Zimbabwe reporters need licences

ZIMBABWE’S highest court threw out a constitutional challenge to the country’s sweeping media laws yesterday, making it now a criminal offence to work as a journalist without a licence.

The ruling immediately put the only independent daily newspaper, which is not licensed, at risk of being shut and having journalists working on today’s edition arrested.

The Supreme Court ruling put journalists under the direct control of the government with a penalty of up to two years in jail for infringements of laws enforced by the Information Ministry and the state-appointed media commission, said attorney Sternford Moyo, representing the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe.

The Access to Information Act requires journalists to be licensed by the state Media and Information Commission. Those working without a licence face arrest, trial and jail without the option of appealing on constitutional grounds.

The Supreme Court on November 21, 2002, heard the challenge by the Independent Journalists Association that argued the media laws violated constitutional rights of free expression.

Mr Moyo said yesterday’s ruling upheld the role of the state commission. The court ruled “the practice of journalism was of fundamental importance in a democratic society but this should not place journalists outside regulatory control”, Mr Moyo said.