Campaign poster of the SADC Journalists Under Fire campaign organised by the Media Institute of Southern Africa in connection with media monitoring in Zimbabwe. Photo: Jesper Højberg/IMS

No proper and professional media work can take place under the circumstances to allow for a free and fair election, concludes report produced by a group of African media experts who visited Zimbabwe in the beginning of June

In the beginning of June, a group of media experts from Southern Africa visited Zimbabwe to assess the situation for media in the aftermath of the election on 29 March. The group also set out to assess the possibilities for the media to provide the citizens of Zimbabwe with relevant information and news in order to vote on an informed basis.

The findings were alarming. In the report, "Against the odds: Covering Zimbabwe in a climate of fear and physical danger", the group expresses shock over the level of fear pervading the Zimbabwe media and society at large and concludes that under the circumstances, no proper and professional media work can take place.

Information black-out

"An information black-out is in actual effect taking place, especially in the rural areas, with radio signals being jammed and mobile phone networks being disrupted to eliminate any information flow other than the government controlled channels", says a human rights advocate according to the report.

"People hide their radios out of fear of being accused of sabotage", says a media freedom activist according to the media experts. In a separate case, a business man in Harara, Noel Tichawana who was arrested for listening to Studio 7, a Voice of America daily news programme focusing on Zimbabwe. According to the report, Tichawana is set to appear in court on 15 July 2008, charged with being a public nuisance.

Media conveying hate language

In the aftermath of the 29 March election, there has been an escalation in incidents of reported violence against opposition party activists as well as the continued arrests, intimidation and harassment of journalists. According to the experts' report, "the violence is mainly carried out by the Zimbabwe republic police, components of the Zimbabwe national army, the national intelligence organisation (CIO) and the ZANU PF youth militia and war veterans".

In interviews with media practitioners in Zimbabwe, the media experts learned that the control of the Mugabe regime is almost total. "The state media is under severe control of the party in power as an exclusive campaign tool. A simple media monitoring of the content of the state owned newspapers and broadcast news bulletins over the period of the visit show a biased reporting embedded in hate language."

Quoting the weekly media update of a media monitoring project carried out by human rights groups in Zimbabwe, the experts conclude that "the state media is thus contributing to the heightening of political tensions in Zimbabwe through its reportage, especially making allegations of political violence allegedly being perpetrated by the opposition without conclusive police investigations."

As for privately-owned media, the experts found, that "economic sabotage is being used to silence the independent media in Zimbabwe." This allegedly happens by imposing crippling price regimes on paper and ink used for newspaper production through the National Incomes and Pricing Commission.

Furthermore the media experts found that self-censorship is widespread due to fear among journalists.

"The lack of safety and security for journalists means that many are exercising self-censorship and those still working are confining themselves to covering urban centres as well as non-controversial subjects. Mainstream newspapers are not safe as the CIO monitors every activity (...). Information about what stories the newspapers are about to publish is obtained through spying and paid informants in newsrooms."

At the time of the mission, three South Africa media workers were in state prison charged with violating the country's broadcasting and telecommunications law. More than 100 journalists have fled the country in recent years. Based on the findings, the media experts call on the government of Zimbabwe to allow media practitioners to operate professionally, and call on regional institutions as well as the international community to put pressure on the Mugabe regime and to broker a peaceful resolution with the opposition.

See the full report on this site.