Zimbabwe
Preview Screening: Concerning Violence + Q&A
Based on Frantz Fanon’s landmark 1961 book, The Wretched of the Earth, Concerning Violence explores the mechanisms of decolonisation. It is a bold and fresh visual narrative on Africa, told through newly discovered archive material of the struggle for liberation from colonial rule in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Göran Hugo Olsson.
Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule?
By Dan Tookey After a tense five year coalition between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe is back at the ballot box. On the eve of the polls closing on 31 July, the Frontline Club hosted a debate with four experts to discuss what this election will mean for […]
Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule?
As the country goes to the polls we will be joined by a panel of experts to discuss what this election will mean for the future of Zimbabwe. Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule and who will replace him?
Falklands referendum results, UK-Russia talks, and a new Chinese President make for busy week ahead
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 11 March On Monday, a two-day referendum on the political status of the Falklands Islands wraps-up, with the results due that evening. The referendum is largely symbolic, since the islanders overwhelmingly favour retaining […]
Robert Mugabe… What Happened?, asks Frontline
By William Turvill A sell-out crowd last night gathered at the Frontline Club for an exclusive screening of Robert Mugabe… What Happened?, followed by a question and answer session with the film’s director and producer. The documentary, which premiered at last year’s Encounters South Africa International Documentary Festival, gives a historical account of Mugabe and […]
FULLY BOOKED: Preview Screening: Robert Mugabe… What Happened?
Director Simon Bright takes us on a journey through the life of Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe to find out why a leader who seemed so full of promise has become so ruthless in his defence of his position and power.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 15 – 21 August
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 15 August to Sunday, 21 August from ForesightNews Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak returns to court on Monday. Along with his sons Alaa and Gamal he appears charged with premeditated murder in connection with the deaths of protesters during the 25 January revolution. Monday also sees the […]
FULLY BOOKED Zimbabwe 2011: An Opportunity for Change?
Zimbabwe’s leaders have been locked in a shaky power sharing coalition since opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister in January 2009. President Mugabe is now pressing for fresh elections in 2011, despite MDC leader Tsvangirai saying that they could not take place without reforms and constitutional review. Join us at the Frontline Club with a panel of experts to discuss what the coming year holds for Zimbabwe – could there be a fair election, or will violence and intimidation again escalate?
Barack Obama singles out Azerbaijan
In his statement in honor of World Press Freedom Day, U.S. President Barack Obama singled out Azerbaijan among the "corner[s] of the globe" where journalists are in jail or being actively harassed: In every corner of the globe, there are journalists in jail or being actively harassed: from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Burma to Uzbekistan, Cuba […]
On the run in Zimbabwe
Wilf Mbanga, a Frontline Club regular and editor of The Zimbabwean Weekly, writes about Press freedom in The Guardian on the eve of World Press Freedom Day. Wilf highlights the cases of Freelance photojournalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere who will be spending World Press Freedom Day on the run, Last week, Manyere was eventually released on […]
Reporting Zimbabwe
Writing in The Indypendent Alaina Varvaloucas and Jerry Guo describe the day to day work of journalists in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Magwenya himself secretly works as a stringer for CNN and has approximately 20 colleagues in Harare who do the same work for other major Western media outlets. Not only is he free to […]
Freelance journalist missing in Zimbabwe
Kudzai Musengi, a freelance journalist based in Gweru, is missing according to an alert issued by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) today. Musengi failed to return home after normal working hours on 31 March and family and colleagues have not been able to contact him. MISA-Zimbabwe strongly appeals to the authorities and law […]
Undercover Zimbabwe film wins award
An undercover film shot in Zimbabwe by Shepherd Yuda, a prison officer, and smuggled out of the country has won the best news programme category in the Broadcast Awards announced last night. The film followed the story of vote rigging during the 2008 election, Zimbabwe: The Stolen Ballots, a world exclusive broken on the guardian.co.uk […]
The cost of reporting Zimbabwe
Fifty Billion Dollars, originally uploaded by ZeroOne. The Zimbabwe government has announced new restrictive measures for media workers working with foreign news organisations. It will cost up to US$4 000 to practice journalism in Zimbabwe for one year, according to a report in The Zimbabwe Times. Here is a list of the new fees announced […]
On the road with Robert Adams
