Zimbabwe bars South African TV station from polls

THE Zimbabwean government has banned South African private television station e-tv from covering next Saturday's general elections.

According to a statement from the government, e-tv, South Africa's only commercial terrestrial station, has not been accredited for the joint parliamentary and presidential polls as it had previously breached media and security laws in a report on diamond smuggling last year.
 
The station's Zimbabwe-born reporter, Peter Moyo, was fined by a court at the time for operating without a licence from the Media and Information Commission (MIC) However, the government has cleared the public broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to cover the elections. SABC has already mounted an outside broadcast centre at Meikles Hotel, where it is beaming news reports on the build-up to the elections.
 
Meanwhile, secretary for information, George Charamba has said the government was considering requests by international news organizations which have been accredited to cover the crucial poll, to beef up staff numbers ahead of the elections.

“We are emphasizing that such support staff would have to come under bureau chiefs of those organisations who will be held fully accountable for the conduct of any such news personnel,” said Charamba.
 
International organizations already working in Zimbabwe include Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Associated Press (AP), Reuters and al-Jazeera.
 
Those which have been banned include MSNBC, BBC, CNN, The Guardian and The Telegraph.