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State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
2002
references to public order and security
that are presently separated or duplicated
in two provisions.
Clause 3 seeks to replace Section 22
of the principal Act so that issues of
personal safety are not mixed with issues
of national security.
The Mass Media Commission’s
general powers will be enhanced by
Clause 8, which seeks to provide it
with powers to hold inquiries and issue
orders. Presently, those powers are
only provided for in the context of requests
for reviews of decisions by
heads of public bodies to deny access
to information. With respect to the
powers of the Commission to hold inquiries,
it is provided in the same
clause that the Commission may dispense
with the formality of any inquiry
where it considers that no substantial
disputes of law or fact are required to
be determined.
A mass media service shall, if ordered
to do so by the Commission,
publish free of charge on the front page
or centre spread, the full particulars or
a summary approved by the Commission
of a decision of a court or the
Commission pertaining to its mass
media service. If it is an electronic
mass media, it must broadcast the decisions
on three different occasions
during prime time.
Clause 10 seeks to substitute Section
64 of the Act by new provisions,
which frame the offence of “abuse of
freedom of expression” in a manner
that avoids any apparent conflict with
the constitutional freedom of expression.
It seeks to replace the reference
to a specific maximum fine by a
“level”, in accordance with the Criminal
Penalties Amendment Act.
The bill also seeks to exempt from
242 So This Is Democracy?
registration mass media service
founded by or under an act of Parliament
and those services consisting of
the activities of a person holding a license
issued in terms of the Broadcasting
Services Act.
A representative of a foreign mass
media service permitted to operate in
Zimbabwe and publications of any
enterprise, association, institution or
any other person that are disseminated
exclusively to members or employees
are exempt from registration. In-house
publications are not considered to be
mass media services and are exempted
from registration unless it is seen that
they circulate their products to the general
public.
Clause 11 seeks to give permission
to existing foreign mass media house
owners to continue owning local mass
media services to the extent of their
ownership interest held on 31 January,
2002. Any person who, at the date of
commencement of the proposed law,
does not qualify to be a mass media
owner or to own shares in a mass media
service in terms of Section 6 of the
principal Act shall, within three
months of the commencement of the
proposed law, dispose of his controlling
interest or shares, as the case may
be, to a person who is qualified.
The bill also seeks to amend Section
69 of the principal Act by providing
for a right to appeal to the Administrative
Court a decision by the Mass
Media Commission to refuse to register
a mass media service. It also seeks
to amend the Act’s Section 78, by supplying
a definition of a “journalistic
privilege” and clarifying the journalist’s
rights in relation to any editing of
his/her work that he/she considers to
be distortive.