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EXILED JOURNALISTS STRUGGLE TO KEEP CAREERS ALIVE

The Zimbabwean government is well known for its repressive treatment of critics and independent journalists. A crackdown on the press over the past five years has left the country with no independent daily newspapers, no private radio news coverage, and only two prominent independent weeklies.

What is less documented is the toll that this crackdown takes on the country's journalists, including those who flee overseas and struggle to rebuild their lives in exile, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

"We're rotting away here," says Sandra Nyaira, a former political editor for the "Daily News" who left Zimbabwe in 2002 for a scholarship in the United Kingdom but didn't return after family warned her that she would be arrested if she set foot in her home country.

Like many other exiled Zimbabwean journalists, Nyaira struggles to make a living in England doing odd jobs, and dreams of returning to work as a journalist in the country where she feels she belongs.

According to a CPJ analysis, Zimbabwean journalists living overseas make up one of the largest groups of exiled journalists in the world.

There are at least 90 scattered around the world.

CPJ recently traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, and to London, conducting 34 interviews with exiled Zimbabwean journalists, analysts and human rights advocates.

Most journalists interviewed by CPJ have found exile a bitter experience, even as they point out that they have greater security than many colleagues back home. To penetrate competitive media job markets abroad, many must secure work permits and prove their qualifications anew. A few have secured jobs with international media outlets, but most make ends meet by working in factories, service jobs or clerical positions, says CPJ.

"It feels very frustrating. It is very, very difficult for a foreigner to break into mainstream journalism here," says Conrad Nyamutata, former chief reporter with the "Daily News" who now lives in Leicester, England. "Very few of us have managed to get work in the field."

Nyaira and others have formed the Association of Zimbabwean Journalists in the United Kingdom to address the needs of exiles, which include professional work, training and education.

Read CPJ's full story on exiled Zimbabwean journalists in the latest issue of "Dangerous Assignments":
http://tinyurl.com/9j4bm
Visit these links:

- CPJ Report on Zimbabwe: http://www.cpj.org/attacks04/africa04/zim.html
- Zimbabwean Lawyer Wins Press Freedom Award: http://www.cpj.org/awards05/awards_release_05.html
- MediaWiseTrust Report on Exiled Journalists in Europe: http://www.mediawise.org.uk/display_page.php?id=881
Visit these alternative information sources on Zimbabwe:

- ZimOnline: http://www.zimonline.co.za/
- The Zimbabwean: http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
- SW Radio: http://www.swradioafrica.com/
- NewZimbabwe.com: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
- Daily News Online: http://www.daily-news.co.za/
- Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe: http://www.mmpz.org.zw/
- Sokwanele Blog: http://www.sokwanele.com/blog/blog.html