We received this email and soundclip from SW Radio Africa, regarding the jamming of their broadcast to Zimbabwe – specifically during the news broadcast. What difference is the inclusive government – with features like an MDC co-Minister of Home Affairs, and an MDC Minister of Information, Communication, and Technology – really making if this kind of blatant censorship still occurs?

For the past few weeks we have been concerned that jamming tests were being carried out on our broadcasts as various radio hams around the world have been sending us regular reports of a faintly audible music loop.

Unfortunately it was confirmed that these were tests, as jamming began in earnest last night (1st September – attached please find an MP3 of the jamming).
It appears to be specifically targeting our news bulletin. This could be because there are power shortages/lack of funds to target the entire broadcast.

Last time we were so severely jammed only ZANU PF were in power and we had no one to complain to. This time we have a ‘unity government’ and I do hope the jamming will be a topic for discussion at the media conference in Harare and that all media organisations – such as MISA/MAZ/MMPZ – will take this issue up at every government forum available to them.

We will, of course, be relentless in trying to get hold of the various ministers from both the MDC and ZPF to hold them to account for the fact that we are supposed to be moving forward to greater media and information freedom – we hope all other media will do the same and not let the matter drop.

Listen to the sound clip of the jamming here (23 seconds, 555 KB, MP3 format)

This entry was posted on September 6th, 2010 at 3:55 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.