All our thoughts are with Fred M'membe of The Post, his wife and editor. What this PF government is doing is disgraceful.
More here.
TODAY'S EDITORIAL COMMENT: They want to win at any cost By Editor |
Updated: 27 Jun,2016
14:57:51
THE International Press Institute (IPI) has revealed that there is a strategic plan by the PF government to shut down The Post and other private media in order for the ruling party to rig the August 11 general elections.
In a statement, IPI director of advocacy and communications Steven Ellis revealed that PF’s strategy to rig election results and brutalise the opposition were clearly outlined in a leaked document.
“Among other efforts, the document indicated that ‘No form of media should be given to the UPND in the form of news or campaign advertisements’ and that a ‘massive media character assassination’ campaign should be launched against UPND presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema,” read the IPI statement. “The document also said that ‘prime efforts’ would be made to eliminate coverage by The Post .”
With or without the IPI revelations, it has always been clear to many Zambians that Edgar Lungu and his crooked, corrupt friends in the Patriotic Front want to retain power and continue to enrich themselves at any cost.
This is not only the most corrupt government in the history of this country but also the most intolerant and unrestrained regime. Edgar is all the time reminding Zambians about how much power he sits on. He has openly threatened to crush his political opponents, real or perceived, like a tonne of bricks. Edgar has issued open threats to the editor of The Post , telling him “alefwaya ukwakufwila”. He has also openly told The Post editor that he is the Head of State and there is no way anyone can fight with him and win.
The agenda to manipulate the electoral process and keep themselves in power has been on the cards for a long time. And The Post has consistently been warning the Zambian people about the high possibility of this year’s elections being rigged. It was The Post that exposed Edgar’s dealings with Timor Consulting, an Israeli firm of election ‘experts’. They denied this. But why should one deny a firm they are dealing with? Clearly, there was something wrong, something unacceptable they had been doing with Timor Consulting.
Then came the issue of the Ugandans who managed Yoweri Museveni’s last rigged election. It is these same characters Edgar has brought in to assist him in ‘winning’ this year’s elections. It is these same characters that worked with the Dubai printing company, Al Ghurair, that the Electoral Commission of Zambia has been forced to contract against dissent from the opposition. There are problems in Uganda. And there will be similar problems here. In Uganda, Museveni has resorted to tyranny, repression to silence anyone questioning or challenging the election results.
Edgar is doing the same.
Last week, he was threatening to sort out Hakainde Hichilema if he refuses to accept the election results, telling him “akamona efyo nkamuchita”. It is clear that as things stand today, we are highly unlikely to have free and fair elections whose results will be accepted by all participants – the winners and the losers. Edgar knows that with The Post around, it will be difficult for him to crush or sort out those who will refuse to accept the rigged results. Hence, his haste to get The Post closed before the elections.
We have stated it several times that it is not tax collection they are after from The Post; it is The Post, as a publication, they do not want to appear on the streets and expose their corrupt and crooked schemes. This explains why Edgar last week was very annoyed with the intelligence for failing to find out where The Post was being printed and stop it from coming out. What they don’t want is The Post hitting the streets. It’s not about taxes.
What is happening here is exactly what happened and is happening in Uganda. In Uganda, foreign nationals were registered to vote and they voted. Here, we have citizens of our neighbouring countries having been registered to vote. Zambia Police Service officers have been sent to Malawi to find out about the registration of foreign voters. They found it to be true.
But there had been a foolish scheme of trying to admit that indeed foreigners have registered as voters, but this was the work of the opposition. How stupid can one be to take such a line! What would this mean? This would mean that Edgar and his friends have not been working. If they have been working, how can the opposition issue National Registration Cards to Malawians and other foreign nationals?
The truth of the matter is that this is part of their own rigging scheme in the Ugandan style and fashion. Edgar’s threats to sort out Hakainde are similar to those of Museveni. We all know what has happened or is happening to Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kigya Besigye. He has been beaten, humiliated and locked up on trumped up criminal charges. Edgar is preparing himself for that type of brutality, repression.
And the first enemy of tyrants is always the free press. Wherever there is tyranny, the first to be hit, harassed or even annihilated is the free press. They know that without a free press, the protests, demonstrations, statements of those affected by their tyranny will not be heard. Where there is tyranny, there is no free speech and press. What we have in Zambia today is a highly corrupt and intolerant regime that has no scruples or restraint. They do not in any way realise that the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty.
With politicians like Edgar and his friends in power, Zambians must brace themselves for the worst. The bells tolling on The Post today will tomorrow toll on many other Zambians, and eventually on the whole country. The signs, the warnings of this are there. What remains is whether or not we heed them.
Don’t be deceived by the pretence of Edgar being a man of prayer. Even Hitler and Mussolini went to church. Even that monster Idi Amin masqueraded as a devout Moslem. But do religious people do what Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin did? Mobutu Sese Seko presented himself as a devout Catholic and was dining and wining with Catholic priests and bishops while committing all sorts of crimes and corrupt deeds against his people and his country. Edgar can build the so-called National House of Prayer and present himself as a man who prays to God to help him solve national problems, but behind that façade, the man is something else – evil.
And you hear it every day in Edgar’s language. Edgar’s language is that of threats – crush this one or that one, sort out this one or that one, fix this one or that one. That’s Edgar’s language. Is that the language of a religious man? In fact, it is a tendency of criminals to present themselves as very humble and religious people. Do you remember how humble and religious that criminal, Uncle Barry, was? You would leave him with your one-day baby without any suspicions of him hurting her. But he was one of the worst and most dangerous criminals this country has ever known. How else can criminals catch their prey if not by pretending to be humble, God-loving and fearing?
Anyway, when a prolonged, stubborn and heated struggle is in progress, there usually begins to emerge after a time the central and fundamental points at issue, upon the decision of which the ultimate outcome depends, and in comparison with which all the minor and petty episodes of the struggle recede more and more into the background. That, too, is how matters stand today in Zambia. What is at stake is now clear for all to see. It is all about Edgar defending his hold on power and privileges. He is not ready to lose the August 11 elections at any cost, even if that means closing The Post and sending all its employees on the street, manipulating the electoral process to such a degree that its results will be rejected by the losers and plunge the country into post-election chaos.
Edgar is not even ready to listen to the voice of reason from the Church. He is only listening to his own inner demons.
But at the rate Edgar is going, he is likely to end up at The Hague.
- See more at: http://postzambia.com/news.php?id=18963#sthash.jlK8zXdS.dpuf
Labels: FRED M'MEMBE, JOURNALISM, PF, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST
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From The Post:
(THE POST ZAMBIA) It’s not taxes they’re after
By Editor
Updated: 11 Dec,2015 ,06:11:04
The Zambia Revenue Authority yesterday obtained a search warrant from the subordinate court to inspect, take possession or make copies of documents and ICT equipment, business records, purchase and sales daybooks, cash books and other account books, purchase invoices and sales invoices, annual accounts, bank statements and other banking records, VAT account, personal records, documents, diaries of directors, import documents, desktop computers, laptops, servers, etc, and any other such documents and ICT equipment related to the business or operations of The Post that they believe were used by the company to evade the payment of VAT and Income Tax.
It requires little intelligence, if a little is all one has, to realise that this is not a case of tax evasion but of something else. This company has been in existence for more than 24 years, paying its tax obligations. It is extremely malicious and unfair for the Zambia Revenue Authority to insinuate in any way that The Post is involved or could be involved in tax evasion. Tax evasion is a criminal offence and this newspaper, unlike some other newspapers in this country, is not run by criminals or ex-convicts. Tax evasion is knowingly breaking the law to reduce a tax liability by the deliberate concealing of income or the false claiming of allowances, deductible expenses and so on and so forth. This differs from tax avoidance, which is the process of arranging a taxpayer’s affairs in such a way that he can, within the law, reduce the amount of tax payable. And every taxpayer is entitled, if he can, to arrange his affairs so that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be. If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure the result, then however unappreciative the revenue authority or his fellow taxpayers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax. No taxpayer in this country is under the smallest obligation, moral or otherwise, so to arrange his legal relation to his business, or to his property as to enable the inland revenue to put the largest possible shovel into his stores. But The Post is neither involved in tax evasion nor tax avoidance.
Anyone looking for any evidence of tax evasion from The Post will never find any because there is none. We don’t engage in criminal activities. Mistakes, we can make but not criminal activities. If they want to find cases of tax evasion on the part of The Post, they have to trump them up. And we will not be surprised if they did this because they have shown strange desperation to fix The Post. It is not tax they are after, it is fixing The Post they aiming for. They simply want to paralyse the operations of The Post and consequently close it. Business came to a standstill yesterday. They paralysed the operations of the newspaper and no meaningful business could be conducted. Income was lost. They tried to search documents in files and look at computer records, but they were not making sense. They had made up their minds from the beginning to go away with the computers. What happens when they take away the computers of a business in today’s world? They have literally stopped the business from operating. That is the net effect. And the computers they are taking, what guarantee do we have that they will not tamper with them or even attempt to plant things on them? These are clearly acts of desperate people trying to do desperate things.
Why are they in such a hurry to fix The Post? There are matters in court which need to be resolved; why can’t they wait until these matters are completely resolved?
Again, we can say it with our heads high that The Post is not a criminal organisation run by criminals. And whatever has been done here has been done with sufficient honour and integrity. Yes mistakes, we can make but not criminal acts of evading taxes.
And what is also shocking is that the Zambia Revenue Authority team yesterday came with a video camera trying to film the proceedings. For what? Just when did tax investigations become an issue of Zambia Revenue Authority publicity? But this is exactly what the Zambia Revenue Authority has been doing to The Post. Every communication with The Post has ended up into some newspapers working with the Zambia Revenue Authority. Which other taxpayer is Zambia Revenue Authority treating in this way other than The Post?
