{"id":77568,"date":"2023-05-07T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T08:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals"},"modified":"2023-05-07T11:25:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T09:25:27","slug":"draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals","title":{"rendered":"Draconian media laws interfere with journalists\u2019 work, report reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span><b>By Darlington Gatsi<\/b><\/p>\n<p>ZIMBABWE\u2019S media policy framework is constricting freedom of journalists in carrying out their mandate, a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said.<\/p>\n<p>Local journalists recently commemorated World Press Freedom day under the theme Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights.<\/p>\n<p>In the report RSF highlighted that Zimbabwean laws are still inhibiting journalists though some laws such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExtremely harsh laws are still in effect and, when new laws have been adopted, their provisions are just as draconian as those they replaced. The amended penal code and Official Secrets Act and the new Cyber Security and Data Protection Act continue to hamstring journalism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn theory, the confidentiality of sources is protected by law, but that hasn\u2019t been the case in practice. A long-awaited law on freedom of information could see the light of day soon,\u201d read the report.<\/p>\n<p>RSF lowly ranked Zimbabwe on number 126 out of 180 countries in promoting press freedom, an improvement from last year\u2019s 136th position.<\/p>\n<p>RSF further noted in the report that government stranglehold on media is negatively impacting the sector.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe economic situation in Zimbabwe is holding back development of the media. The cost of creating any new media outlet is prohibitive and discourages investors, while the annual licensing fees for a TV channel can run to tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis situation allows the state to maintain its grip on the sector, and nearly 70% of print and broadcast media outlets are still under its control. Poorly paid journalists are exposed to the temptation of bribes, which weakens their independence,\u201d read the report further.<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe, two years ago granted television licences to other players reducing monopoly on public broadcaster.<\/p>\n<p>However this has been viewed as superficial as individuals and companies close to the levers of power were granted operating licences.<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) called on the government to promote freedom of media personnel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Zimbabwe, the struggle for press freedom continues and we call on the government to respect and uphold the fundamental right to press freedom and to create an enabling environment for independent and pluralistic media to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that a free and independent press is crucial for democracy, development, and human rights, and we stand in solidarity with journalists and media professionals worldwide who continue to fight for these values,\u201d said ZACRAS.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\">Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. By Darlington Gatsi ZIMBABWE\u2019S media policy framework is constricting freedom of journalists in carrying out their mandate, a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said. Local journalists recently commemorated World Press Freedom day under the theme Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":77567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-77568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Draconian media laws interfere with journalists\u2019 work, report reveals - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Darlington Gatsi ZIMBABWE\u2019S media policy framework is constricting freedom of journalists in carrying out the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Draconian media laws interfere with journalists\u2019 work, report reveals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Darlington Gatsi ZIMBABWE\u2019S media policy framework is constricting freedom of journalists in carrying out the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-07T08:56:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-07T09:25:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1683434798.76.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/draconian-media-laws-interfere-with-journalists-work-report-reveals\",\"name\":\"Draconian media laws interfere with journalists\u2019 work, report reveals - 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