(MISA/IFEX) – The Zimbabwean government is reported to have instructed Joy Television (Joy TV) to stop broadcasting BBC news on its programmes. Joy TV has since complied with the instruction and the 30-minute news bulletin that was shown everyday at 21h00 (local time) is no longer being broadcast. Joy TV is a private television station […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The Zimbabwean government is reported to have instructed Joy Television (Joy TV) to stop broadcasting BBC news on its programmes.
Joy TV has since complied with the instruction and the 30-minute news bulletin that was shown everyday at 21h00 (local time) is no longer being broadcast. Joy TV is a private television station that is leasing a channel from the state run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).
A Joy TV official, who talked to MISA’s Zimbabwean chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe) on condition of anonymity, said that the television station was instructed to censor the BBC news bulletins. However, the BBC policy says that their news bulletins must be shown as they are, and failing this the bulletins must not be shown at all. The official told MISA-Zimbabwe that the management
chose to do away with the news rather than risk having the station’s lease agreement cancelled.
The ban of the BBC news means that independent newspapers are the only source of alternative news in Zimbabwe. Moreover, Joy TV is not allowed to gather and disseminate local news.
The government has also indicated that it is cancelling the lease agreement awarding Joy TV the channel because the agreement is in contravention of the Broadcasting Services Act. The cancellation will result in the ZBC being the sole broadcaster in Zimbabwe, as no other station has been licensed to date.
Background Information
On 30 April 2002, MISA reported that Joy TV would go off the air after 31 May when, according to the ZBC acting chief executive officer, the lease of its second channel to Joy TV will be cancelled.
According to the ZBC, it is in a predicament as Section 18 of Zimbabwe’s Broadcasting Services Act prohibits the corporation from leasing out the second channel.
The Act reads:
Transfer of licenses prohibited “No licensee shall assign, cede, pledge, transfer or sell his license to any other person or surrender his programming duties to another entity outside his establishment. Any such assignment, cession pledge transfers sale or surrender shall be void.”
Joy TV has since indicated its desire to obtain a licence to continue broadcasting in Zimbabwe. However, since the promulgation of the Broadcasting Services Act by the government in April 2001 no licenses have been issued to broadcasters.