Zimbabwe has biggest number of journalists in exile

HARARE - Zimbabwe currently tops the list of countries that have forced the largest number of journalists into exile, according to a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The report released last week showed that 48 Zimbabwean journalists had escaped persecution by the government between July 2001 and this month.

This accounts for about 20 percent of the total global number of scribes forced to flee their countries in the past six years.

"The 243 journalists surveyed by CPJ came from 36 countries, with more than half hailing from just five: Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Colombia, and Uzbekistan," explained the CPJ report.

Sixty percent were from African countries, where porous borders and harsh press freedom conditions contributed to a steady exodus of journalists.

The main destination countries for the exiled Zimbabwean scribes were Botswana, Canada, Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Zambia.

Other countries cited in the CPJ report as having a large number of journalists in exile were Haiti, Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Gambia and Iran.

Most of the journalists cited death threats, likelihood of imprisonment and harassment as reasons for escaping from their countries.

Zimbabwe has some of the toughest media laws in the world. For example, the government’s Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act requires journalists to obtain licences from the government’s Media and Information Commission in order to practise in Zimbabwe.

The commission can withdraw licences from journalists who fail to conform. Journalists caught practising without a licence are reliable to a two-year jail term under AIPPA.

Besides journalists being required to obtain licences, newspaper companies are also required to register with the state commission with those failing to do so facing closure and seizure of their equipment by the police.

The Public Order and Security Act imposes up to two years in jail on journalists found guilty of publishing falsehoods that may cause public alarm and despondency, while another law, the Criminal Codification Act, imposes up to 20 years in jail on journalists convicted of denigrating President Robert Mugabe in their articles.

At least four independent newspapers including the country’s biggest circulating daily, The Daily News, were shut down over the past four years for breaching government media laws. Close to 100 journalists were also arrested by the police over the same period. - ZimOnline