England’s ill-starred cricket tour of Zimbabwe was mired in fresh controversy on Tuesday night after Robert Mugabe’s government banned nine media organisations including the BBC from covering the five scheduled matches, due to begin on Friday.
Journalists from numerous organisations, including The Guardian, first sought accreditation to cover the tour eight weeks ago, but until Tuesday neither the Zimbabwe government, Zimbabwe Cricket nor the England and Wales Cricket Board had been able to give an indication of whether their applications had been successful.
On Tuesday night Zimbabwe Cricket informed the Sun, Times, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times and News of the World, as well as representatives of BBC radio and television news, that they had been refused accreditation.
The Guardian, Independent, Daily Express, Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, agencies Reuters and the Press Association, GQ magazine, ITN and two photographers from the Getty Images agency are understood to have been granted accreditation, and should be allowed to enter the country this evening when the England squad arrive.
David Morgan, chairperson of the ECB, said he did not believe the ban on journalists constituted grounds to cancel the tour and he would attempt to reverse the decision when he arrives in Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
In the face of widespread opposition to the tour going ahead, the ECB has maintained that it would face multi-million pound penalties from the International Cricket Council if the tour were cancelled on anything other than grounds of safety and security, or a clear instruction from the government not to travel.
”We are very disappointed by the news, but we will be working with Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, to have the decision reversed,” Morgan said as he prepared to board a flight to Harare.
Michael Vaughan, the England captain, condemned the decision. ”I think it is totally wrong and I am flabbergasted by the decision. Whatever you think of the media, they have a huge role to play in giving exposure to the game.”
Chingoka said the matter was out of his hands. ”I have no say in accreditation — government officials handle that. I have just passed on my information to the ECB and my dealings are with them.”
Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, said the journalists should not blame Zimbabwe Cricket and that difficulties should had been anticipated. ”All countries recognised that the media regulations of the Zimbabwean government are different to those imposed in other cricketing countries,” said Mani. ”[They] accepted the undertaking of Zimbabwe Cricket that it would do everything possible to assist cricket journalists seeking accreditation.”
Robert Thomson, editor of the Times, said: ”It is clear that Mr Mugabe does not like objective reporting. If there were not anything to hide in Zimbabwe, the government would allow in the Times of London.”
A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said: ”The UK has long been an advocate of media freedom in Zimbabwe and that applies equally to sports journalism. Our representatives in Harare will be making representations to the Zimbabwe authorities to try and resolve this situation.”
Richard Bevan of the Professional Cricketers Association said the bar on journalists brought cricket into disrepute.
Zimbabwe does not knowingly admit British journalists and this tour was always going to test the regime’s commit ment to supporting its cricket union. The BBC has been banned from operating in Zimbabwe for several years, and Mugabe has described the Daily Telegraph as an agent of MI5.
Two journalists attempting to cover Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe for The Telegraph and The Guardian were refused accreditation and deported earlier this year. Andrew Meldrum, The Guardian‘s Zimbabwe correspondent, was expelled in May 2003 after his coverage of abuses by the regime. – Guardian Unlimited Â