by Tatiana Repkova

Scheming by Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is killing off the few remaining independent news media outlets while the government-controlled Media Information Commission (MIC) continues to use obligatory press accreditation as a way to pressure journalists in an entirely unacceptable fashion, Reporters Without Borders has stated.

Two recent episodes have highlighted the disastrous political and financial consequences of CIO meddling in the media. The editor of the privately-owned weekly "Financial Gazette" (FinGaz), Sunsleey Chamunorwa, was denied entry to his office on March 13, 2007, on the grounds that he had been dismissed. FinGaz Chief Executive Jacob Chisese, a CIO ally, announced to the shocked staff that changes were to be made to the newspaper, but refused to say who would replace Chamunorwa.

In February, the MIC refused to renew the newspaper's licence - without which no publication can operate - until it revealed the name of its owner. The newspaper has in fact belonged to the CIO since 2001 as a result of a financial operation using central bank governor Gideon Gono as a cover. "It held out until today because Gono refused to bow to pressure from the ruling party and the CIO, which complained about its editorial line and claimed it was harming the party and favouring the opposition Movement for Democratic Change," a source within the newspaper said on condition of anonymity. Chamunorwa received a visit from CIO members, who ordered him to change his editorial line, the same source said. The CIO took control of these two newspapers in 2004 after ousting the man who founded them, Ibbo Mandaza. Thereafter sales plummeted to as low as 2,000 copies a day and it accumulated 500 million Zimbabwean dollars (about 1.5 million euro) in debts. The journalists, who had not been paid for the past month, are now out of work. http://allafrica.com/stories/200703210812.html; March 21, 2007