2 May 2004
editorial
TOMORROW, Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Press Freedom Day. This is a day set aside in recognition of the sacrifices made by the media and private individuals to influence governments that continue to deny their citizens the vital freedom of the media.
It is important to recall that the decision to celebrate the World Press Freedom every year was made in December 1992 by the General Assembly of the United Nations at the request of Unesco. The idea had been born 18 months earlier in 1991, in Windhoek, Namibia during a seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press organised jointly by the United Nations and Unesco.
Since then, the day has been marked with one focus: Reflecting on the state of the media in the world and gains made towards full press freedom. Indeed, the day has over the years increasingly gained significance as freedom of the press takes centre stage in national and international politics.
But as we celebrate this important day with the rest of our colleagues globally, in Zimbabwe there is little, if anything at all to celebrate. Zimbabwean journalists may well be moaning the death of press freedom in the country and we have Jonathan Moyo to thank for the demise of small but a once vibrant media industry.
Clearly, Jonathan Moyo is the worst thing to happen to Zimbabwe's fledgling media industry. That is how the journalistic community in this country will remember him. He has not only assassinated the broadcast media in Zimbabwe but he has rendered all the newspapers in the Zimpapers stable impotent and useless pieces of government information sheets.
With the closure of the only independent daily, The Daily News and its sister paper The Daily News on Sunday, an independent alternative voice to the daily dosage of State propaganda churned out by Zimpapers and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, was lost to the reading public not only in Zimbabwe but abroad as well. The few remaining independent weekly newspapers are virtually under siege with daily threats if they do not toe the line all the time.
It is, indeed, a strange irony that at a time when much of the world is opening up and seeking to democratise and diversify their media, Zimbabwe is hurtling in the opposite direction. Laws that are inconsistent with an enlightened, open and democratic system of governance have been promulgated.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) and the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) are symbols of a primitive society that has turned its back on basic tenets of civilised government. Not only do they severely limit democratic space but they make the work of journalists difficult. Needless to say, the end victims are obviously the people of Zimbabwe.
We have stated in and out of season that any law has to be demonstrably and reasonably justified in a democratic society because laws are founded on the premise of the just governance of man. There is little if anything, to justify laws such as Aippa and Posa whose primary import is to emasculate free interaction among Zimbabweans. These laws only serve to suppress free speech and to stultify a vibrant and dynamic press.
Freedom of the press and of expression - to borrow a famous expression is the mother of all freedoms. Once a government muzzles the press, then all other freedoms are suppressed. Jonathan Moyo has evangelised against freedom of the Press and such evangelism can only be counter - productive in the long run. In fact, we know of no government in the whole world which has benefited from such obnoxious laws.
Among the natural human urges is the will to survive and the will to express. Experience has shown through history that governments which trample on Press freedom pay a price in the end. It is folly to take people for granted. People are not stupid. A constant barrage of propaganda may fool some of the people some of the time, but it will not fool all of the people all of the time.
As a man of considerable intellect, Jonathan Moyo ought to know this.
It is monumental self deception for Moyo to imagine that he alone knows what is best for the people of Zimbabwe.Witness how he sets the parameters of what people should look at, read or listen to at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Zimbabwe Newspapers.
But even he must realise that global trends make this a gigantic exercise in futility. The world of the Internet and Satellite communication makes State control of information well nigh impossible. Indeed, the coverage and staying power of independent journalists as well as a strong and vibrant civil society are essential ingredients in the good fight against those that seek to circumscribe the people's rights and freedoms.
It is difficult to understand why the powers that be do not realise that far from enhancing the image of government, what Jonathan Moyo has done has been more damaging to Zimbabwe.
A more sophisticated approach to the media could have served the cause of government much, much better. The role of government information officers is to explain government policy and practice, promote the positive aspects of that policy and get those policies understood and supported by the people on whose behalf or in whose name they exercise their stewardship. Arrogance, confrontation, and a superiority complex will only achieve one thing - alienation of the rulers from the ruled.
It is our conviction that any government has no business in regulating the media. A simple statement: People must be able to print what they want subject to the moral norms and principles that govern that society should be sufficient.
Whatever activities the various media organisations and countries hold tomorrow to mark the World Press Freedom Day, our parting shot with political dinosaurs like Jonathan Moyo is that the days of dictators are truly numbered. Life with dictators is never boring, some say, but their days are nevertheless numbered.
That is the bottom line.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2004 Zimbabwe Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
