WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
Harare – The Zimbabwean authorities have charged two foreign journalists arrested in Harare with breaching the country’s tough media laws by reporting without accreditation, police said Friday.
New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak, 58, and a 45-year-old journalist from Britain, were among four people picked up Thursday by police at a Harare guest house.
“They have both been charged for practising without accreditation, but the other two will be released soon after screening,” said national police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena.
“We have so many other foreign journalists who have followed the laid-down procedures and are practising legally and here we have two people who thought they were a law unto themselves,” Bvudzijena said.
There was no information on the identity of the other two journalists detained.
Zimbabwean authorities barred most foreign media from covering last Saturday’s general elections and had warned they would deal severely with journalists who sneaked into the country and were caught operating illegally.
However a number of news organisations, including the BBC, have been filing reports from correspondents operating under cover.
Zimbabwe passed a media law on the eve of the last presidential elections in 2002 which has been invoked to expel foreign correspondents and shut down at least four independent newspapers.
The situation is tense in the capital as Zimbabweans await results from the presidential elections in which President Robert Mugabe faced the toughest challenge to his nearly three-decade rule.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential poll outright.
There has still been no official word on the outcome six days after the ballot, although the election commission confirmed Thursday that the MDC had won control of parliament.
The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has indicated it is gearing for a second round presidential run-off and Mugabe chaired Friday a meeting of its politburo to discuss the election.
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller confirmed Thursday that Bearak, who won a Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his reporting war-torn Afghanistan, had been detained.
“We are making every effort to ascertain his status, to assure that he is safe and being well treated, and to secure his prompt release,” Keller said.
Both the United States and the European Commission expressed concern over the arrests as well as media rights groups.
“We are always concerned by the arrest of journalists when they are carrying out their work in the proper manner,” John Clandy, spokesperson for European Union Development Commissioner Louis Michel, told journalists in Brussels.
United States National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said journalists “should be permitted to do their work,” while a leading US press freedom group called for the immediate release of those arrested.
“In light of the political situation, it is imperative that all journalists, foreign and domestic, be allowed to work freely,” said Joel Simon, the executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Zimbabwe’s strict media laws have often been used to expel foreign correspondents.
Mediation efforts led to the amendment of the restrictive laws in January, allowing for the creation of an independent commission to protect media freedoms, but the government has so far failed to set it up.
The state-controlled media commission in January invited the Daily News – the country’s most popular independent paper, which was banned in 2003 – to reapply for a licence. However, it remains closed.
Zimbabweans are left with only one daily, the government-controlled Herald, and no independent radio or television stations are authorised to operate. – Sapa-AFP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20080404155829669C143209