Media accused of incitement

The latest report by Zimbabwe's independent Media Monitoring Project (MMPZ) warns of declining standards in political reporting by the public media. "Where once they might have been described as biased they now function as little more than propagandists," the update said.

"The public media on occasions crossed the line from inadequate reporting into near-incitement. On 12 April, for example, a television report alleging (opposition) MDC violence carried irrelevant pictures of the liberation struggle showing white Rhodesian soldiers handling the dead bodies of black
Zimbabweans," it said. It also listed examples of allegedly inaccurate stories, a lack of analysis of the unfolding political crisis, while "anti-MDC items" are reported "with gusto". As one example of skewered reporting, the MMPZ said the killing of two MDC officials at the weekend in a petrol bomb attack "merited 10 seconds" on the television news.

Meanwhile, the journalist watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) has
written to Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa to express concern at the
"deterioration in press freedom" and to urge him to ensure "that journalists
can work freely and safely in Zimbabwe". RSF said that journalists have been
"physically or verbally attacked" by government supporters in the conduct of
their duties.