Media Council Launched In Harare

Journalists gathered in Harare yesterday to launch the first-ever voluntary media council in Zimbabwe.
The body, known as the Media Council of Zimbabwe, seeks to regulate journalists and media houses on a voluntary basis.
The council will in the long term replace the government appointed Media and Information Commission which has shut four independent newspapers since the promulgation of the Access to Infomation and Protection of Privacy Act in March 2002. A number of journalists have been arrested and charged for violations of the draconian law.
The launch of the MCZ marked an important milestone in the defence and promotion of media freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.