Of course, pronouncements on the issue of The Post have been made by senior ministers of this government and officers of the ruling Patriotic Front, including President Edgar Lungu himself. They have all threatened The Post with closure using the Zambia Revenue Authority. They have not hidden their intentions. The Zambia Revenue Authority is not an independent institution; it is a government agency that takes instructions from those in power. And if this government can manipulate and coerce people holding constitutional offices with security of tenure, what more Zambia Revenue Authority officers, whom they can hire and fire at will?
But the bells tolling for The Post today, if not silenced, will tomorrow toll for many others and eventually for the whole country.
As for The Post, they should not deceive themselves that we can be coerced into submission by acts like these. To silence The Post, they first have to close it. We are not criminals or wrongdoers who can be easily blackmailed into submission. We have seen what they have tried to do to the Director of Public Prosecutions with trumped-up charges after they failed to force him to resign. Let them come up with trumped-up charges of tax evasion against us and see where it will take them.
Again, it is not tax money they are looking for. It is The Post’s soul they are searching for. Look at the composition of the team that came to our offices yesterday! Were all those officers from the Zambia Revenue Authority? The answer is a categorical no. They were from some other offices, some other state agencies - ZICTA, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the intelligence services. What are they looking for that they could not tell us? They never told us what they are looking for! Why? But it is not very difficult to guess what they are looking for and what they are up to.
- See more at: http://www.postzambia.com/news.php?id=13795#sthash.WdK9U8GT.dpuf
Labels: CORRUPTION, EDGAR LUNGU, MEDIA, PF, PRESS FREEDOM, ZRA
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Freedom is meaningless if it's just about being right - M'membe
By Kombe Chimpinde
Tue 11 Dec. 2012, 12:00 CAT
POST editor-in-chief Fred M'membe says he will be a journalist for as long as he lives. And M'membe says the harsh conditions in the media are making it difficult for women to take up newsroom leadership positions.
Meanwhile, M'membe says freedom is meaningless if it just about being right. Giving a talk at the Women in News (WIN) Graduate Retreat and Summit Agenda in Lusaka yesterday, M'membe, who recounted how he developed a passion for journalism, said although the field of journalism was not an easy undertaking, he had chosen to remain a journalist for the rest of his life.
"Of all the things I have done, what interests me most is being a journalist. Although I am a qualified professional in other fields, I don't consider myself to be a member of any other profession other than being a journalist.
My passport does not carry any profession other than that of being a journalist. I am a journalist with legal knowledge. I am a journalist with economic, accounting and business knowledge, but the first thing that I am is a journalist and I will be a journalist for as long as I live," he said.
M'membe said nothing was as interesting to him as journalism.
"I have been hearing for the last fifteen or so years that I want to get into politics. Yes we are all politicians but of different sorts. Politicians in the sense that there are certain things we want for our country, our people, for humanity. I have wanted those things for my country, for my people, for humanity since my teens and to this day I still want them for my people and I will continue to seek them.
"I am a journalist, and this is the terrain I have chosen to fight on, to struggle for these things from. Journalism seems to be the meaning and purpose of my life," he said.
M'membe said there was need for a lot of resources to be spent on preparing women to take up leading roles in the media and in life in general and for the realignment of work to give women a chance to compete for leadership positions.
He observed that gender equality was not about mere promotion of women, but a question of spending more resources on their development and making their conditions of work bearable.
"I am not bothered about the 50%-50%; it's not an issue for me. You cannot just come and dream some statistics that it has to be fifty, even if you know the quality does not match up to fifty or if only little work has be done to bring marginalised and discriminated people to the level where they can assert themselves effectively," M'membe said.
"The women who occupy high positions at The Post deserve to be where they are. It's not an issue of simply affirmative action but affirmative action in creating conditions that develop women to that needed high level much quicker and not discriminating them in any way although there all these other challenges," he said.
"There is injustice being committed against women, there is discrimination and marginalisation against women. But that marginalistaion, discrimination is not only unique in the domain of gender, it has been there also in other aspects of our lives."
M'membe also bemoaned the various challenges that beset women and inhibit them from attaining greater heights.
He cited the participation of women in the media industry, which he said was still in a very weak state.
"In Zambia we are still battling with things that we were battling with 20 years ago. A bit of progress has been made but more needs to be done. It is increasingly difficult for women to work in the media. The conditions are harsh for them," M'membe said. "With the tightening of budgets, it means journalists have to work longer hours and women have to do this in addition to their responsibilities when they get back home.
Sometimes they get married to men who live in places where their newspapers don't have offices, forcing them to abandon journalism and lose out in their career development."
M'membe advised women not to give up but to work hard and continue struggling for their rightful place in society.
"You have to work harder than men if you have to catch up. You have to work in a more strategic way. You have to set your goals very clearly. Of course, the ground has to be altered for you. Shift the fight to the terrain where you are comfortable," he said." It gets dark sometimes. But the morning always comes. Don't give up. Where there is a crucifixion, there's a resurrection. Don't give up. We will, working together, get it right one day."
M'membe reminded women that wherever there was a struggle to wage there was need for the promotion of a free media.
"There was a time and recently when women could not vote in nations that call themselves the most civilised nations of the world; a woman could not vote, she was not a full person, with full rights. They don't talk much about that anymore," he said.
M'membe described Zambia's current press freedom situation as good.
"We (Zambia) are better in terms of press freedom because of the efforts that many people exerted over the last 21 years. The media space that we have is not the space we had 21 years ago. We had to work for it," he said. "Of course there is humiliation in fighting for some of these things. Being behind bars is not a pleasant thing; being arrested in front of your children and friends isn't a pleasant thing … But we knew what we stood for.
Of course sometimes we got certain things wrong but it's part of the liberties we are seeking. Freedom is meaningless if it is just about being right and journalism is increasingly becoming a profession where if you make a mistake, you are taken to prison."
M'membe said liberties of the media have to be defended consistently and vigilantly in Zambia and the world over.
Labels: FRED M'MEMBE, JOURNALISM, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST
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Courage more effective than good laws - Shamenda
By Kombe Chimpinde
Thu 03 May 2012, 09:00 CAT
INFORMATION and labour minister Fackson Shamenda says courage is more effective than good laws. And Shamenda yesterday said journalists should learn to observe time.
Meanwhile journalists countrywide today commemorate World Press Freedom Day with the theme in Zambia being "Access to information, a prerequisite to a transformed society."
Opening a media stakeholder's conference at government complex in Lusaka, Shamenda challenged journalists to be courageous in discharging their duties.
He reminded journalists that much as they wanted favourable media laws, some media like The Post had managed to stand out and be the voice of the people even under hostile media laws under the MMD regime.
Shamenda said The Post was able to take on government because the paper had the citizens on its side.
He said if The Post managed to stand up to government, other media organisations should also have had the courage to do so.
Shamenda wondered if there were two laws which made The Post stand up to MMD and the other media fail to do so.
"Is it only The Post Newspaper who were using a different law as compared to the law that the rest of you were using? It is because we had courageous men and women. So you should search yourselves. That is the starting point not the law," he said.
Shamenda said The Post's stand on several issues against MMD was sheer courage buttressed by people.
He said courage also meant that journalists should be able to go to prison in defence of the truth.
"Prisons are made for courageous people like you," said Shamenda to some journalists' disapproval.
Shamenda said without courage, journalists could not be found on the frontline like in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said without courageous journalists, it would be difficult to watch footage from the frontline.
Shamenda said courage was more effective journalism than just good laws.
He said his statement did not mean that the government was against enacting good laws but that courage and good laws went side by side.
Shamenda said there was so much talk about implementation of legislation that would provide an enabling environment but less talk on the levels of inefficiency by some scribes in discharging their noble duty.
"I always believe that it is not a piece of a paper which will guarantee you the freedom, any profession what so ever, is a very risky profession," he said.
Shamenda said media practitioners must not entirely blame the bad laws for their inefficiency but sometimes unprofessionalism in discharging their duties.
"They (Post employees) didn't die. Prisons are made for people who are courageous so if you do not to go there and want the law to protect you, you are in a wrong profession," he said.
"Don't wait to free yourselves from intimidation. Don't wait for the law. Because even without it you can be able to effectively operate, like the example of The Post and I am sure that most of you would agree with me that if The Post was not around, it would have been a little difficult even to remove the MMD."
He said the state media also contributed to removing MMD government because they reported stories which blinded the leadership to the truth.
Shamenda said good media laws should be there to serve special and exceptional rights.
"We have our friends in the public media who even without being told what to write, they sing so much praises about us as if we ask them to praise us. Report factually. If we have done wrong, criticise constructively. It will help us," he said.
He said however that journalists must stand their ground in pushing for the implementation of laws that will create an enabling environment.
Shamenda assured journalists that the basic principles which the PF government espoused as regards media freedom before it assumed power would not be discarded.
He cautioned however that mistakes would be made but that these would be corrected once identified.
And Shamenda asked journalists be observing time during official programmes.
This was after the stakeholders meeting he was officially opening started late.
Shamenda, who walked from his office to the conference venue, said time was not immortal.
He reminded organisers to stick to the programme and not think that time would always be there.
Shamenda said journalists should also learn to manage their mobile phones in meeting places and avoid situations where they ring loudly.
"We need to manage technology and not technology managing us," he said.
Shamenda was seemingly prompted to make the remarks after some phones, left on loud, rang in the room.
And UNDP country director Viola Morgan said the agency would continue supporting media programmes.
And UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in his Press Freedom Day message said freedom of expression is one of our most precious rights. "It underpins every other freedom and provides a foundation for human dignity. Free, pluralistic and independent media is essential for its exercise," said Ban in his message for today.
"Media freedom entails the freedom to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This freedom is essential for healthy and vibrant societies. Change in the Arab world has shown the power of aspirations for rights when combined with new and old media."
Labels: FACKSON SHAMENDA, JOURNALISM, PRESS FREEDOM, WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
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Kalomo implores MPs to support FOI bill
By Cynthia Phiri in Kalomo
Mon 16 Apr. 2012, 13:26 CAT
THE Tonga-speaking people of Kalomo district in Southern Province have passed a six-point resolution on access to information and appealed to their members of parliament to vote in favour of the Freedom of Information bill once taken to parliament.
Reading out resolutions during the first-ever Coalition on Access to Information public forum at chief Chikanta's palace on Saturday, Ngambela (prime minister) Josiah Muzyamba said there was need to establish community radio stations in rural areas to help ease problems of access to information.
The forum organised by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Press Freedom Committee of The Post, MISA-Zambia and the Zambia Civic Education Association also agreed that the government should strengthen the Zambia National Broadcasting Cooperation (ZNBC) signal for both radio and television which was nonexistent at the moment in the area.
The forum also agreed that all custodians of public information should get down to chiefdom level to disseminate information.
And chief Chikanta said members of parliament should accept and approve the Freedom of Information bill with a lot of input from the rural communities.
He said the introduction of television stations in provincial centres was good effort being made by the government and that it was long overdue.
"It is important to have television stations in all the provincial centers and is a welcome move but they should be structured in a way that it carters to the rural communities," said chief Chikanta.
And Press Freedom Committee of The Post chairperson Leah Kabamba said once enacted, the FOI bill would not be for journalists only but will work for all Zambians.
"We have realised that there was actually a lacuna on what people know on the Freedom of Information bill and the good place to start was to make sure that the people of Zambia understand this Freedom of Information bill. If enacted, it's something that will work for everybody in the country and not just the journalists alone," said Kabamba.
And representing the coalition, Kafupi Banda said the forum was meant to raise awareness among the rural communities on the Freedom of Information bill.
Labels: FOI, KALOMO, PRESS FREEDOM
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The Dirty War on WikiLeaks is Now Trial by Media in Sweden
by John Pilger
Global Research, March 12, 2012
War by media, says current military doctrine, is as important as the battlefield. This is because the real enemy is the public at home, whose manipulation and deception are essential for starting an unpopular colonial war. Like the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, attacks on Iran and Syria require a steady drip-effect on readers’ and viewers’ consciousness. This is the essence of a propaganda that rarely speaks its name.
To the chagrin of many in authority and the media, WikiLeaks has torn down the façade behind which rapacious western power and journalism collude. This was an enduring taboo; the BBC could claim impartiality and expect people to believe it. Today, war by media is increasingly understood by the public, as is the trial by media of WikiLeaks’ founder, and editor Julian Assange.
Assange will soon know if the Supreme Court in London is to allow his appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct most of which were dismissed by a senior prosecutor in Stockholm and do not constitute a crime in Britain. On bail for 16 months, tagged and effectively under house arrest, he has been charged with nothing. His “crime” has been an epic form of investigative journalism: revealing to millions of people the lies and machinations of their politicians and officials and the barbarism of criminal war conducted in their name. For this, as the American historian William Blum points out, “dozens of members of the American media and public officials have called for [his] execution or assassination”. If he is passed from Sweden to the US, an orange jump suit, shackles and a fabricated unconstitutional indictment await him. And there go all who dare challenge rogue America.
In Britain, Assange’s trial by media has been a campaign of character assassination, often cowardly and inhuman, reeking of jealousy of the courageous outsider, while books of perfidious hearsay have been published, movie deals struck and media careers launched or resuscitated on the assumption that he is too poor to sue. In Sweden, this trial by media has become, according to one observer there, “a full-on mobbing campaign with the victim denied a voice”. Fot more than 18 months, the salacious Expressen, Sweden’s equivalent of the Sun, has been fed the ingredients the ingredients of a smear by Stockholm police.
Expressen is the megaphone of the Swedish right, including the Conservative Party which dominates the governing coalition. Its latest “scoop” is an unsubstantiated story about “the great WikiLeaks war against Sweden”. On 6 March, Expressen claimed, with no evidence, that WikiLeaks was running a conspiracy against Sweden and its foreign minister Carl Bildt. The pique is understandable. In a 2009 US embassy cable obtained by WikiLeaks, the Swedish elite’s vaunted reputation for neutrality is exposed as sham. (Cable title: “Sweden puts neutrality in the Dustbin of History.”) Another US diplomatic cable reveals that “the extent of [Sweden’s military and intelligence] co-operation [with Nato] is not widely known” and unless kept secret “would open up the government to domestic criticism”.
Swedish foreign policy is largely controlled by Bildt, whose obeisance to the US goes back to his defence of the Vietnam war and includes his leading role in George W. Bush’s Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. He retains close ties to Republican Party extreme right figures such as the disgraced Bush spin doctor, Karl Rove. It is known that his government has “informally” discussed Assange’s onward extradition to Washington, which has made its position clear. A secret Pentagon document describes US intelligence plans to destroy WikiLeaks’ “centre of gravity” with “threats of exposure [and] criminal prosecution”.
In much of the Swedish media, proper journalistic scepticism about the allegations against Assange is overwhelmed by a defensive jingoism, as if the nation’s honour is defiled by revelations about dodgy coppers and politicians, a universal breed. On Swedish Public TV “experts” debate not the country’s deepening militarist state, and its service ti Nato and Washington, but the state of Assange’s mind and his “paranoia”. A headline in Tuesday’s Aftonbladet declared: “Assange’s moral collapse”. The article by Dan Josefsson suggests Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks’ alleged source, may not be sane and attacks Assange for not protecting Manning from himself. That the source was anonymous and no connection has been demonstrated between Assange and Manning and that Aftonbladet, WikiLeaks’ Swedish partner, had published the same leaks undeterred, was not mentioned – censorship by omission.
Ironically, this circus has performed under cover of some of the world’s most enlightened laws protecting journalists, which attracted Assange to Sweden in 2010 to establish a base for WikiLeaks. Should his extradition be allowed, and with Damocles swords of malice and a vengeful Washington hanging over his head, who will protect him and provide the justice to which we all have a right?
For more information on John Pilger, visit his website at www.johnpilger.com
Labels: JULIAN ASSANGE, PRESS FREEDOM, SWEDEN, WIKILEAKS
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Tsvangirai slams Daily News
11/03/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has taken the extraordinary step of accusing a newspaper sympathetic to his MDC-T party of “raising political tensions” in the country through sensational reporting and deliberate distortions.
Tsvangirai reacted after the privately-owned Daily News splashed with a story on Saturday under the headline, ‘Mugabe wants war: Tsvangirai’. Waving a copy of the newspaper while addressing a prayer meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches at Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo, Tsvangirai said: “This story claims that I said (President) Mugabe wants war. I never said that, it's not true."
He added: "We want peace to prevail in the country, but we have problems with some newspapers that write misleading and inaccurate stories.”
Tsvangirai has previously reserved that treatment for the state media, which he has publicly accused of falsifying stories to discredit his party.
But the MDC-T’s distrust of the stridently pro-Zanu PF state media has been conversely matched by Zanu PF’s mistrust of The Daily News – both sides of the media divide accused of abandoning professional standards in pursuit of sensational headlines.
The Daily News report relied on quotes which Tsvangirai made at a news conference last Thursday at which he demanded political reforms before new elections.
“Zimbabweans want a peaceful election and not a war. That is what the people of this country want and that is what SADC wants,” Tsvangirai told delegates at the launch of a document by his party outlining ‘Conditions for a Sustainable Election in Zimbabwe’.
Tsvangirai said pro-Mugabe military chiefs had told him that even if he won elections expected this year he would never be allowed to take over from the Zanu PF leader.
“We have instead been told by a few individuals at the helm of these sectors that anyone other than President Mugabe, even if they win an election, will not be able to take up their mandate,” the MDC-T leader said.
“They have even gone further to dismiss the significance of an electoral process by saying that they will not tolerate a new regime in Harare ushered in through the ballot because President Mugabe cannot be removed by a ‘mere pen which costs less than five cents’.”
Tsvangirai said such utterances by a clearly partisan security infrastructure made implementation of political reforms his party is demanding even more urgent.
“The security of the person (who wins the elections), the security of the vote and the security of the people needs to be guaranteed before we even start to cast our ballots,” he said.
[And yet, the Armed Forces also take an oath to protect the country and the constitution. Why would they follow a traitor? If Morgan Tsvangirai wants to prove his bonafides, let him abolish ZDERA, and start talks about compensating the Zimbabwean people for the economic damage that was done to the country, the economy, and their reputation. - MrK]
Labels: MEDIA, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, PRESS FREEDOM
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Civil, economic libertarianism
Wednesday, 07 March 2012 21:04
When you are an anti-imperialist and you are in the habit of attacking imperialism’s economic libertarianism it is quite easy to find allies among Western leftists and it could even be achievable to end up with centre-right allies of the likes of author AC Grayling.
It is when one attacks Western capitalism as having certainly benefited from the regime of civil liberties, more precisely from the façade of the doctrine of human rights, that one starts to get fewer and fewer allies from the West.
This writer has on numerous occasions been accused of confusing civil liberties with economic libertarianism, often being reminded to look at China, defined in the West as practising the later and intolerant of the former. Often this writer has been reminded that his own Zimbabwe lacks both economic libertarianism and civil liberties, and that he is “lucky” to be in Australia.
