What is journalism? Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas and people that a news of the day. Strangely enough in Zimbabwe when you broadcast or report true events the authorities of Zimbabwe will arrest you. One would ask why would the police arrest journalists for doing their jobs? it is all because the government of Zimbabwe do not want to be exposed for their corruption. These arrests of journalists and in some cases they get detained is a example of the Zimbabwean police’s contempt for basic human rights, including media freedom.
In one case a journalist was taking pictures and videos of a physical altercation between vendors and police, one of the police officers took notice of the journalist and then that is when the police pounced on them and arrested them. That is when the journalist was charged and taken to a holding cell. In another case a journalist was arrested by the police for the third time in six months, the charges against him was communicating falsehoods. The arrest came after the journalist tweeted that the police had beaten up an infant to death while enforcing Covid-19 lockdwon rules, to everyone surprise the police denied the claims. Before that arrest the same journalist was arrested for inciting violence after he voiced support for the anti-government protest and also on contempt of court charges for allegedly claiming corruption within the country’s national prosecution agency. In this day and age when you become a critic of president Emmerson Mnanagwa’s administration, accusing them of corruption and human rights abuses, you will be dealt with force, beaten up, arrested and by the way the government will deny any foul play.
