Addressing the delegates Thomas Payne, the Chief Executive Officer of South African Business Consultancy Service, said there was need for the government to free the airwaves and allow the media to operate without any restrictions in order to promote media democracy.
He said businesses were longing for quality coverage to show the outside world what they were doing. The media was an appropriate tool that could be used by the government to market the investment opportunities in this country.
What is Zanu PF afraid of? What is it hiding? he asked.
I understand that there are some other publications that were given the licences to operate, but Zimbabwe should have a functional media democracy. The country should show the world that it is a safe country. The country should now use the local and international media to show the world that business people in Zimbabwe are very committed in re-building Zimbabwe, he said.
Reporters should write about Zimbabwe diamonds, gold, tourism and other industrial aspects. The international media can tell the world that Zimbabwe needs assistance. Local businesses can use the international media to let the world know that they have the vision and the dream about the resurrection of this country, Payne said.
If the international media operate outside the country there are chances that they will publish and capture falsehoods. They will write negatively about the country because they are not here. They will not have the first hand information of all what is happening in the country, Payne explained.
He added that there was need to throw away the repressive media laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act(AIPPA) that was crafted by Zanu (PF) member and former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo.
The unpopular draconian AIPPA forced some newspapers to close down as they were viewed as anti Mugabe government.
Some newspapers that were closed include the Daily News, The Daily News On Sunday, Tribune, The Daily and Sunday Mirror among others.
Radio stations that were closed include Capitol Radio, Studio 7 and VOP among others.
However, the Zimbabwe Media commission recently licensed other publications including NewsDay, Daily News and Daily Gazette among others.
International organisations that were barred from operating in the country included organisations such as CNN, SKY News, France 24 and BBC among others.
Post published in: Economy