At one time this writer was billed to debate South Africa’s Patrick Bond at a place in Sydney. The invitation was unceremoniously cancelled after the organisers came across articles authored by this writer and attacking Western imperialism’s pretexts premised on human rights and civil liberties, especially with such attacks citing some examples from native Zimbabwe — something that was interpreted as tacit support for President Mugabe’s alleged “oppressive regime.”
It is quite easy to be applauded when one points an accusing finger at the power of imperialist interests for harming innocent civilians in countries militarily ravaged by the West’s illegal capitalist wars like the one waged against the Iraqis in 2003, or the recent murderous war on Libya. Equally it is quite attractive for Western critics of capitalism to see a non-Westerner pointing an accusing finger at capitalism for the harm it does to individuals, to the environment, to developing nations, and for causing economic disasters like the 2008 credit collapse.
Slovenian born Slavoj Zizek lost a large chunk of his Western allies after his attacks on the West’s disguises, especially those wrapped in the doctrine of civil liberties. That was seen as a blanket “attack on the hard-won dispensation of civil liberties and rights that define Western societies,” to quote A C Grayling.
The civil liberties regime is rightly credited with creating trade unionism and perhaps all forms of social democracy. Both capitalism and civil liberties are products of the Enlightenment settlement. It is, however preposterous, to confuse capitalism’s abuse of the nobility of civil liberties with an attack on the liberties themselves.
The idea of protecting civilians from genocide is not and cannot be derided by any sane person. It would be fatuous for anyone to do that. However, describing UN Resolution 1973 and its subsequent abuse in the brutal bombardment of Libyan cities by the devilish trio of France, Britain and the US as “protection of civilians” is imbecilic at its best.
The only thing protected by Libya’s invasion was the West’s oil interest, otherwise everything else was destroyed, the civilians and the country included.
The cogitative diktats of political reason would be incomplete if we as political writers were to fail to criticise the fronting of aid by predatory imperialists simply because we fear to be labelled critics of philanthropy itself. We cannot shy away from criticising the illegal and callous murder of Gaddafi for fear of being labelled “undemocratic”.
Liberal democracies themselves may to a large extend be premised on liberal ideas that culminate in the human rights and civil liberties regimes, but that alone does not mean we must pay a blind eye to the fact that the same human rights and civil liberties are the most used of imperialism’s masks, apart from philanthropy.
Indeed the liberal ideals enshrined in civil liberties must be allopathic to the deadly exploitations created by economic libertarianism, and one would from this perspective naively assume that civil liberties and the excesses of imperialism cannot be complimentary — that they are inherently not mixable.
Imperialism has successfully portrayed its opponents as authoritarian arrangements hostile variety, free speech, free Press, multiplicity, consent, and institutionalised protections of civil liberties. Often imperialism will seek to prop up rebellion and obnoxiousness so as to entice authorities in enemy states to crack down on the sponsored rebellion. Once this happens imperialism will stick the label of despotism and tyranny on its nemesis and from then on we are told civil liberties are under attack.
In the Western lexicon civil liberties can stretch to treason and armed rebellion, for as long as the context is some anti-imperialist enemy state standing in the way of Western expansionism. This is why Zimbabwe was once expected to watch and escort Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters doing a “Final Push” march to dislodge President Mugabe right from State House. It was then opined that we all needed to abide by “the rule of law,” allowing protesters to march into the State House unabated.
It was all part of free speech for Tsvangirai to declare that President Mugabe had “to go peacefully, or we will remove you violently.” Arresting him was to the imperialist powers a violation of Tsvangirai’s civil liberties.
For brooking no nonsense on these machinations President Mugabe earned himself demeaning accolades from the Western media and their political masters. By extrapolation anyone who criticised Tsvangirai and his MDC for fronting Western interests became a “Mugabe crony,” and this writer was vastly persecuted by both the Australian media and the state — smeared and slandered, and threatened with expulsion.
It is seen as a paradox of liberalism that it allows “illiberal” critics like this writer to flourish under its protection. “Why do you write from Sydney, Australia if the West is so bad?” That is the question always asked in the comments section of almost each of this writer’s pieces.
[Because Australia isn't under economic sanctions, and hasn't had it's currency destroyed by them? They hypocrisy and sanctimony of the MDC/Rhodesian Front types is endless. - MrK]
We are told Western societies denote pluralistic societies characterised by limitless freedoms, individual autonomy, free speech and the rest of the niceties of democracy. So good is Western democracy that its principles grant freedom of expression to its own underminers and opponents.
The likes of this writer are widely believed to be enjoying impunity and celebrity offered by those they deride and scorn, right from within the safety of the derided ones. Safety is always the word of emphasis.
It is quite revealing that the safety in question meant for this writer a stinging campaign to halt his studies at an Australian University in 2007, and of late efforts to have the University rescind the qualification awarded.
It is a safety that resulted in a prolonged legal battle between this writer and Australia’s immigration department after the authorities in that part of government bought into a slanderous and malicious “dob in” by amateurish political activists.
Four times this writer has been detained and body searched at two of Australia’s international airports because his name is flagged as a “person of concern” — most probably flagged by the same department that once unsuccessfully tried to effect an eviction.
Twice the detentions took several hours and included torturous interrogation and a rather obnoxious attitude to all responses.
The common accusation is that the views this writer expresses at the lenience and mercy of his hosts would result in imprisonment or death in his own home country, Zimbabwe. If this were true, then there is not much difference because the Australian immigration department furnished this writer with a thick copy of the Rome Statute in
January 2009, advising in red ink that the document was to be read “with the assistance of a lawyer” because there were “reasonable grounds” to send this writer to The Hague for trial.
The views of this writer perhaps attract imprisonment in both liberal and illiberal regimes, and the myth of “safety” in a Western democracy is as flattering as telling newlyweds that they will “live happily ever after.”
Yes, Western societies do not generally see themselves as entitled to stop those who criticise their political systems, but that does not mean the critics of Western imperialism pass their views in luxury. The absence of a sense of entitlement to silence dissent does not mean there are no efforts to silence such dissent.
It is easy for Westerners to criticise their governments for becoming less liberal and more authoritarian in the name of anti-terror laws. Ironically, the same critics believe that the political elites who mask their oppressive and intrusive tendencies as national security are better devils abroad, arguing that their pretexting behind human rights and civil liberties is in fact genuine and must be universally accepted.
Australia runs international affairs on a “me too” foreign policy where it imitates the US and Britain in almost everything related to capitalism. Its sanctions regime on Zimbabwe is an imitation of ZDERA sanctions, just like the partial relaxation of the same sanctions is. The undeniable fact is that imperialism is a monster with unquenchable appetite, and it has no concern whatsoever with the harm it causes its victims, especially the poor masses from the developing world.
We cannot blithely ignore this threatening reality simply because we cannot separate our obsession for freedoms and liberties from the tragedy of those abusing our plight in order to pursue self-interests.
It is a fact that leading capitalist figures like George Soros often commit themselves to vast acts of philanthropy — many times masking the ugly face of imperialism by exercising touching humanitarianism, that way concealing the face of exploitation and deception that brought the surplus into their philanthropic hands in the first place.
It is not philanthropy that should be blamed for Soros’ misdemeanours. Attacking philanthropic imperialists does not amount to denouncing philanthropy itself, just like criticising civic imperialists does not equate to attacking civil liberties or human rights.
Western propagandists love to portray the likes of this writer and authors like Slavoj Zizek as rejectionists of notions of rights and liberties — misleadingly claiming that attacking imperialism for abusing the plight of those in search of civil liberties and human rights is the same as asserting that rights and liberties are in themselves a conspiracy by imperialists to disguise their true objectives. There is a huge difference between attacking civil liberties and attacking imperialists.
There is a strong belief in the West that one is entitled to vociferously complain against the harm and wrongs of imperialism, but criticising imperialism itself as a concept is seen as unpragmatic, archaic and even communist.
The regardant resolve to indigenise the economy of Zimbabwe must not be vilified as an attack on civil liberties and or human rights. It must be seen as the foundation for a true concept of civil liberties and human rights — especially in view of the fact that individual autonomy is defined by economic independence. Free speech on an empty stomach is an insult to humanity, just like political pluralism with no economic independence is an illusion leading to perdition.
We cannot allow politicians and political activists to misapply the nobility of liberties and human rights for ends that interfere with the destiny of the nation – for treacherous endeavours inspired by the enticing temptation of donor power.
Equally we cannot condone pseudo-revolutionaries who dismiss every mentioning of human rights and civil liberties as insidious lexicon at the service of quisling opponent politicians pursuing regime change agendas.
Human rights and civil liberties are universal fundamental rights that must be observed by all civilised peoples of this world. It does not matter that imperialists mask their vile intentions behind civil liberties and human rights. That in itself does not make these values unacceptable or bad. An enemy of human rights and civil liberties is by definition an enemy of the people.
Africa we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!
* Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in SYDNEY, Australia
Labels: AUSTRALIA, GLOBALISATION, NEOLIBERALISM, PRESS FREEDOM, REASON WAFAWAROVA
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PF won't be taken seriously if they fail to enact FoI - Kabamba
By Kabanda Chulu and Kondwani Munyeka
Fri 02 Mar. 2012, 10:59 CAT
THE PF government will not be taken seriously if they fail to enact the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill as promised, says Press Freedom Committee of The Post chairperson Leah Kabamba.
And several media freedom activists have said the term FoI must be changed to Access to Information (ATI) because it is not only journalists that will benefit when public information becomes accessible.
In an interview yesterday, Kabamba said the right to access information held by public authorities, alongside press freedom, would enhance democracy.
