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(TALKZIMBABWE) Anti-Mugabe propaganda discredits British journalism

Anti-Mugabe propaganda discredits British journalism
Ralph Ditima - Anti-Mugabe propaganda discredits British journalism
Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:30:00 +0000

THE desire to see President Robert Mugabe out of office has put British journalism is danger of being completely discredited. Somehow British journalists seem to report stories from Zimbabwe that no other journalist, from any other part of the world, knows about.

They concoct some of the craziest stories on planet earth. One such story is from the Sunday Times entitled "Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe pays security goons $5,000 a day"! Who believes that?

This story is simply ridiculous. In September last year Finance Minister Tendai Biti revealed that Presidnet Mugabe earns US$300 a month. Biti controls the budget, and is better poised to know such information.

"Over 10 days in Switzerland, each accumulated a total of $50,000 in cash. The money was theirs to keep, a perk of the job, and they did not have to account for it on their return to Harare," says the report in the ST.

Quoting "authoritative sources" and unnamed western diplomats, as usual, the ST reports: "Less important members of the huge entourage were paid $2,000 (£1,300) a day."

The ridiculousness continues: "Recently, while Biti was abroad, Gono plundered millions from the statutory reserves to pay bills, including some questionable sums that found their way into a fund connected with the presidency.

“There are all sorts of scams to circumvent Biti. A lot is authorised by people beneath him in the finance ministry who have a high level of authority,” said one source. “It goes on beneath his radar.”

Biti would need to confirm this to be believable. The fact that the ST fails to mention even one individual in this story, or consult the finance minister, makes for bad journalism.

Interestingly, this story will be picked up by naive Zimbabwean journalists who live abroad and wait for such propaganda to please their paymasters.

Labels: BBC, MUGABE, PROPAGANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:50 PM