Harare | Saturday
THE Zimbabwe government has approved a new bill that will effectively bar foreign journalists from operating and impose strict operating conditions for local journalists, a move media practitioners have vowed to challenge.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill will only allow Zimbabweans to operate as foreign correspondents, but slapped controls which include the annual reviewing of operating permits.
“This means all foreign journalists will need to be Zimbabwean citizens,” the Herald said.
Breaching any of the conditions attract a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment, according to details of the bill published by the state-run Herald.
The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) reacted with shock and dismay at the proposed regulations saying they were “ridiculous and unacceptable”.
“The ruling party has taken its crusade to muzzle the media too far, but the only relief is that this new bill is so absurd and pathetic that it will not stand the test of any constitutional legitimacy even under any court run by the Taliban,” said ZUJ secretary general Basildon Peta.
It was impossible to obtain confirmation of the report in the state-owned paper from the government.
Setting up of foreign media organisations will only be done with the permission of the minister of information, according to the daily.
“It is clear they have been trying to prevent foreign journalists from covering this country and this a way of banning foreign journalists from reporting, but it is unacceptable, it is ridiculous,” Peta said.
Under the new law a media and information commission will be set up to register and accredit all journalists.
The commission will have powers to discipline journalists for misconduct. Journalists will be issued with registration certificates.
“The commission may delete a journalist’s name from the register, order his suspension for a specified period and impose conditions it deems fit subject to which he shall be allowed to practise,” the state paper said.
Violation of any of the provisions of the law will carry penalties ranging between 50 000 dollars (US$909) and 100_000 dollars (US$1 818) or a two-year jail term.
Peta, who urged all journalists to be prepared to fight the attempts to silence the media, said the bill infringed on the rights of journalists to work.
“They now have gone too far, they have taken their crusade too far. It deprives us of our right to work and earn a living,” Peta told AFP.
He said ZUJ was already preparing to challenge the law in court as soon as it is passed by parliament.
“We are challenging it in the Supreme Court, it is unscrupulous, it is ridiculous,” he said.
But the government says the law is designed to curb unprofessional journalism and to protect personal privacy.
“All along the media has been operating in an unstructured fashion which has led ethical and professional lapses on the part of the some media practitioners,” said the government’s information department cited in the Herald story.
Relations between President Robert Mugabe’s government and the independent local and the foreign media has of late been severely strained.
In recent months, authorities have arrested local journalists, expelled foreign correspondents and tacitly accused the press of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The authorities have this year enacted a law that has effectively blocked private broadcasters from operating.
Last week the government accused some foreign and local independent journalists of helping “terrorism” in the country.
Zimbabwe has come under international criticism for increasing hostility towards the media in the run-up to next year’s presidential election.
This year, the government introduced new controls on foreign reporters, requiring them to apply for accreditation a month in advance of travelling to the country.
Previously, foreign journalists were allowed to apply for credentials on their arrival. – AFP
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