"The FoI Bill was withdrawn in 2002 from Parliament. Since there have been numerous pronouncements that it will be taken back but this has not worked and if this government says they will take it back, that is good but there will be no reason to believe or take the PF government seriously if they fail to honour their promise by July 2012," Kabamba said.
She challenged government to avail to the public the contents of the Bill that would be taken to Parliament.
"The Bill should be all inclusive by having views of all stakeholders and when in place, there will be increased transparency in the manner government operates. Since public bodies do things on behalf of people, the public have the right to request for any information about government activities," said Kabamba.
Last week, information minister Fackson Shamenda announced that government will take the FoI Bill to Parliament this July.
And participants to the budget transparency and access to information training workshop hosted by Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) and the International Budget Partners last week stated that government pronouncements should not be taken for granted.
"There is need for political will and despite having allies in government, we should not take things for granted because politicians are the same," stated the participants. "And there is need to correct the misconception that FoI will only benefit journalists, hence we want it to be referred to as ATI."
Meanwhile, MISA-Zambia says the country's on-going debate about the independence of the state-owned media clearly shows how relevant the media is to the country's growing democracy and development.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday, MISA-Zambia acting chairperson Nalumino Nalumino said the media enables individuals to access information and impart ideas in society.
"…It is an indispensable tool in any democracy, especially for a budding democracy like Zambia. MISA-Zambia has for this reason outlined in its strategic plan an objective to enhance media professionalism in the interest of good governance and Zambia's democratic growth," said Nalumino.
Labels: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, LEAH KABAMBA, PF, PFC, PRESS FREEDOM, THE POST
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Mulongoti counsels Kunda over public media complaint
By Kombe Chimpinde
Tue 10 Jan. 2012, 13:55 CAT
MEDIA Freedom was not a necessity to George Kunda when he was vice-president because he had become a 'star', says Mike Mulongoti.
In an interview, Mulongoti, the former MMD chairperson for elections, said Kunda must not complain about not being covered by the public media because the time to taste his own medicine had come.
Mulongoti said he felt embarrassed about the lamentations of Kunda, his former workmate, because the former had muzzled the public media as a way to get at those that opposed and criticised the wrongdoing of the MMD government.
"Let me remind Kunda that time for Christmas is over and please let him keep quiet as opposed to lamenting in the manner that he is doing. At every occasion he used to be the first one to take the meal, today, he (Kunda) wants to complain. How about those who were in the queue at the back?" Mulongoti asked.
"What is good for the goose must be good for the gander. At the time Kunda was vice-president of Zambia, he did not think press freedom was a necessity. He continuously attacked the private press and more so The Post. During the run-up to the elections the public media was biased towards the MMD, a party of which he was a trustee, and vice-president of the Republic."
Mulongoti said at no time did Kunda talk about the need for balanced coverage of all political parties.
"He was like a star in the public media and all those of us who had contrary views were perceived to be villains," he explained.
Kunda recently held a briefing at which he attacked the public media "for being biased" in the coverage of political parties as well as what he termed the negative coverage of the MMD party members.
"This was very painful for those in the opposition, including the NGOs and churches but because the media was under the control of the MMD which was the political party in government. They (MMD) paid a deaf ear to these cries. The private media were however relentless in reporting the wrongdoing of MMD government and all those wrong doings," Mulongoti said.
He said Kunda had used the public media to get to political stardom when he was vice-president, stressing that time to be a star had come to an end.
"He (Kunda) must keep his cool and allow those (public media) whom him and the MMD government muzzled to exercise some freedom which they had longed for. He must be the last person to condemn the public media because they built him from nothing to something. He must be thankful because politically he was a nobody until the public media began to blow his trumpet," said Mulongoti.
"…The public media which were instructed to publish good things about the leadership are the same today who have a thirst to publish the truth and have joined the private press who were sincere in the first place in revealing the wrongdoing. He has had too many Christmases he enjoyed when the people of Zambia were crying. Now time has come for him, in fact this is just the beginning. This is the time he must taste what the ordinary Zambian who maintained him over the last years in comfort were feeling."
Kunda, when in government, pushed for a draconian law that sought statutory regulation of the media.
Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, MIKE MULONGOTI, PRESS FREEDOM
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Given Lubinda challenges online publications to disclose their physical location
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7:36 am
MINISTER of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism Given Lubinda says owners of online publications should state their identity to make it easier for aggrieved parties to seek redress.
He said publishers hiding their identity should not be allowed to tamper with freedom of speech and press freedom through online publications.
“I know some people are hiding in the fact that they cannot be reached. Everyone running a publication should declare where they are to be found. Cowards must not be allowed to interfere with freedom of speech,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said this when he appeared on a special programme on Zambezi FM in Livingstone yesterday.
Mr Lubinda said the attorney-general’s report on the legal framework within which online publications are operating will soon be presented to Cabinet to address the matter.
A few weeks ago, President Sata directed attorney-general Mumba Malila to investigate the legal framework in which online publications are operating in Zambia following complaints from the public about the stories some of them have been carrying.
The minister also reiterated his advice to the public media to always report fairly and professionally and always remember that they are run on public resources.
He said the public media should not take advantage of the latitude the Patriotic Front government has given them to write defamatory stories because the government will not bail them out in the event that they are found wanting.
He said the public media should not take advantage of the latitude the Patriotic Front government has given them to write defamatory stories because the government will not bail them out in the event that they are found wanting.
Mr Lubinda said the public media should not use the press to settle political scores, but mirror the aspirations of the public.
“From our lesson during the 2011 campaigns, we know how the public media can be deceiving. We would like them to reflect the true aspirations of the people. I appeal to them to do one thing; report accurately, fairly and truthfully,” Mr Lubinda said.
Meanwhile, Mr Lubinda has called on all residents of Livingstone, including street vendors, to support the declaration of the city as a tourist capital. He said street vendors should control their vending.
Mr Lubinda said he wants to see an increase in the quality of tour operators in the city, as they are the ones who help to attract tourists to thecapital.
He said despite Livingstone being the tourist capital of the country, it lacks professionally qualified personnel to run the tourism and hospitality industry.
And asked in a separate interview how much the current technical committee of experts on the constitution is getting, Mr Lubinda said it is not important to know the amount.
“It is not how much has been budgeted for, but the cost of getting the business done, that is what is most important,” Mr Lubinda said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Labels: GIVEN LUBINDA, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, INTERNET, LIBEL, PRESS FREEDOM
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4 in court for assaulting journalists
By Namatama Mundia
Tue 20 Dec. 2011, 13:56 CAT
LUSAKA magistrate Faides Hamaundu yesterday ordered that an accused person in a case where two journalists were assaulted should appear before her on December 22, 2011 without fail.
This is in a case in which Nyambe Liwakala, 37, an information technician of House No. K150 Kanyama, Muzala Kazungula, 37, a businessman of Kaoma and Kalenga Kayene,35, a driver of 612 Kanyama are charged with two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to the Laws of Zambia.
On the first count, it is alleged that Liwakala, Kazungula and Kayene on December 1, 2011, in Lusaka, jointly and whilst acting together assaulted Richard Mulonga, a photojournalist from the Times of Zambia, thereby occasioning him actual bodily harm.
Allegations on the second count are that the trio on the same date in Lusaka jointly and whilst acting together assaulted Mabvuto Phiri, a managing editor from Muvi television, thereby occasioning him actual bodily harm.
The case came for allocation before chief resident magistrate Joshua Banda, who allocated it to Hamaundu's court for plea.
However, the trio could not take plea due to the absence of the third accused person.
A public prosecutor told magistrate Hamaundu that the third accused person Kayene was not before court.
But a lawyer representing the accused persons explained that Kayene did not manage, at short notice, to travel to Kaoma, where he was attending to a pressing business programme.
He said Kayene was only informed on Sunday that he was supposed to be in court yesterday.
The lawyer said Kayene last week appeared before magistrate Banda with the two other accused persons but the case could not take off because the docket was not ready.
And magistrate Hamaundu said she would give Kayene the benefit of the doubt but ordered that he appear before court when the case comes up on December 22 for plea.
On the material day, former labour minister Austin Liato's relatives harassed and beat up journalists who went to cover a case at the Lusaka Magistrates' Court Complex, where he appeared over the K2.1 billion unearthed from his farm.
Liato's relatives beat up journalists as the former minister, who had been granted K50 million cash bail, was being led to the holding cells while waiting to be released from police custody.
Some relatives hurled insults at journalists for taking pictures of their relative.
Post photojournalist Joseph Mwenda, who was the first victim, had his 1D Mark 4 Canon digital camera broken by the unruly relatives, who slapped him in the face and pushed him away from the direction Liato was coming from.
Labels: CADRES, JOURNALISM, PRESS FREEDOM
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IPI urges Zuma to reject secrecy Bill
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 27 Nov. 2011, 12:00 CAT
THE International Press Institute has written to South African President Jacob Zuma urging him to reject the Protection of State Information Bill if it is not amended to allow a public interest defence plea.
The open letter was signed by IPI's executive director Alison Bethel McKenzie who is also editor of City Press Ferial Haffajee; editor of the Financial Mail Barney Mthombothi and Raymond Louw, chairperson of the South Africa Press Council and publisher of the Southern Africa report.
McKenzie wrote to President Zuma in August last year to express IPI's concerns over the bill, as well as IPI's concern over the ANC's proposed media tribunal.
The letter stated that while some positive changes had been made to the Secrecy Bill since then, the fact remained that journalists faced between five and 25 years in prison for revealing classified information - and no explicit defense was provided for those who do so in the public interest.
"As we said before, this law would have a deleterious effect on investigative journalism in South Africa. One of the core duties of journalists is to ensure government accountability, including through the publication of information that may have been deemed secret not because its revelation would threaten national security, but because it reflects poorly on a particular public official or public institution," it stated.
