US embassy cable - 02HARARE1049

UNCLAS HARARE 001049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/PD FOR COX AND ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT AND 
SCHLACHTER, AF/RA FOR DIPALMA, INR/R/MR, NSC JENDAYI 
FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ZI, PREL, PHUM 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT PRIVATE PRESS UNDER SIEGE; HARARE 
 
1.   Under headline "State wants to save its media by 
   killing the private Press," the independent daily "The 
   Daily News" dedicated its May 1 editorial to 
   criticizing Information Minister Jonathan Moyo.  Moyo 
   recently warned parastatal institutions that they 
   should not place advertisements in the independent 
   press. Excerpts: 
 
2.   "The threat by a government minister to 
   parastatals to stop advertising in 'The Daily News' 
   is an act of desperation, designed to force these 
   companies to direct all their business to the loss- 
   making government-controlled media houses, in order 
   to save them from bankruptcy.  The government is 
   aware that their own media operations cannot 
   compete fairly for business on the market, hence 
   the directive.  But this is a worn-out strategy 
   often resorted to by those intolerant to critical 
   or alternative views. 
 
   ". . .The statement by the minister that 'The Daily 
   News' is bent on the destruction of this country is 
   utter balderdash.  It can only be made by someone 
   who assumes they have a monopoly on patriotism. 
   What it, however, indicates is the government's 
   frustration with its efforts to silence, once and 
   for all, alternative and critical voices. . ." 
 
SULLIVAN