Last Zim newspaper agrees to register with government

Control of the press continues...

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Under Zimbabwe's tough Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all journalists must be accredited by the government-appointed commission for them to practise. Media houses also have to obtain licences from the MIC for them to operate. The accreditation is renewable every year, while the publishing licences are for two years. "Most of us have been accredited now, while those who were away will certainly be registered by the MIC," a senior reporter at the paper said. "We understand the truce came about after our editor agreed to publish the retraction." The Independent will publish the retraction on its inside pages, according to the reporter. In December, Mahoso had threatened to withdraw the licence of the Financial Gazette after the paper had refused to retract a story it had published. The paper however published the retraction a fortnight ago. The MIC has closed down four newspapers in three years, including the Daily News, the country's biggest independent daily at the time of its closure in September 2003.