Calling on the country’s three governing parties to live up to their promise under their power sharing deal known as the global political agreement (GPA) to uphold media freedom, the committee criticised the tight controls that the ministry of information continues to exercise on the ZBC, which it said was widely seen as serving the interests of the state and not the public.
In a report on the state of the media in Zimbabwe, the parliamentary portfolio committee on media, information and communication technology also slammed the government’s tough Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) that it said hindered journalists from accessing information they need to compile stories.
“The current monopoly being enjoyed by the ZBC was regarded as incompatible with the right to freedom of expression as Article V (of the GPA) obliges the state to encourage a diverse, independent private broadcasting sector,” the report made public on Wednesday read in part.
“There were concerns that ZBC was wholly controlled by the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity who appoints the body and issues directives to the board and management and that it was highly as a state controlled broadcaster, serving the interests of the state rather than those of the public,” it said.
The parliamentarians also called for a review of penalties and other action on journalists for publishing falsehoods and other inaccurate information, saying the current measures that include jailing reporters for publishing inaccurate information were too excessive.
President Robert Mugabe and long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai formed a unity government last year following a dispute over general elections in March 2008 and have promised a raft of reforms, including freeing up the media by allowing more players.
The coalition government has implemented some of the media reforms agreed in the GPA but it has avoided instituting far-reaching measures that would drastically open up the country’s media space.
The reforms instituted so far include the establishment of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) and the licensing of at least nine private newspapers to compete with the state-run titles that have dominated the country’s media landscape since 2003.
However the Zimpapers newspaper empire and the ZBC — that are both owned by the state but controlled by Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party — still dominate the country’s media, while not one independent television or radio station has received a licence to operate.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has instead allowed the ZBC to launch a second television channel last May underlining its dominance of the airwaves.
Human rights and pro-democracy groups say ZANU PF has used its control of state security forces and a battery of repressive media laws that remain on the country’s statute books to restrict independent reporting while at the same time manipulating government newspapers and the ZBC to promote political propaganda.
Post published in: News