US embassy cable - 02HARARE1533

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001533 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEP FOR AF/S, AF/PD, AF/RA 
 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, ZI, Media and Communications 
SUBJECT: NEW MEDIA LICENSING REQUIREMENTS - ANOTHER MEANS 
OF CONTROL 
 
 
1.  Summary:  On June 15 the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) 
published new media registration and licensing regulations. 
The new regulations are mandated under the controversial 
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 
(AIPPA).  AIPPA became law on March 15, 2002 and has since 
gained international notoriety for its use exclusively 
against journalists working for the privately owned and 
international media.  The GoZ has used AIPPA's prohibition 
on "publishing falsehoods" to arrest 11 journalists on 21 
different charges in the last 6 weeks.  In our analysis, 
the new media licensing requirements give GoZ policy makers 
a new and more powerful weapon in their campaign to control 
all media operating in Zimbabwe.  This cable offers an 
overview of the main features of the new regulations and 
how they will increase GoZ ability to control the media. 
 
 
------------------------ 
Implementation Not Clear 
------------------------ 
2.  When and how the media must comply with the new 
licensing and accreditation requirements is unclear and 
makes media vulnerable to sudden closure.  AIPPA provided 
for the establishment of a Media Commission to oversee all 
licensing and accreditation issues.  Last week Media 
Commission Chairman Tafataona Mahoso said that media 
organizations and journalists working before June 16 could 
continue to work under existing company registration and 
accreditation.  However, the extraordinary Government 
gazette published on June 15 (in which the fee structures 
were announced) is vague on when journalists and media 
organizations must apply.  It says only that the Commission 
must act on applications within 60 days of receipt and that 
media in existence before June 16 may continue to work 
until their applications have been acted upon.  This leaves 
open the possibility that the GoZ could order police to 
close any media organization and arrest any journalist who 
has failed to file an application for license or 
accreditation by COB on June 17.  Given that the Commission 
has not yet worked out all the bureaucratic details, sudden 
closure of media organizations may be unlikely, but the 
privately owned and international media believe they are 
vulnerable to GoZ whim. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Demands for Sensitive Corporate Information 
------------------------------------------- 
3.  The application procedure demands that media license 
applications be submitted with detailed and sensitive 
corporate information.  The required information includes 
market analyses, information about the organization's 
financial backers, business plans, projected 3-year 
earnings or losses, and the professional history of the 
organization's leaders.  Clearly, this is not information a 
business would chose to give its competitors.  Nonetheless, 
this requirement forces the privately owned media to 
provide this sensitive proprietary information to the 
government, which is, in essence, the competition. 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
High Application and Registration Fees 
-------------------------------------- 
4. The sums being asked for application and registration 
fees are very high.  Local media organizations have to come 
up with Z$20,000 to apply for a license and Z$500,000 if 
they get one.  This is not a problem for state-owned media 
since they are able to rely on the government for funding, 
but is a significant amount to Zimbabwe's privately owned 
newspapers.  International media are hit even harder.  For 
example, to maintain their bureaus in Harare, Associated 
Press and Reuters will each have to pay a US$2,000 
application fee and US$10,000 for a license, if one is 
granted.  AP and Reuters are not sanguine that they will be 
issued licenses and are not sure that, even if they do get 
licenses, they are willing to pay the US$10,000 license 
fee.  We believe the GoZ would be delighted if the wire 
services chose to move their operations rather than 
acquiesce to a questionable law and pay these high fees. 
Individual reporters will also be affected.  The next time 
a reporter from the New York Times or Washington Post wants 
to visit Zimbabwe, they will be asked for a US$100 
application fee and US$500 for the accreditation, if it is 
granted.  These exorbitant accreditation fees are certain 
to diminish the number of journalists considering a 
reporting trip to Zimbabwe.  This result fits neatly in the 
GoZ's recent record of refusing media visas to 
international reporters. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Selective Application of the Law 
-------------------------------- 
5. AIPPA was signed into law in mid March.  Since then, 11 
journalists (10 Zimbabweans and 1 American) have been 
charged with 21 violations of the law.  All of the 
journalists charged have been from either the privately 
owned or international media.  Since AIPPA became law, 
government owned newspapers have published many false 
stories but not a single state-controlled journalist has 
been arrested. 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Freedom of the Media Viewed as a Danger 
--------------------------------------- 
6.   The chairman of the Media Commission believes that an 
    unfettered press is a bad idea.  Chairman Mahoso revealed 
    some of the philosophical underpinnings of AIPPA and the 
    aims of the Media Commission in an opinion piece he wrote 
    for the June 16 government-owned "Sunday Mail."  The 
    article was entitled "Neo-Colonial Media Seeks to Undermine 
    African Morale."  In this piece, Chairman Mahoso argues 
    that if the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, then the 
    media must be more tightly controlled than weapons.  He 
    writes:  "...African nations are waking up to the fresh 
    need to own, manage and make accountable at least those 
    mass media based within their own borders.  These media, 
    for the most part, have been employing foreign-borrowed 
    frames of free-flow of information, transparency and press 
    freedom in order to censor African history and to undermine 
    African morale."  In this and earlier articles, Chairman 
    Mahoso makes clear that he believes the media must be 
    tightly regulated.  Chairman Mahoso's boss, Information 
    Minister Jonathan Moyo, offered these thoughts at a June 
    15/16 media training workshop in Zimbabwe: "The greatest 
    challenge to any media organization is globalization.  It 
    comes with several notions, such as the need for 
    transparency and good governance, among others.  Media 
    organizations should question some of the notions and 
    verify whether they are par to (sic) the country's point of 
    view or priorities for the country" (government-owned 
    "Herald" June 18, 2002). 
 
    -------------- 
    A Ray of Hope? 
    -------------- 
    7.  The Foreign Correspondents Association in Zimbabwe 
    has filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of 
    AIPPA.  Although a High Court Judge ruled in May that 
    the suit was not urgent (because, according to the 
    judge, "the law does not immediately threaten 
    journalists' ability to practice their profession"), 
    the case will eventually be heard.  While no one is 
    overly optimistic that the case will receive a fair 
    hearing, the suit does offer a small ray of hope that 
    the law could be declared a violation of the 
    constitutional right to freedom of expression.  The 
    newly formed Zimbabwe National Editors Forum also 
    intends to challenge AIPPA in the courts.  These two 
    legal challenges may, at the very least, delay the 
    GoZ's ability to exercise complete control over all of 
    Zimbabwe's media. 
 
SULLIVAN