The photos, together with numerous jokes about the incident, have gone viral on the internet and made news in major newspapers around the world.
A highly-placed source said three subeditors who were on duty on Wednesday and Thursday were ordered to write ‘comprehensive’ reports explaining who authorised them to publish the photos.
Immediately after the mishap, Mugabe’s security forced all journalists covering the event to delete their photos. “The pictures did not originate from the Herald but from the President’s office through his photographer Joseph Nyadzayo. We all witnessed his arrival Wednesday evening in the newsroom. It was after he had a meeting with the editor Caesar Zvayi that sub-editors then published the picture and a story defending that the President had not fallen but slipped,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
“It is unfair that we are now in trouble for publishing the photos – after we had been directed to use them,” he added.
Post published in: News