I am interested in the method Simon Hinds (Pambazuka News 114 letter) is using to prove Andrew Meldrum is a propagandist, not a journalist. If he can produce proof that some agency apart from the papers he writes for is paying him to write the stories, he would have a case, but he is only studying content. With the state media entirely in the hands of ZANU-PF propagandists (even musicians whose songs are in any way critical are banned, and this includes the two most eminent Zimbabwean musici...read more
I am interested in the method Simon Hinds (Pambazuka News 114 letter) is using to prove Andrew Meldrum is a propagandist, not a journalist. If he can produce proof that some agency apart from the papers he writes for is paying him to write the stories, he would have a case, but he is only studying content. With the state media entirely in the hands of ZANU-PF propagandists (even musicians whose songs are in any way critical are banned, and this includes the two most eminent Zimbabwean musicians, Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mutukudzi), the independent media being constantly harassed (and this includes arrest and assault on journalists, the bombing of one newspaper's press and of the office of an independent radio station which is forced to broadcast from outside the country and party thugs destroying vendors' stocks of papers they don't like, with no independent radio or TV station permitted, someone needs to present the other side. Is Meldrum doing any more than this?