US embassy cable - 05HARARE684

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000684 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR B/IIP; ECA/PE/V/P LOCKWOOD, THOMPSON; ECA/PE/V/G/A 
REED; INFO AF/PD DALTON, IIP/SC/IPI LEVANTHAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, OEXC, SCUL, ZI, Media and Communications 
SUBJECT: RESULTS REPORT: TPC ON PRESS FREEDOM 
 
1.  DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: In commemoration of World Press 
Freedom Day, PAS Harare organized a telepress conference 
(TPC) to stimulate discussion on what it means to have a 
free and responsible media, what it means to have a healthy 
working relationship between the government and media, and 
how media can enhance self-regulation and ethics. 
 
2.  MAY 3, 2005, SECOND QUARTER, FY 2005. 
 
3.  JUSTIFICATION AND OBJECTIVE: To celebrate World Press 
Freedom Day and to support Zimbabwean journalists in their 
quest to create more working space for journalists either by 
relief from stringent media laws, such as the Access to 
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), or by 
creating an environment where the GOZ no longer selectively 
enforces those laws to intimidate the media resulting in 
widespread self-censorship. 
 
4. MPP THEME AND AUDIENCE: Democracy and Human Rights; 
Public Diplomacy. 
 
5.  AUDIENCE: More than 70 local journalists drawn from the 
privately owned media and the government-controlled print 
and electronic media packed the PAS auditorium to listen to 
and report on the TPC program that linked Harare, 
Johannesburg and Washington via a telephone hook up.  The 
program featured John Ullmann, executive director of the 
World Press Institute (WPI); Ms. Marguerite Sullivan, author 
of  "A Responsible Press Office;" PAO Smith as moderator in 
Harare with Mr. Foster Dongozi, Secretary General of the 
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) and Mr. Rashweat Mukundu 
of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe. 
Daniel Molokela, Human Rights Lawyer, and the Guardian (UK) 
newspaper correspondent Andrew Meldrum, who had been 
expelled by the Mugabe government joined from Johannesburg, 
South Africa. 
 
6.  The exchange ran for one and half hours and had to be 
ended to allow the journalists to attend a meeting with the 
Attorney General at ZUJ headquarters.  All local media and 
correspondents, including South African Broadcasting 
Corporation Television and the state-run Zimbabwe Television 
Newsnet crew, covered the program.  Post is duplicating 
audiotapes to send to Zimbabwean journalists in South Africa 
and the United Kingdom who have already phoned or e-mailed 
Post for copies of the program. 
 
7.  5.    RESULT/IMPACT: Our high expectations were fully 
realized.  Ullmann and Sullivan's messages were well 
received.  By exploring examples of both good practice and 
common errors, the U.S. panelists mapped out a course for 
press freedom, saying it requires carefully crafted and 
thoroughly debated public policies that provide the 
foundation for a pluralistic free press.  Ullmann and 
Sullivan advocated a more democratic media system that 
allows diversity of opinion, adding that this, in turn, will 
lead to a more participatory and accountable government and 
to more sustainable national policies and practices. 
 
Without such policies, democracy and even efficient 
governance becomes close to impossible. 
8.  PAS distributed more than 50 copies of "The Unfettered 
Press" handbook, as well as 25 copies of Ms. Sullivan's book 
"A Responsible Press Office."  Many journalists also signed 
up to receive copies of the 2004 "Country Reports on Human 
Rights Practices."  Post received a round of kudos for 
organizing "a stimulating program."   Journalists expressed 
appreciation for the program, which several called 
"stimulating." ed the attention and tThey also expressed 
appreciation for  realization that there is the 
international concern about their well being. Dongozi of ZUJ 
told us that the Embassy, by soliciting GOZ participation in 
a press freedom program, finessed the Attorney General into 
a position where he had no choice but to meet with 
journalists.  Furthermore, he and Mukundu said believe that 
combined pressure from their organizations and the Embassy 
led to a series of articles in the State-run media 
attempting to justify the Information Access to Information 
and Protection of Privacy Act (IAPPA) and its enforcement. 
They were happy to see the Government addressing issues and 
forced - if only momentarily - to cease ad hominem name- 
calling. 
 
9.  PRESS COVERAGE:  Separate reports to follow on TPC 
coverage and the political status of the media in the 
environment after the March 31 parliamentary elections. 
 
10.  NON-USG SUPPORT: We are very grateful to the Mail and 
Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa for giving 
up its boardroom for the TPC program. 
 
11.  QUALITY OF SUPPORT: EXCELLENT.  Kudos to Jenifer 
Bochner and IIP for an excellent program. WWhile Ullman had 
excellent advice on how working journalists might carve out 
areas in which they can do objective investigative 
reporting, we were disappointed with his criticism of the 
that he twice obfuscated on the effects of the Patriot Act's 
effect  on press freedom in the U.S.  His apparent pre- 
disposition to see any regulation as hampering reporting, 
His comments allowed many Zimbabwean journalists to leave 
the program believing that the Patriot Act has eliminated or 
greatly restricted press freedom in the U.S., as the ZANU-PF 
and GOZ very often claim in their attempts to show moral 
equivalency on the issue.  Because of this misperception, we 
appreciate any good counter-arguments on this issue, perhaps 
from Todd Leventhal's shop, IIP/SC/IPI, or other colleagues 
who have run into the problem. 
 
DELL