First independent private daily 'News Day' launches in Zimbabwe after seven years

Posted by Savita Sauvin on June 4, 2010 at 3:39 PM

Celebrating press freedom, Zimbabwe's newly created media commission granted licenses to allow the launch of four new private dailies last week, including the Daily News, a popular newspaper banned in 2003 for taking on the government of President Robert Mugabe. The country today saw the launch of one of its first licensed independent private daily, News Day, after seven years, TimesLive.co.za reported.

The newly launched private daily is owned by Alpha Media Holdings, and headed by Trevor Ncube. The company publishes two weeklies in Zimbabwe, and the Mail and Guardian in South Africa. The launch of News Day "represents the hope of a tortured nation," Ncube told Reuters. "NewsDay will play a leading role in national healing, nation building, reconciliation and reconstruction."

He later added, "We shall endeavor to report the news for Zimbabweans whose collective voice has systematically been drowned out the din of slogans and abhorrent propaganda."

The newspaper aims to provide a counterpoint to the state media by not falling prey to the state-run media tactics, it believes uses "hate, divisiveness, abhorrent propaganda and personality cults," as stated in the editorial of its inaugural issue launched today, AssociatedPress reported. The newspaper will begin selling from Monday. Also two other independent dailies will start publishing in the coming weeks.

Until now, Zimbabwe has only one national state-run daily, The Herald and a regional daily, The Chronicle published in the country's second largest city Bulawayo, and has no private radio or television stations, Reuters reported.

The publication will give citizens of the country an opportunity to converse in an open and honest way, TimesLive SA reported. The News Day tabloid is a sign of government's easing on harsh media restrictions. The inaugural issue today was led with a story about the central bank planning to retrench some 3,000 employees.