zim media crackdown

Not long ago, I was hoping to make my way into Zimbabwe to do some reporting. Now, I’m pretty sure that would be a less-than-good idea, since the Zim government seems keen on shutting down all independent media.
After shutting down The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday, Junior Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Media and Information Commission chairman Tafataona Mahoso say they have turned their guns at The Standard and The Zimbabwe Independent.
Ranting and raving at the official launch of New Ziana, a multi-media State organisation charged with publishing pro-Zanu PF information, an agitated Moyo made it clear that after the closure of the two Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) titles, he was now after The Standard and The Zimbabwe Independent, two newspapers he called “running dogs of imperialism.”
A highly charged Moyo said the type of “trash” published by the newspapers, both owned by the same company, would not be published anywhere overseas…
“If we were serious people, who do not want to apologise for who we are … really we would shut these papers down because they are trash, they injure our national interest,” ranted Moyo, who incidentally only gained national prominence in the 1980s and 1990s by writing his anti-Mugabe and anti-Zanu PF tirades in the private media.
Moyo also pronounced the “death” of Studio 7, a Voice of America (VOA) news broadcasting station that beams to Zimbabwe.
“Studio 7 will die. It faces death. They think we are sleeping, we want to see where they are going with Studio 7, ” said Moyo.
I think I’ll stay in nice, peaceful Zambia.