Muchadeyi Masunda, Voluntary Media Council Zimbabwe, at meeting for Zimbabwen media. Photo: Jesper Højberg

A morning drive through the streets of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare will suggest that the life of media has somehow normalised in a country that a few years back was better known for printing banknotes in denominations of trillions than newspapers  

 

At the busy intersections vendors have added the recently launched NewsDay to more wellknown publications such as the stateowned The Herald. The newspapers are all sold for US dollars that have replaced the country’s own currency to successfully curb the previous hyperinflation.

The 20.000 daily copies of NewsDay are however among the very few tangible results of media reforms that were promised when a government of national unity was established last year as an answer to the political turmoil caused by a disputed election victory to Zimbabwe's ruler through 30 years, President Robert Mugabe.

Stakeholders' meeting

The lack of progress on media freedom was the main topic at a stakeholders’ meeting for Zimbabwe’s private media and media organisations in early September,  organised with assistance from IMS.

Two issues were singled out by numerous speakers: the continued denying of licenses to radio stations that could make a real difference for the majority of the population living far from the streets of Harare; and the lack of reforms of Zimbabwe’s notorious media laws.

One speaker summed up the dilemma by pointing out that the licensing of newspapers means little as long as the repressive laws still threaten the journalists who write the content.

The stakeholder meeting is an annual event that this year saw a record participance of more than 50 representatives of media and media organisations from Zimbabwe and the outside world. They were gathered to discuss progress in the implementation of a comprehensive media strategy that aims to promote freedom of expression at both street level and among lawmakers.

News on wrapping paper

The speakers highlighted the fact that tough laws by no means have managed to curb the wellknown Zimbabwean creativity. News and information is being spread on anything from wrapping paper for street vendors to a socalled Freedom Fone based on software developed in Zimbabwe.

In the absence of licenses to private and community radio stations, private stations broadcast on shortwave from abroad while community radio stations produce CDs that are played in listening clubs or on commuter transport such as minibuses.

Other stations are taking advantage of the rapidly increasing use of mobile telephones to send headlines by SMS. The battle for the airwaves is however ongoing. As the stakeholder meeting was in progress, one of the most popular of the shortwave radio stations was once again hit by electronic jamming.

This highlighted the fact that the presence of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in the unity government has not changed the media environment significantly.

Small openings

There are however small openings which were being explored at a UNESCO hosted dialogue seminar with state players that replaced the traditional second day of the stakeholder meeting. A couple of commissioners from the recently established  Zimbabwe Media Commission had accepted an invititation to share their thoughts on media reforms and a possible co-operation with Zimbabwe’s voluntary media council that was born out of the alliance behind the stakeholder meeting.

The dialogue was one sign that progress in the battle for freedom of expression is not impossible; but the ensuing debate also highlighted that it will still be a while before the news presented by street vendors in the intersections of Harare will get airborne.