Zimbabwe Radio Block Prevents Independent Coverage, Group Says

Zimbabwe is blocking independent media coverage by only licensing commercial radio stations that have links to the government, Amnesty International said.

Community-based organizations trying to provide audio programming are put under surveillance and their workers are being arrested, harassed and intimidated, the London-based group said in an e-mailed report on Wednesday.

Independent stations were legalized under the 2001 Broadcasting Services Act, which ended the monopoly held by state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, according to the group. No one answered the phone at the state-run Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe outside normal working hours when Bloomberg called for comment.

Zimbabwe ranks 131st out 180 nations on the Press Freedom Index published by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, with higher rankings indicating more restrictions on the media. All 10 of the country’s radio stations are owned by state-controlled companies, the group said. No community radio station has received authorization by the regulator to operate in the past 14 years, though at least 28 have applied and are waiting, Amnesty said.

“The failure to grant licenses to community radio stations violates the right to freedom of expression,” it said.

Community radio initiatives that couldn’t get a license to broadcast have resorted to distributing compact discs to spread information about topics such as HIV/AIDS education or family planning by compact discs, according to Amnesty.