Media watchdog welcomes court case against public broadcaster

In a statement e-mailed to IRIN on Thursday, Zimbabwe’s Media Monitoring Project (MMPZ) said it supported The National Development Association’s (NDA) reported decision to take the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to the High Court to have its live phone-in television programme “Talk to the Nation” reinstated. The programme pitted an opposition parliamentarian against a government law maker for the first time and was widely applauded as a contribution to free and fair public debate on economic issues. It was unilaterally switched off by the ZBC on 5 July, 2001.

The state-run ‘Herald’ reported that the NDA filed papers with the High Court on Tuesday, in which the ZBC is the first respondent. Minister of State Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo is the second respondent. The MMPZ said it welcomed any effort from any quarter to force the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) to broadcast a more balanced, fair and diverse opinion than the diet of government propaganda it currently delivers to its audiences.

The NDA contends that the act was an infringement of the public’s right to freedom of expression. “By cancelling the programme, first and second respondent are in the applicant’s view, denying members of the public their constitutional right to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, bearing in mind that the first respondent is a public institution established primarily to serve the public.” The MMPZ pointed out that this was the third NDA programme to be aired but only the first in which some form of political balance was reflected in the panellists.