The controversial conference, whose venue has been changed three times
before organisers finally settled for the resort town of Kariba, is
expected to review Zimbabwe's current media environment and policies.
It was initially scheduled for Harare, and then planned for Nyanga,
before organisers finally settled on Kariba. Journalists were
suspicious that the conference was taken out of Harare to exclude them
from participating.
Practicing journalists, save for a few representatives from the
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA) and an unknown pair of freelance journalists, were officially
invited.
Mapping media future
The conference is themed: Towards an Open, Tolerant, and Responsible Media Environment' and ends on Saturday.
Webster Shamu, the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity gave the official opening address yesterday.
Members of the Joint Implementation and Monitoring Committee (JOMIC),
Welshman Ncube, Patrick Chinamasa and Innocent Chagonda were expected
to outline articles relevant to freedom of expression in the global
political agreement that established the inclusive government in
February.
The meeting is, among other things, expected to map the way forward for
the media, and includes discussions about media reforms and the
controversial registration of journalists, media houses and the
licensing of new media organisations.
Carefully selected media practitioners were expected to make presentations on various themes relating to the media.
Line up outcry
The line up of speakers has miffed journalists, who have protested
against the inclusion of known media hangmen in deliberations on media
reform.
Among the speakers are hard-line Zanu (PF) supporters: Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana, Chris Mutsvangwa, former Media and Information
Commission (MIC) chairperson Tafataona Mahoso, responsible for shutting
down five newspapers; and former minister of Information and Publicity
Prof Jonathan Moyo, infamously credited with crafting the notorious and
Orwellian Access to Information and Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Mahoso has consistently argued that media reform is akin to regime
change, something he mistakenly views as anathema to democracy. Mahoso
has vigorously pushed for the retention of statutory regulation of the
Press in direct contrast with journalists who are pushing for self
regulation.
Kaitira Kandjii, regional director of the Media Institute of Southern
Africa, said there was enough evidence to show how state regulation
had destroyed the media in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's media has regressed since 2000 with the loss of senior and
experienced journalists and five newspapers, Kandjii said. The state
media is virtually shut to other voices except to the ruling elite. The
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is a shadow of its former self,
struggling to hold on to talent and strangled by the government.
XHEAD – Controversy over topics
There was also controversy over the topics allocated to some of the
speakers. For instance, Tomana has been asked to speak on "Freedom of
expression, media and the rights of the state, while Mahoso has been
tasked with discussing "Regulation and print media; experience to
date." Other controversial speakers such as filmmaker, Olley Maruma has
been tasked with speaking on "The media and national interest in a
global context.
A satirical columnist in a local weekly said the media-reform
conference illustrated the attempt by the ancient regime to cling on
to power.
Following outrage from journalists at the composition of the speakers,
the deputy Media, Information and Publicity minister Jameson Timba
hurriedly moved to revise some of the themes for the conference and
added more independent minded presenters.
Timba has defended the line up of presenters saying the conference
would be comprised of people who stood for the old and the new media
orders in a bid to create a balance.
The new line up now includes Professor Tawana Khupe, Reuters news
agency Zimbabwe bureau chief, Cris Chinaka, and Voluntary Media Council
chairman and Harare mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda.
Award winning journalist Dumisani Muleya said: Hopefully the media
conference will not be a wasteful charade or a cover for media tyranny.
All those who have seen the programme of the conference have been left
astounded. It is packed with high-profile enemies of press freedom.
– BY GIFT PHIRI
Post published in: News