Foreign and private media houses risk losing licences

GOVERNMENT will not hesitate to revoke operating licences of foreign and private media organisations abusing their journalistic privileges by denouncing the country and its leadership, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Media, Information and Publicity Minister, Webster Shamu said some foreign and private media organisations were abusing their journalistic privilege by denigrating the country's leadership.

Britain, said Shamu, which is touted as the champion of democracy, has more than 50 media laws that gagged the media, but nobody was making a fuss about it.

Shamu, who is also Zanu-PF national political commissar, said this at the weekend in Mutare where he was addressing the party's provincial inter-district conference.

There has been a trend, said Shamu, to denigrate the President and the First Family by the foreign and private media for unjustifiable reasons premised on falsehoods.

He said while Government had no problem with constructive criticism, it would invoke necessary legal statutes should the media houses unjustifiably vilify the country.

"We are not against criticism but not vilification. They are forcing us to take measures and they must stand warned."
He called upon local journalists to defend at all times, the country's national interests.

"Of late, these media houses and pirate radio stations have intensified their vitriolic attacks and the use of hate language on the person of His Excellency, the President and the party in a well calculated move aimed at influencing the results of the forthcoming elections. In other words, the execution of the regime change agenda has been intensified." said Shamu.

In Zimbabwe, said Shamu, the land issue would always be a national issue yet Zanu-PF which spearheaded it is being demonised.

The minister said the Government had demonstrated that they had nothing to hide when they gave licences to various media houses.