Press freedom improved in Mozambique in 2006 as compared with previous years, a new human rights report has found, Vista News said on Wednesday.
The United States’s Department of State human rights report on Mozambique, released on Wednesday in Maputo, said that while media institutions reported that freedom of speech and the press had improved, police continued to harass journalists in 2006.
”During the year, fewer journalists were detained, public functionaries were more open with journalists and the government made greater efforts to divulge information to the public than in previous years,” read the report, launched by American embassy political attaché Leonel Miranda.
The report noted that the independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views, while government-owned media ”reflected the views of the government but also demonstrated a willingness to critically examine government actions”.
There was an increase in privately owned radio stations.
Radio Mozambique, which receives 60% of its operating budget from the government, tended to invite participants who were not critical of the government.
The report said the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) had noted that obtaining a broadcasting licence was ”often long, convoluted and politically biased”.
”According to Misa, the country required a new law clearly delineating the difference between commercial and public radio,” read the report.
In the television sector there continued to be competition between private and public stations.
The report highlighted the arrest of three journalists in Manica province last May, ordered by a prosecutor after an influential business person accused the reporters of libel. The journalists were released after seven days without charge.
Four libel suits were brought against newspapers during the year.
Foreign media were allowed to operate freely and there was no government restriction on the use of the internet.
The cost of printing newspapers in Mozambique remained high as newsprint and other supplies continued to be imported from South Africa and the government ”does not exempt these supplies from import duties”.
”Other journals are only published in electronic versions, severely limiting their readership. Journals printed on paper have limited readership beyond Maputo, due to high transportation costs,” read the report. — Sapa