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February 24, 2005
Bush Administration Promotes Press Freedom--in Zimbabwe
The United States has accused Zimbabwe of adopting a "pattern of intimidation" against journalists in the country.
Four journalist working for foreign news organisations have fled the country in the past week after being threatened by Zimbabwe's secret police.
They were accused of transmitting "material prejudicial to the state".
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "an open environment for journalists and opposition" was needed.
"The administration noted a pattern in Zimbabwe where the opposition fears for its safety, where restrictions were being placed on civil society and where newspapers were being shut down," he said.
Undoubtedly there are many bad things going on in Zimbabwe, and undoubtedly the press is coming under increasing pressure not to stray from the government line.
However, it is the height of hypocrisy for the U.S. government--which has fired on a hotel full of journalists in Iraq, shot and killed other journalists in the occupied territory, twice bombed al-Jazeera offices in two countries, banned al-Jazeera temporarily from Iraq (and continually tried to get it shut down permanently), banned other journalists from Iraq, paid columnists to promote its initiatives, inserted a shill into the White House press pool, and produced phony news reports for local TV stations to air--to tell the government of Zimbabwe what to do with its own journalists.
Then again, this is the same government that tells other countries not to meddle in Iraq and not to occupy foreign countries, so what else would we expect?
Posted by Mike Tennant at February 24, 2005 02:10 PM
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