Robert Adams, one of the original Frontline TV cameramen and a founder member of the Frontline Club, is on the road. For six months Rob, his family and some friends will be on the road in Africa. From their home in Harare they’ll head to Cairo, Cape Town and back to Harare and all points […]
Jestina Mukoko abducted in Zimababwe
Jestina Mukoko, a prominent journalist and executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted from her home in Norton about 40km from the captial Harare by “15 men in plain clothes” yesterday, according to the African Press Organization, “Everything must be done to secure the swift release of Jestina Mukoko and to ensure her […]
Mike Saburi wins Mohamed Amin Award
Mike Saburi, a freelance journalist working in Zimbabwe has won the 2008 Mohamed Amin Award for his work in Zimbabwe, “For the last 12 months Zimbabwe has been at the forefront of the international news agenda once again,” Amin said. “Covering this difficult story has meant that many journalists had to work under harrowing conditions […]
Zimbabwe – There is no freedom after expression
Memorable quote from Davison Maruziva, the editor of the Independent Zimbabwean newspaper, in the IHT today, Davison Maruziva says there’s plenty of freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. Problem is: “There is no freedom after expression.” link The article goes on to discuss the state of the media in the beleagured nation and quotes Zimbabwe Information […]
The Zimbabwean profiled on BBC
Wilf Mbanga and his wife Trish, who produce The Zimbabwean weekly newspaper from their home in Southampton, UK, are profiled by BBC South’s Inside Out programme this week. Wilf is a regular at the Frontline Club and he took part in the Zimbabwe debate earlier this year. The BBC documentary will look at the couple’s […]
Wilf Mbanga on journalism in Zimbabwe
Wilf Mbanga, founder and publisher of The Zimbabwean, talks in The Guardian today about how Mugabe’s regime deal with independent journalists. And how they have started threatening their children. Wilf knows all too well the threats journalists face in Zimbabwe. A 14 tonne truck carrying 60,000 copies of his newspaper was attacked in May, 2008, […]
Live: Five Zimbabwean writers on Zimbabwe
We ask a group some of Zimbabwe’s most well-known writers and journalists from widely divergent backgrounds to reflect on how their country got to this point. Join us live Tue 29 Jul, 7.30pm UK time on the Frontline Club livestream channel. The BBC’s George Alagiah will chair the discussion with; Lauren St John (author and […]
Richard Mills found dead in Harare
Richard Mills, a photographer with The Times newspaper, was found dead in a hotel room in Harare on July 14 after a suspected suicide. The Belfast Telegraph reports that Richard officially died of “asphyxiation by hanging”. Richard was working on an undercover assignment in Zimbabwe when he was found dead. He had previously worked in […]
Getting into Zimbabwe
Andrew Geoghegan, an ABC News journalist, marvels at how he has been allowed to enter Zimbabwe four times without arrest, It’s easy to develop a false sense of security in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe’s notorious thugs work behind the scenes. It’s the police roadblocks that make me nervous. Most of the time the cops just want […]
Cobbling the story together
Bill Mitchell at Poynter does a great job dissecting the timeline that saw the picture above appear on the front page of the Sunday Times, only to be subsequently debunked At The Sunday Times, managing editor Richard Caseby said the paper’s first account of the baby was cobbled together on deadline when editors slotted the […]
Darfur and the media attention deficit
Ethan Zuckerman asks some great questions about Darfur and media attention on his blog. I dropped a comment, but it might be worth pulling together a few threads here. The general feeling is that “attention paid to Darfur is unprecedented” – but was it? Is it? If we feed a few keywords through Silobreaker’s Media […]
Zimbabwe in slides
TIME publish a slideshow of images from Zimbabwe on the eve of the “run off election” set for tomorrow. Click the image above to see 15 images from Zimbabwe in recent days.
Reporting Zimbabwe
The Committee to Protect Journalists produce an audio slideshow of journalists discussing the difficulties of reporting from Zimbabwe and the great risks involved for little or even no money. The slideshow is an accompaniment to a larger article entitled Bad to worse published today ahead of the June 27 “run-off” election, “We can’t go to […]
How much violence can we show?
The New Times in the Rwandan capital Kigali ponders whether or not BBC World should have shown the picture of a man whose right ear had been chopped off in violence in the run up to the Zimbabwe election “run off” later this month, Such pictures quite often pose a dilemma for the media; they […]
Dinner with Mugabe
You can now watch the event here. The Zimbabwe election runoff vote is set for June 27. Last week author Heidi Holland was at the Frontline Club to talk about her book, Dinner with Mugabe. The book attempts to unravel the mind behind the man who runs the corrupt regime of Zimbabwe. Adam Roberts from […]
Three ‘Sky’ journalists arrested in Zimbabwe
Three South Africans arrested last weekend in Esigodini, Matabeleland South, in alleged possession of broadcasting equipment belonging to television network Sky News, appeared in court yesterday facing charges of contravening provisions of the Post and Telecommunications Act. The three, Bennet Hassen Sono, Resemate Chauke, and Simon Maodi, jointly charged with Craig Mark Ram Edy (42), […]