More teeth for 'already bad press law' - MISA

New amendments to Zimbabwe's press laws, including penalties of up to two years in jail for unaccredited journalists, have been slammed by the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA). Rashweat Mukundu, acting national director of MISA Zimbabwe, told IRIN on Wednesday that the newly passed Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) Amendment Bill "added further repressive clauses to an already bad law". The new legislation calls for a penalty of up to two years in jail or a fine of Zim $200,000 (US $35.50), or both, for journalists caught working without accreditation from the state appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC). The official Herald newspaper quoted Information and Publicity Minister of State Jonathan Moyo as saying that the penalties stipulated in the amendment were not unique to Zimbabwe "but was the norm worldwide", and that "irresponsible journalism" could be used to undermine Zimbabwe's sovereignty. The Amendment Bill scraps an earlier requirement that nominations for MIC commissioners should come from both the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), and an association of media houses. As no nominations for commissioners were made by media houses, the MIC was at risk of having its decisions on the registration and de-registration of journalists and newspapers invalidated, Mukundu explained. "So the minister [Moyo,] is giving the commission a new lease on life by doing away with that illegality," Mukundu added. According to news reports, opposition lawmakers had complained that the ZUJ was dominated by journalists from the official media. With regard to the new penalties for journalists working without MIC accreditation, Mukundu said it was a clear indication of the lengths to which the state would go "to intimidate independent journalists". "Such repressive legislation is meant to target those independent journalists not accredited by the MIC. If you are denied accreditation, it means you cannot work as a journalist and feed your family - if you are caught, you go to prison. We have a number of freelance journalists writing for local and foreign media organisations, and this [act] does away with that. We've had three papers closed down since last year, and we have hundreds of journalists out on the streets," Mukundu commented. The penalty provisions also extend to licensed journalists who contravene the terms of their MIC accreditation. "Local journalists are accredited only to work for a certain media house - even as a freelancer you have to say who you will be writing for [in your application for accreditation]. Yet most journalists in newsrooms do freelance work for other media, either locally or internationally, and the new clauses mean they could face two years in jail," Mukundu said. The original AIPPA made it illegal for foreign journalists to work in Zimbabwe. Foreign media houses operating in Zimbabwe thus relied on local journalists.