IPI stated that governments come and go and what remained was the media's duty to hold the government of the day accountable for its actions.
"If journalists must think twice or three times before publishing crucial information because they are afraid that they could receive a prison sentence similar to that of a violent criminal, there will be fewer reports, and in the long term it is the public and the nation that will suffer," they stated.
"We understand that the Protection of Information Bill must now be passed by the National Council of Provinces. We hope that they will insist on the inclusion of a provision that allows those who report on secret information to plead a public interest defence, which would be determined on a case by case basis by the court in which the journalist is accused of breaching the law. But if they do not, then we hope that you, as President of South Africa, will see to it that this legislation is stopped before it can do any damage to the robust media and democracy that South Africans enjoy today."
IPI is a Vienna-based global network of publishers, editors and journalists dedicated to the furtherance and defence of press freedom around the world.
The bill's adoption comes after months of friction between the media and the ruling African National Congress (ANC), including a complaint against the Mail & Guardian newspaper last week by President Zuma's spokesperson, Mac Maharaj.
Protests against the proposed law were organised last Tuesday in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Soweto and Cape Town. The leading South African newspapers published a joint editorial criticizing it, while opposition parties, human rights organizations and free speech groups urged South Africans to wear black for what they called "Black Tuesday".
When a major demonstration against the bill was held last September in Cape Town, the ANC responded by shelving it temporarily.
Several prominent South Africans have criticized the law, among them Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu, Nobel literature laureate Nadine Gordimer and politicians such as ANC's former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils and Western Cape premier and main opposition leader Helen Zille of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
The law has also been criticised by organisations such as the South African National Editors' Forum and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which on Tuesday said it was unacceptable in its current form.
In 1997, then Republican president Mandela pledged media freedom would never be threatened in South Africa "as long as the ANC is the ruling party".
Labels: ANC, JACOB ZUMA, PRESS FREEDOM
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‘China has a lot of laws on information release'
By Mwala Kalaluka in Beijing, China
Sat 26 Nov. 2011, 11:59 CAT
CHINESE government departments are legally bound to avail information concerning them which the public have a right to know, says a state information officer. And the Chinese government says the supervision of the country's fast-paced Internet technological development will be managed within the confines of the law.
During a Chinese government-organised seminar for information officers from English-speaking countries at Beijing's 21st Century Hotel on Tuesday, deputy director general of the Information Office of the State Council, Hua Quing, said only in exceptional circumstances can information be withheld.
Hua was responding to a question from The Post on whether China had an information law.
"China has a lot of laws and regulations concerning information release, press and publication. Let me cite the two latest ones and the ones which have been given the most attention by the public," he said.
"On May 1st, 2008, we enacted the regulation on the information release of government departments of China. According to that regulation, government departments in China must open the information concerning them which the public have a right to know."
He said this regulation was usually referred to as China's ‘Sunshie Law'.
"For example, according to this regulation, all the laws and regulations adopted by the Chinese Legislature, all the policy measures and actions and decisions and notices taken by government agencies must be released online," Hua said.
"That's to say the citizens have a right to demand the ministry to release the information. If they make such demand, the government agencies have to do accordingly."
He said another information law is the Law of PRC, which concerns the response to incident and emergencies.
"This law stipulates clearly the action and measures the government agencies should take in the wake of incidents and emergencies. The law also stipulates that after each major disaster or incident, the government has to release information," Hua said. "The law stipulates that government agencies and officials shall not conceal information concerning incidents or report partially or report fake information to the public, otherwise they will be held accountable."
He said China had laws that stipulated what category of information should not be availed to the public.
"As you know China is now building a market economy and this year marks the 10th anniversary of China's ascension to the World Trade Organisation and as we are building a market economy we have to play by market rules," said Hua.
"So information regarding market secrets or business secrets should not be released to the public."
Labels: CHINA, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, PRESS FREEDOM
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Support self regulation, IPI urges government
By Chansa Kabwela in Taipei, Taiwan
Tue 27 Sep. 2011, 12:20 CAT
THE International Press Institute has urged the new government of Zambia to support a self regulatory mechanism for the media. And IPI says 82 journalists were killed between January and August this year, a bleak reminder of the continuing perils faced by reporters globally.
Presenting the Director's Report on Media Freedom 2011 on Sunday, IPI director Alison Bethel Mackenzie said the Zambian government should support self regulation and free the public media.
"In Zambia, IPI continues to urge the government to support a self-regulatory mechanism and to free the public media, especially the public broadcaster, from ministerial oversight," Mackenzie said.
She said Uganda's February election was also marred by attacks and reporters there faced excessive use of violence by security forces and political party supporters who acted with impunity while the Ugandan information minister told the BBC that laws would be amended to deal with any journalist who was a so-called "enemy of the state."
She said in Somalia continuing anarchy posed a mortal threat to journalists, who were targeted by militants and caught in the crossfire.
In Sudan, Mackenzie said, security forces confiscated copies of newspapers that reported on attacks on protestors and other sensitive matters, and journalists faced detention and criminal defamation charges.
"In Ethiopia where press freedom has been increasingly limited over the past few years, six journalists have been jailed this year on anti-terror charges. In addition … an editor at the privately-owned Awramba Times was arrested, and Deutsche Welle and Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) both reported that their broadcasts have been jammed," she said.
Mackenzie said 82 journalists had been killed globally of which eight were in Africa.
She said the Middle East and North Africa had been a focus of global political attention owing to the people's uprising, which saw the overthrow of dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
"We have seen remarkable scenes of courageous citizens pursuing democracy at the risk of death, torture and imprisonment. At the same time, though, the region has proven deadly for journalists. In fact, the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists so far this year is Iraq - where nine journalists have been killed in a tragic upsurge in violence toward journalists, according to IPI's Death Watch.
That figure compares to the six colleagues killed in Iraq in the whole of 2010," Mackenzie said. "Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, a total of 24 journalists have been killed, compared with eight in 2010. Although Iraq is the second most dangerous country for journalists this year, many of the remaining journalist deaths in the region were linked to the uprisings."
Mackenzie said governments throughout the region blocked communication particularly social media websites and shut down Internet and disconnected electricity.
She said journalists covering the unrest were subjected to threats, attacks, expulsion, torture and imprisonment on national security charges.
"In Egypt, just before former president Mubarak was forced to resign, dozens of journalists covering the demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere were detained, interrogated, attacked and otherwise prevented from Covering the news.
On the day of Mubarak's exit, a mob sexually assaulted a female CBS correspondent. And things have not gotten better since the change in leadership. There have been serious press freedom setbacks in Egypt since the Supreme Military Council's takeover," she said.
Mackenzie cited Mexico as a dangerous country for journalists who continued to battle with powerful drug gangs and at least 11 scribes had been killed because of their job while journalists in Colombia and were also under threat.
She said certain countries had recorded successes such as the capture in Argentina of the suspected killer of Bolivian journalist Adams Ledesma Valenzuela who was stabbed to death last year.
She said El Salvadore and Dominican Republic had also recorded deaths while Haiti's press freedom was dire, one year after the devastating earthquake.
However, Cuba had released the last of 29 journalists detained during the 2003 "Black Spring" crackdown, but earlier this month denied re-accreditation for a longtime foreign correspondent over his so-called "negative" reporting on the island nation.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Philippines continued to be dangerous for journalists, with 13 deaths recorded in Asia this year.
"Journalists across the Asian continent, notably in China, Burma and North Korea, also faced arrest, torture, imprisonment after unfair trials, harassment, intimidation, censorship, criminal," she said.
Mackenzie said in sub-Saharan Africa, where five journalists had lost their lives so far this year, progress on some fronts was overshadowed by disturbing reports of press freedom violations.
She said while Nigeria became the second country in West Africa, after Liberia, to promulgate a Right to Information Act, Nigerian elections in April were unfortunately accompanied by a number of attacks on journalists.
"In South Africa, the legislature is still considering passage of a Protection of Information Bill to regulate the classification of government information under which harsh penalties for whistleblowers could lead to excessive secrecy. Finally, serious press freedom problems continue to cause concern in Europe," said Mackenzie, while pledging IPI's unwavering support to ensure that journalists globally operated freely.
Labels: IPI, JOURNALISM, PRESS FREEDOM
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Sanctioned Zim scribes: Unworthy victims?
Wednesday, 25 May 2011 20:09
PRESS freedom is often vociferously preached as a core value to democracy and rightly so. What is not commonly explained is what constitutes Press freedom, much as the world is expected to relent to the supremacist view that says such freedom has an exclusive existence in Western communities and that it can only be exported to the lesser communities of this planet.
The media are the quintessential vehicles through which power speaks to the people and it does not matter that such power is enshrined in radicals like Muammar Gaddafi, nationalists like President Robert Mugabe, supreme accommodationists like Kofi Annan or Jacob Zuma; or in remarkable war mongers like George W Bush and his drone-addict and assasinationist successor, Barack Obama.
The importance of the media to power is the reason journalists carry so much relevance in a world where the majority of them are materially in the class of the poor folk; yet they rank among the wealthiest when it comes to fame.
When journalists speak to power, power listens and if the voice of the journalist complies with the interests of power it is very easy for power to acknowledge Press freedom. It is when journalists stand in the way of elitist interests that power retaliates, and often this is when free expression is only guaranteed as freedom of expression and not as freedom after expression.
The European Union as a power centre has been muscling it out against the person of President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party for the past decade and in this fight some journalists from Zimbabwe's state media have been targeted and victimised as "supporters of the Mugabe regime".
