Friday, February 16, 2007

Are The Chickens Finally Coming Home To Roost

The past few weeks since the beginning of this year, show that 2007, is certainly going to be an interesting year.

Indications are that the people of Zimbabwe, are not only angry but have become a bit more agitated and restless.

For journalists, this is going to be an exciting period in their careers. But also also a dangerous one. The Mugabe regime is known for reacting more viciously when it feels it is being cornered.

However the Co-ordinator of the Zim Journalists Arise, urges Journalists to not only keep safe, but also to be cautious in blindly cheerleading pro-democracy groups. Although journalists are not activists, we urge journalists to continue to criticise these groups, challenge them and hold them accountable to their promises. That way no-one group becomes complacent.

A speacial mention goes to Progressive Teachers Union, secretary general Raymond Majongwe for a job well done. With more Majongwe's Zimbabwe will soon be a free country again.

Happy and Safe Reporting.
Tsvangirai Rally In Chiredzi Ahead Of Weekend Elections

By Gerry Whitehead
(Lowveld News)

The MDC rally was held at Dorman Long Township near the Hippo Valley Estates mill not Dumisa Township as I had reported yesterday.
Morgan Tsvangarai arrived late from a morning rally that the party had organized at Chikombedzi; some 150 km away on some of the worst roads in Africa (No feed back on this rally yet)

No sooner had Morgan arrived 10 police officers also arrived in a L/Rover which I had seen parked near the mill an hour before. (Obviously waiting for word of Morgan’s arrival.) The police spoke to Mishek Marava (The shadow MP for the MDC Zaka East) who went over and spoke to Morgan obviously to tell him that he was out of time for his meeting. (This was confirmed later)
Morgan ignored this and managed to give a 15 minute speech where he described the hardships that the ZANU PF Government had caused the people and the only way out was to vote for the MDC. He never once mentioned the break away faction and ended by daring the police to arrest them, telling them that he was ready for this if they did try.

The rally ended with a prayer by Elias Mudzuri (The suspended mayor of Harare) who finished with “we hope that GOD will give the police some new boots.” This did bring out a roar of laughter from the crowed including the police. (All the MDC rallies that I have been to have started and ended with a Prayer)

The rally I feel was a disappointment as there were only about 80 people there and they seemed to be very subdued and Morgan did not have enough time to get his full message across.
The good news though, is that on the way to and from the rally I was greeted with the MDC’s hand signal many times, in fact for the last 3 to 4 months I have noted an increase of these signals, not once in the last 12 months have I seen a ZANU PF fist signal directed at me. I have found the people in the communal areas very friendly but always begging for a hand out. However this is very different on the occupied farms, there a white person would be in grave danger, this is where Mugabe’s supporters are located.
Mugabe in just 27 years has turned this country into a land of dying people, thieves and beggars.

There is no doubt in my mind that sooner or later the economics in this country will trigger mass action, hopefully the leadership in the MDC will be ready for this.
Private Radio Stations No Longer Broadcasting, Martial Law Declared In Guinea

By International Federation of Journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the authorities in Guinea to stop terrorising media after recent attacks on radio stations that took place even before the government's declaration of martial law yesterday evening.

Before martial law was declared yesterday, soldiers arrested two
employees of a radio station and raided two stations and demanded that they stop broadcasting. Currently no private radio stations are broadcastingin the country, either because they have been shut down or are afraid of military attacks.

"We are calling on the Guinean authorities for the immediate and
unconditional release of two FM Liberté employees," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office. "We denounce this terror in the mediainstituted by the state of siege and invite President Conté to put an end to it without delay so that the journalists can work with complete freedom and in full safety."

Yesterday soldiers attacked FM Liberté, one of the four new private
radios stations in Guinea. The soldiers destroyed some equipment before arresting journalist Mohamed Tondon Camara and technician David Camara.

The attack followed a phone-in programme during which the listeners
asked for the departure of President Lansana Conté.

Similar programming, according to sources, prompted soldiers to raid another private radio station, Familia FM, and demanded it stop broadcasting. Fearing that they will also be attacked, the two other private radio stations in Guinea have decided to shut down.

Yesterday evening President Conté declared martial law and said the
country was in a "state of siege" after unions called a general strike and more than 10 people were killed. According to the President's decree,the military authority "is entitled to take suitable measures to ensure the control of the press and publications of any nature, as well as radio or television broadcasted programmes."

The army also has the authority to control postal, telegraphic and telephone correspondence.

The IFJ fears for the safety of local journalists and correspondents for international media in Guinea, some of whom are now in hiding because they fear they will be attacked. Reporting in the field also presents enormous risks for them. One was already injured during demonstrationsin Guinea in January when someone threw a rock at a car carrying journalists.
Two US journalists Avoid Prison After Source Turns Self In

By Reporters Without Borders

Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, of the daily "San Francisco Chronicle", threatened with imprisonment by a federal court for refusing to reveal their source of information in a sports drugs scandal, are unlikely to goto jail after all.

But the Reporter Without Borders said this conclusion did not resolve the root of the problem, since the source had effectively turned himself in and pleaded guilty.

"If the lawyer Troy Ellerman had not admitted to giving information to Williams and Fainaru-Wada, the prison sentence imposed in the lower court for "contempt of court" would likely have been upheld on appeal on 7 March 2007," the organisation said. "This is a happy outcome for the journalists but is in no way a victory for press freedom and protection of sources."

Williams and Fainaru-Wada reported in the "San Francisco Chronicle" in 2004 on a federal grand jury investigation into drug-taking in the sports world, implicating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). The journalists had obtained a copy of testimony by three baseball players and one athlete accused of taking steroids allegedly provided by BALCO.

Ordered to reveal the source of the investigation leak, the two
journalists cited the right to protect their sources, which is recognised in 33 states, but not at the federal level. On 15 August, federal judge Jeffrey White sentenced them both to 18 months in prison for "contempt of court", the maximum penalty. Their lawyers immediately appealed.

Their appeal was frequently adjourned but finally set for 7 March 2007.

In the meantime, on 14 February, Troy Ellerman, one of the a lawyers for the accused sports figures, admitted that he had given the journalists his clients' statements and said he would plead guilty to "contempt of court", "obstructing justice" and "breaking an oath", offences considered federal crimes. Ellerman faces two years in prison and a US$250,000 fine, if the judge accepts the deal.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on 19 January had pleaded the case of the two journalists in a letter to the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, repeating her support for a federal law guaranteeing journalists the right to protect their sources.

Reporters Without Borders said Nancy Pelosi's action in taking up the case of the two journalists with the department of justice and voicing support for a federal "shield law" allowing protection of sources meant that the case had in one respect marked a major step forward, in the direction sought by the organisation.