Journalists to pay through the nose
January 5, 2009
George Charamba: Journalists quoting Mugabe out of context.
By Our Correspondent
HARARE – Foreign correspondents based in Harare and local journalists filing for foreign news organisations will now have to pay through the nose to be able to report.
The government has announced restrictive new licensing fees for journalists working for foreign media and foreign news bureaus, with authorities demanding a staggering US$4 000 to practice journalism in Zimbabwe for one year.
The announcement was made hardly a month after the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Publicity, George Charamba, threatened to ban foreign news bureaus in Zimbabwe after accusing them of quoting President Robert Mugabe out of context following his remarks that the country had “arrested” the cholera outbreak which has killed over 1 600 so far and continues to claim more casualties.
Charamba charged in an interview broadcast on State television on December 12 that Zimbabwe had no need to accredit the foreign news agencies as required under the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP), BBC, Associated Press (AP), France 24 International and Al Jazeera were singled out as being guilty of “reducing local reporters to mere runners”. Charamba accused them of “playing God with copy” on Zimbabwe, “in the process rubbishing the letter and spirit of AIPPA”.
“There has to be a robust response,” Charamba declared.
And that response was evident in the accreditation fees gazetted yesterday for journalists working for foreign news media.
A journalist must first pay to register with the government as a member of the press, and must then pay another fee to become accredited to work. The new regulations are expected to put enormous financial strain on independent media outlets, which must now pay to register and accredit every journalist on their staff.
Media organizations must pay an application fee to register with the government. Once the applications have been accepted, news outlets must pay another fee to be accredited.
* Zimbabwean journalists must pay Z$1 million and Z$3 million for an application and one-year accreditation, respectively.
* Local free-lance journalists must pay Z$1, 5 million for one-year accreditation.
* Local journalists working for foreign media organizations must pay US$1 000 and US$3 000 for an application and one-year accreditation, respectively.
* Foreign journalists intending to work temporarily in Zimbabwe are required to pay US$500 and US$1 000 for application and accreditation, respectively.
* Local media owners must pay an application fee of Z$5 billion and an accreditation fee of Z$20 billion.
* Foreign media houses must pay US$10 000 for the application and US$20 000 for accreditation, payable only in foreign currency. There is also a complimentary permit administration fee pegged at US$2 000.
For local journalists working for local media, the penalty for late renewal of accreditation will be Z$100 000 per day while the penalty for late renewal for registration has been pegged at Z$500 000 per day.
Curiously, the exorbitant accreditation fees fly in the face of amendments made to AIPPA in January last year removing the requirement for journalists to obtain press cards.
In terms of the amendments, the government will reconstitute the Media and Information Commission (MIC), the licensing authority, whose name will change to the Zimbabwe Media Commission. However, these changes can only come into effect after the formation of a new all-inclusive government and were part of agreements reached by political parties during last year’s power-sharing talks.
The commission will consist of a chairperson and eight other members appointed by President Mugabe from a list of not fewer than 12 nominees submitted by the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders.
The commissioners will be chosen on the basis of their experience in the media.
The commission will then establish a Media Council, which will be responsible for developing and enforcing a code of conduct and ethics to be observed by journalists and mass media services.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission will choose one of its members to chair the Media council. Two representatives of an association of accredited journalists nominated by one or more associations of journalists that, in the opinion of the commission, are representative of journalists and are appointed by the commission will be part of the commission.
Other representatives in the council will be from associations of publishers, advertisers or advertising agencies, representatives of mass media trainers, churches, businesspeople, trade unions, women’s groups, youth groups and two lawyers, one practising and another teaching law at a tertiary institution.
A new clause in AIPPA specifies more clearly what privileges accrue to accredited journalists and simplify the procedure of accrediting journalists.
Two more clauses will extend the period of registration of mass media services from two to five years and mitigate the rule that Zimbabweans alone must wholly own or control mass media services.
Although one of the commission’s stated objectives is “to foster freedom of expression in Zimbabwe,” the group is also endowed with enormous powers to control, license, and accredit journalists and can refuse to register newspapers and members of the media.
Under the current dispensation, accreditation of media organizations is valid for two years. Journalists, who need only register once, must reapply for accreditation once a year.
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“Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP), BBC, Associated Press (AP), France 24 International and Al Jazeera were singled out as being guilty of “reducing local reporters to mere runners”. Charamba accused them of “playing God with copy” on Zimbabwe, “in the process rubbishing the letter and spirit of AIPPA”.
I have no idea of what is talking about here. What I sense, is that the permanent secretary, not having ever worked as a journalist himself, has no clue as to how the world of news gathering and dissemination works.
There is no law which dictates that foreign news organisations should employ local journalists. In the case where they do, their is no law which states that copy by the local reporters should not be edited by the desk. Above all, news is seasonal. Foreign journalists come and go depending on the interest of their media on the events of the country.
There is no need to license journalists. Its like seeking to license witness to events, because at the end the day, that is what journalism is all about, reporting on events that one has witnessed ( although some might dispute that journalism in a branch of political activism.
This is one miguided policy by government, and its a pity that jouirnalists in Zimbabwe have failed to unite and challenge this licensing system.
This can only be described as rank madness. Charamba is one person who, when his time is up, will look back and say, “I was in charge.”. The mean spiritedness of this guy knows no bounds.
lf this has been agreed by all parties during talks, why is it being written like its Zanu Pf and Charamba who have come up with the idea and implemented it on their own?
Nehoreka!
This issue should be a matter for political parties. It is between government and the media practitioners. The failure to achieve some goals by some sectors in Zimbabwe is because most seem to be waiting for he MDC to undo everything.
Where is ZUJ, the publishers and the freelancers in this.
This is an industrail matter and should be deatl with at that level.
Both Charamba and Mahoso never worked in a newsroom (at least it does not appear so)
what a meaningless zimbabwe!
This is one of the many oppressive practices of a regime that has a lot to hide. Zimbabweans are suffering unnecessarily. The end of this madness is however very near, by God’s grace.
Nehoreka never misses a chance to advertise his ignorance. The parties in fact agreed to ease restrictions. As the article says, “the exorbitant fees fly in the face of amendments to AIPPA…”
It is however understandable that the regime should seek to continue to muzzle the press. Charamba is spokesperson for the most incompetent president the world has ever seen. No other country has children who play in raw sewage all day long. We have the highest inflation in the world, hospitals have shut down, we cannot feed ourselves, children do not go to school anymore….Who in their right mind would want a story of unparalleled incompetence, corruption, greed excessive human rights violations and a government which celebrates failure as if it were success to be out in the open?
The country is being run by a cabal which includes criminals presiding over the fastest shrinking economy in the world. They can only continue their ruinous path under cover of “darkness”.
George CHARAMBA is one with his master – very deeply disturbed individuals ! I may forgive Robert Mugabe because of his advanced age and the many diseases that ravage both mind and body at that senile age – but for this young man, I have to scratch the bottom of the barrel to find an iota of an excuse for his irrational and absurd behaviour !
Why do they both seek to gag, muzzle and silence the news media at a time when a lot of pertinent debate is going on concerning the direction and content of political governance in Zimbabwe ? Will that sweep away the deeply rooted problems ? Will it suddenly result in a genuine national leadership that is responsive to the needs of the electorate ? Only sick and ill minds can do this !! Who earns the equivalent of US$100-00 per month in Zimbabwe today ? Who except the fat and pampered foxes who dine with Robert Mugabe ? So where do they expect a struggling lowly paid local Juornalist to find that ridiculous amount of money ? I think the practising juornos must not take this laying down ! Do something and fast !