Zimpapers' Pikirayi Deketeke, Caesar Zvayi, and Munyaradzi Huni, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's Reuben Barwe and Judith Makwanya, and freelancer Musorowegomo Mukosi are the six journalists that feature on the EU sanctions list, a list that includes about 200 other people that range from politicians, senior civil servants, and spouses of some of these people.
The EU has a running illegal sanctions regime against Zimbabwe and the blatant violation of the UN Charter and international trade laws has not deterred EU members in their resolve to push President Mugabe out of power.
At this year's Press Freedom Day, one of the sanctioned Zimbabwe journalists, Judith Makwanya, confronted the EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe and demanded to know why she and the five others were "convicted" without trial by the EU in the first place.
The Ambassador, Mr Adol Dell'Ariccia replied, "Some journalists were included on the sanctions list because of the role they played presenting news in a specific period that was considered as inciting hate and violence."
He added, ". . . including journalists on the list of people who are on EU restrictions could be considered as a violation of the freedom of the press but the reason was not that because they are journalists, but because of what they were publishing or saying in their work". What the ambassador did not do was explain who considered the news from these journalists as "inciting hate and violence" and of course there is no known evidence of any specific news reports that were used to convict them of this alleged crime.
It is common knowledge that the charge of "inciting hate and violence" has been publicly and continually levelled against the state media by politicians and political activists from Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change - not because there is any evidence to prove this assertion but because the MDC-T does not like the criticism that comes its way from these media units; it being so used to be pampered with unwarranted praises for being a saintly party sworn to excellence and supreme democratic values - when it is not beating its own drum through its own mouthpieces - ever-claiming to be a party of excellence.
Caesar Zvayi suffered a double tragedy of being included on the July 2008 EU sanctions list when he had left the employment of Zimpapers and joined the University of Botswana as a lecturer. Clearly his role as a practising journalist had ceased but that did not stop the vindictive EU from pretending that he was still at Zimpapers.
Zimbabwe National Association of Student Unions (Zinasu); the MDC-T Information Department, then led by Nelson Chamisa, and other MDC-T activists based in Botswana resolved to go after Zvayi's newly found job at the Botswana University, petitioning the university authorities to terminate Zvayi's employment though his lectures were highly subscribed.
These are the same people telling the EU today that Zvayi was and is still guilty of "inciting and hate and violence". How ironic! The UB authorities did not yield to these pressures and Zvayi for a while thought he had the professional protection he needed. He was quite candid when asked by Botswana's television network about allegations that were being levelled against him.
Zvayi said, "I make no apologies for supporting Zanu-PF because I subscribe to its Pan Africanist values." He added, "I will never support the MDC as currently constituted because to me it is a counter-revolutionary Trojan-horse that is working with outsiders to subvert the logical conclusion of Zimbabwe's revolution."
His political opponents then turned out to Botswana's president, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, a very close ally of Morgan Tsvangirai and a publicly known Western point man within Sadc.
Khama obliged by ordering the deportation of Zvayi from Botswana on the 8th of August 2008, the very same way he had ordered the deportation of Professor Kenneth Good in 2005, who was also a lecturer at the same university. He invoked his draconian "Presidential Powers" that are deemed incontestable at law in Botswana.
Professor Good had committed the unforgivable crime of presenting a public lecture that highlighted the lack of internal democracy within the country's governing Botswana Democratic Party, especially the monarch-like way by which Ian Khama left the army to simply take over the country's leadership at the approval of only one man, the outgoing President Festus Mogae, himself appointed by Sir Ketumile Masire who succeeded Iam Khama's father and founding Botswana president, Sir Seretse Khama.
Zvayi obviously got the furious side of Ian Khama for his public utterances against the MDC-T, a party so favoured by the president of a country on whose soil Zvayi happened to make those comments.
So, the victory of immature and rabid political activists from Zinasu, together with the draconian usurping of university autonomy and powers by Ian Khama, were what got publicised by Western media and others as a victory for democracy. And such banality is the measure by which a supposedly civilised and highly conscious EU takes its own decisions.
These rabid MDC-T activists went on a campaign to silence Peter Mavunga in 2008, who was then a columnist for The Herald. They accused him of "propping up the Mugabe regime", whatever that means. Then editor of The Zimbabwe Guardian, otherwise known as talkzimbabwe.com, Itai Garande was also targetted, and like Mavunga stopped running The Herald column. Garande also quit his post.
Lloyd Msipa was also targetted in the UK, and this was because his opinion pieces were viewed as exposing the MDC-T weaknesses and therefore "derailing the journey to democracy" and "delaying democracy". He too largely went silent after the harassments.
This writer was targetted by the same lunatic MDC-T activists and their Western side-kicks in 2007. Like Mavunga, this writer is a columnist for The Herald, and a Pan Africanist whose resolve to defend African independence is enshrined in the slogan "Homeland or death!"
Then, this writer was a student at Macquarie University in Sydney and also working for an arm of a United Nations agency. Both the university and the employer were flooded with hate-filled and character-assassinating e-mails carrying the most horrific of allegations.
It was baselessly claimed that this writer had committed atrocities in Zimbabwe before "fleeing" to Australia; that he had "invaded and occupied" two white owned commercial farms somewhere in Shamva, after "murdering the owners in a chilling way"; that this writer had "trained and commanded militias", who went on to "wantonly rape and kill MDC-T supporters", and that this writer's name was not Reason Wafawarova, but some unnamed son of Didymus Mutasa, then the Minister of State Security in President Mugabe's Government. It was a script designed for The Hague.
Macquarie University and the then Attorney General of Australia, Phil Ruddock; advised the fabricating activists to contact the Commissioner of Australia's Federal Police, and of course the accusers, or is it defamers, were totally disappointed by this move because they knew that the police would require evidence and proof for every allegation. So they temporarily disappeared.
But, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Wendy Carlisle did not disappear at all. She insisted this writer was using a fake name and demanded birth certificates and all forms of identity which this writer provided. She was not convinced and, she went on to carry a defamatory radio show repeating just about all the fabricated allegations that the rabid MDC-T activist were peddling against this writer. She largely used rabid online publications set up by MDC-T activists based in the United Kingdom.
This writer took legal action against Wendy Carlisle's employers and the matter was settled in this writer's favour, albeit out of court. Then the same activist started another campaign directed at the Australian Immigration Minister.
On January 5 2008, this writer received a letter of intention to cancel his right of stay in Australia from the minister. It was the same baseless set of character assassination allegations cited by the same lunatic activists to elicit the minister's unfavourable decision - of course by trying to mislead him through blatant lies. Again, this writer had to resort to another expensive legal process, and yet again this writer had to be saved by the power of the law. At least there was opportunity to do so, unlike in Botswana where Khama is above such laws.
It is quite informing that these horrible ordeals for writers and journalists did not attract any media attention from the mainstream Western media, unlike the fate of one Basilton Peta, who fled Zimbabwe because he claimed to be on a "hit list" compiled by state agents, and that he had "bullets pushed under his door".
Leonard Doyle, an editor of London's The Telegraph described Peta as a "very distinguished journalist" who was a target of "draconian" and "unconstitutional" media laws. The BBC weighed in and declared Peta was a man whose "love of his country and his desire to tell the truth drive him to stick his head above the parapet". This was after Peta fled Zimbabwe in February 2002, claiming that his life was in danger.
In fact, Peta was fleeing the police because he had fabricated a story that he had been arbitrarily arrested and detained by the same police.
London's Times then reported that Peta had admitted to fabricating the story about being jailed overnight in a wretched cell. In fact, Peta had lost his job with the Financial Gazette and he was running to South Africa under pretexts of persecution to gain sympathy and a new job there.
Even after discrediting himself like this, Peta enjoyed a lot of positive coverage from the Western mainstream media and they portrayed him not as a liar and fabricator of falsehoods that he was, and still is, but as a legend in a heroic fight against "the Mugabe regime".
When the BBC's Joseph Winter claimed to have fled Zimbabwe in February 2001 the British Foreign Secretary was quick to point out that "expelling journalists cannot prevent the world from seeing what is happening in Zimbabwe or anywhere else."
Equally, sanctioning Zimbabwean journalists for not writing in support of the MDC cannot prevent the world from seeing the banality of the EU, and its unwarranted meddling in the affairs of Zimbabwe, especially the sponsoring of the MDC-T and the discredited efforts at effecting regime change against the person of President Robert Mugabe.
At that time, Peta commented on the case of Joseph Winter. He said, "What the Government has done is confirm that Zimbabwe is being run by a bunch of tyrants determined to destroy any free voice."
One hopes that those who see a bunch of tyrants in Zimbabwe's governance system do also see another bunch of tyrants in the EU structures, especially if the measure used is the silencing of free voices. There were loud cries of foul play after Andrew Meldrum was deported from Zimbabwe for suspicions of espionage and also alleged fabrication of news reports. The United States, Britain and Sweden led the condemnations against the Government of Zimbabwe.
There were no such harsh condemnations after the US deported an Iraqi journalist from its soil at the beginning of the Iraq invasion. We did not hear these condemnations when the US bombed Iraq's television station, or when they cancelled the accreditation of an independent Al-Jazeera journalist from covering the financial markets because of his station's coverage of the invasion.
Andrew Meldrum was a correspondent for the British's Guardian, a paper which had strong links with the then Prime Minister Tony Blair's New Labour Party, a party that was viewed as rabidly opposed to President Mugabe's government, and also openly determined to topple it.
By the time Meldrum was deported, he had long crossed the lines between journalism and political activism. He was hobnobbing with MDC activists and publicly chanting anti-Government slogans. To many respected journalists in Zimbabwe, Meldrum had become a disgrace. Yet, the coverage that followed his deportation was quite overwhelming, especially from the mainstream Western media.
