HARARE (IPS) - Zimbabwean media practitioners have launched a self-regulatory media body for journalists despite government threats of unspecified action against them.
The nongovernmental Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) launched the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ) earlier this month. If MCZ members have their way, the ruling ZANU-PF will cease its stranglehold on the operations of the country's media and task this autonomous body to independently regulate and monitor the media in Zimbabwe.
Several newspapers, including the country's independent daily newspaper, The Daily News and its sister publication The Daily News on Sunday, have been shut down by the government following the introduction of tough media laws aimed at restricting media reporting.
The repressive laws that the government introduced in the past five years have also seen the imposition of state permits on local reporters. Foreign journalists have been barred from working in the country.
