IPI urges action against media attacks in Zim

IPI urges action against media attacks in Zim
By Mwila Chansa
Saturday June 21, 2008 [04:00]

INTERNATIONAL Press Institute (IPI) members have called on AU and SADC to take a public stand against the Zimbabwean authorities' action on freedom of expression in that country. According to the resolutions made by IPI members after their Annual General Assembly on June 16, 2008 in Belgrade Serbia, the members stated that uninformed and intimidated citizenry could not benefit from free and fair elections.

"IPI members call on President Robert Mugabe to take effective measures to stop the violence and judicial attacks against the media, and to permit fair elections which include unfettered access to information, and the unhindered presence of the international media," the members stated.

They also condemned the surge of attacks on the media in Zimbabwe sparked by disputed election results that had further deteriorated conditions for journalists and threatened the legitimacy of the runoff slated for next week Friday.

The members stated that cosmetic amendments to the 'notorious' Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act had triggered confusion with journalists required to seek accreditation from an agency that was yet to be formed, and electoral coverage requiring two levels of permission, one from a legally defunct entity.

"The country's bureaucratic requirements, long burdensome, have become increasingly inscrutable. As the recent banning of multiple media outlets and prosecutions of journalists, both local and foreign demonstrated, these inconsistencies have not prevented authorities from using legislation to stifle critical coverage," the members stated.

They stated that physical attacks were on the rise and that in the last few months, several freelancers had been brutally beaten.

They added that judicial harassment had also increased and that an editor was prosecuted for allegedly publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and contempt of court after running a column by an opposition politician, and a media lawyer charged with "undermining the authority or insulting the president" for an alleged remark suggesting that President Mugabe should step down.

They added that the State-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation had been particularly hit by the recent clampdown and that the head of the organisation was reported fired for refusing to comply with an order to deny positive coverage to the opposition.

"In a blatant attempt to intimidate, in early June, eight other ZBS employees were placed on two-month-long paid vacation, ordered to surrender their ZBS identity cards, and instructed to stay away from both other employees and ZBS premises," they stated.
And the members expressed concern at the failure by a number of countries to comply with provisions of Article 19.

Article 19 provides that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression and that this right include; freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

They stated that the failure to uphold Article 19 resulted into the media being frequently assailed by punitive and other measures that obstructed the free flow of information.
The Assembly was concerned at the growing number of arrests targeted at journalists and photographers reporting or photographing police's actions at crime scenes or other incidences in South Africa.

"On several occasions in the last year, journalists have been summarily bundled into police vans and imprisoned sometimes for a night. In all circumstances, the alleged crimes they had committed-never clearly spelled out at their time of arrest - have been thrown out of court mainly on grounds that there was no evidence on which to base a prosecution," they stated.

They also raised concerns over the impunity of perpetrators of killings of journalists in Serbia and urged the authorities there to intensify their investigations into such cases.
The members observed that failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks sent dangerous signals, with journalists increasingly seen as easy targets.

They also condemned measures that diluted journalists' right to protect the confidentiality of their sources everywhere, particularly in Europe.

The members stated that they were alarmed at the growing number of missing journalists in Mexico and the continuing failure of the authorities to bring to justice those who perpetrate attacks against members of the country's news media.

They also called on governments to respect journalists' rights to report freely on natural calamities and their aftermaths, permitting them to collect and disseminate information about such events.

The members also strongly condemned the recent bombings of offices of the Bilbao edition of the Spanish daily newspaper, El Correo.
and leading journalists dedicated to the protection of press freedom.