It is a tradition of Western imperialism to have a propaganda model that consistently portray people abused in enemy states as worthy victims, whereas those treated with equal or greater severity by Western governments or their client states will be unworthy.
The evidence of worth can easily be read from the extent and character of attention and indignation. The West's practical definitions of worth are political in the extreme and fit well the expectations of the Western propaganda model.
While this differential treatment occurs on a large scale, the media, intellectuals, and the public are able to remain unconscious of the fact and maintain a high moral and self-righteous tone. So, we see that there is not much concern about the illegally sanctioned six Zimbabwean journalists and that when some of us continue to be persecuted and haunted there is simply no interest from the selective and biased mainstream media, not until we get persecuted by the West's enemy states.
It is only after the perceived abuse of pliant journalists like Peta and Meldrum that the Western mainstream media focuses on stressing indignation, shock, and demands for justice. There are often quotations or assertions of outrage, indignation, profound shock, and mourning. Demands for justice are made with unparalleled determination.
In the event of the death of a pliant journalist or activist, steady and wholly sympathetic attention is given to demonstrators, mourners, weeping people, work stoppages, protest marches and expressions of outrage; mainly by unofficial sources. The world will have to know who was killed, by whom, for what cause, causing what amount of outrage, and the script is repeated limitlessly.
There is no expectation for such coverage or sympathy for the likes of Judith Makwanya, not because she and her five colleagues have not suffered abuse at the hands of the EU and their persecutors from the lunatic fringe of the MDC-T, but because theirs is a case of unworthiness. They are simply unworthy victims and as such will be condemned to suffer their fate unrecognised.
Africa we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!
Reason Wafawarova is a political writer and can be contacted on reason@rwafawarova.com
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, IAN KHAMA, NEOCOLONIALISM, PRESS FREEDOM, REASON WAFAWAROVA, SANCTIONS
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COMMENT - The West can't ban Zimbabwean journalists and then complain about press freedom in Zimbabwe, or anywhere else. And why do they call the Zimbabwean government's press secretary 'President Robert Mugabe's press secretary'? I guess they call him President Robert Mugabe now, which is a step up from 'Mugabe'. Anyway...
Zimbabwe threatens ban on western journalists
by Deutsche Presse-Agentur
05/05/2011 00:00:00
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's press secretary has threatened to reinstate a ban on Western journalists visiting Zimbabwe. The threat was "retaliation" for Zimbabwean state media journalists being refused entry to Europe, the official Herald newspaper reported.
"(Zimbabwean) journalists are being targeted to stop them from the lawful gathering of news outside Zimbabwe," George Charamba was quoted as saying. "This is seriously an attack on the media."
His comments came after Reuben Barwe, chief correspondent of the country's only television network, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was refused entry to Italy to accompany Mugabe to the Vatican for the beatification of former pope John Paul II.
A power-sharing agreement reached between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in 2009 saw the relaxation of draconian media controls.
Three independent newspapers have been allowed to go to press and the ban on foreign journalists was almost totally lifted. But journalists have continued to be arrested on charges of undermining Mugabe's authority, while Mugabe's Zanu PF party has staunchly refused to sanction new radio and television stations.
Barwe is one of six state media journalists, along with nearly 200 other members of Mugabe's inner circle, who are the subject of sanctions which prevent them from visiting Europe among other things.
Paris-based press watchdog Reporters Without Borders this week named Mugabe a media "predator," writing that it was "thanks to its president that Zimbabwes privately-owned print media are constantly harassed and that the state-owned ZBC has a monopoly of radio and TV broadcasting."
"Mugabe has no problem with the arbitrary arrests and harassment to which most of the country's journalists are exposed," the report added.
[So the answer is to put travel restrictions on members of the Zimbabwean press? How does that support press freedom? - MrK]
Last week, unidentified intruders broke into the offices of the independent NewsDay newspaper and stole editor Brian Mangwende's computer and hard drives.
The incident came days after the newspaper had reported that army commander and Mugabe loyalist Lieutenant General Constantine Chiwenga had had to be flown to China for urgent medical treatment.
Labels: GEORGE CHARAMBA, HYPOCRISY, PRESS FREEDOM
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Ronnie threatens to close several radio stations
By Bright Mukwasa
Wed 27 Apr. 2011, 04:01 CAT
INFORMATION minister Ronnie Shikapwasha has threatened to revoke licences for many radio stations, accusing them of fabricating stories. In an interview during the Intellectual Property Day commemorations yesterday, Lt Gen Shikapwasha also accused radio Yangeni of Mansa in Luapula Province of broadcasting fabricated stories.
He said the government was concerned about the manner in which some radio stations were operating. “That’s why many radio stations may lose their licences,” Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.
He accused Radio Yangeni of broadcasting a false story repeatedly regarding a young lady whose breasts were allegedly mutilated during the riot without disclosing the source, which he alleged amounted to fabrication.
He also said the government was still waiting for Radio Lyambai to submit more recordings of the programmes it used to run prior to its closure for scrutiny before it could decide its fate.
And Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government was loosing huge sums of money due to piracy without mentioning any actual figure. He vowed that the government would crack down on piracy which was having negative effects on intellectual property.
National Arts Council of Zambia chairperson Mulenga Kapwepwe said without the protection of intellectual property there could be no development. She further commended the government for its efforts in fighting piracy.
Labels: CENSORSHIP, PRESS FREEDOM, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA
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Let’s emulate Rwanda on media regulation
By The Post
Wed 06 Apr. 2011, 04:00 CAT
Statutory regulation of the media is a recipe for tyranny. The unregulated voice isn’t as dangerous to the public as is the voice regulated by the government.
The decision by the Rwandan government to abandon statutory regulation of the media and embrace self-regulation is in line with what is happening or what is expected to broaden and not restrict democracy. This is the way every progressive government is moving. And it is difficult to understand why George Kunda and his boss thought they could push the country towards statutory regulation of the media.
Are they so convinced that they are the few chosen ones who should be going where others are coming from to fulfil God’s secret plan to serve us? The fact is, statutory regulation of the media is always linked with tyranny and dictatorship. Any honestly genuine person who still thinks clearly can see that there is a serious problem with George’s attempt to impose statutory regulation of the media on our people.
There is need for all of us to realise that freedom of the press is not just important to our democracy, it is democracy itself.
We hope George and his boss will learn something from the Rwandan experience and totally abandon their ill-conceived idea of introducing statutory regulation of the media in this country. Of course, we know that for now, they have retreated on this issue. But as George himself put it, they have not abandoned the idea, they are ready to come back to it should need be – to put it in George’s words, should the media start insulting them again. But as we have said before, the weaknesses of our media can never be the basis or justification for introducing statutory regulation. George insults others more than the combined media of this country does; George tells more lies than the sum total of the lies told by the Zambian media. In fact, most of the lies that the Zambian media carries are his own lies. George defames more people every day than our media does. And he does this with impunity, sometimes abusing the parliamentary privileges he enjoys to malign and defame others. If it was a question of irresponsibility, George wouldn’t be the Vice-President of our Republic today, he wouldn’t even qualify to be a member of parliament. George has been very irresponsible when it comes to respecting the dignity of others, especially those he considers to be his enemies. George has insulted us; he has told many lies about us. And he knows this very well but he doesn’t care because he considers it politically beneficial to him to insult us and defame us.
As we have stated before, we will never claim that the media in this country always carries out its functions responsibly. And right now, the most irresponsible media in this country is the state- owned and government-controlled media. And this can be seen from the number of successful libel cases against them. The state-owned media in this country is highly regulated and controlled by those in power. But look at the way it conducts its affairs! Is this the route the rest of the Zambian media should take? Should The Post and other media become like the Daily Mail and Times of Zambia which the government controls and directs on a daily basis? The effect of the statutory controls that George and his boss had been trying to impose on the Zambian media would be devastating for good governance and democracy in this country.
But what should the government do in cases where the news media abuse press freedom by publishing stories that in the opinion of those in government and others, are false, insulting, repugnant, irresponsible or simply in bad taste? The answer, by and large, is simple: nothing. It is simply not the business of government to judge such matters. In general, the cure for abused press freedom is more press freedom. It may seem a paradox, but in the name of press freedom, a democracy must sometimes defend the rights of the news media with irresponsible practices. Citizens in a democratic society defend this right out of the conviction that, in the end, open debate will lead to greater truth and wiser public actions than if speech, dissent and press freedom are stifled.
Furthermore, the suppression of the media we find offensive today will be used as an authority to suppress other liberties or freedoms tomorrow – which we or someone else might find offensive. All people are harmed when the news media is regulated by the government. If the media being suppressed through statutory regulation is right in what it is doing, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. On the other hand, if it is wrong, they lose the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error.
And as we have stated before, press freedom is a right or liberty that cannot be earned by conduct. As such, it is difficult for us to understand George’s reasoning when he says that they have for now backed off from statutory regulation because the media has stopped insulting and they will introduce statutory regulation if it starts insulting. This is tantamount to saying the news media will enjoy press freedom and self-regulation when it is worth of it; when it is more “responsible”. Press freedom is a right that does not need to be earned. If the conduct that accompanies it is unacceptable and wanting at law or otherwise, those responsible should be liable to the extent of their abuses of that right. A mere fact that press freedom is accompanied by conduct should not mean that it should be suppressed under the guise of prohibiting the conduct. And at the risk of being boring and monotonous to our readers, we conclude with a quote from Nelson Mandela on this score: “None of our irritations with the perceived inadequacies of the media should ever allow us to even suggest faintly that the independence of the press could be compromised or coerced.”
Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, PRESS FREEDOM, REGULATION
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