResearch Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Regional Secretariat.
BY RASHWEAT MUKUNDU
Post published in: News