Zimbabwe’s New Media Policy Seriously Retrogressive – Hopewell Chin’ono

By Hopewell Chin’ono

Something seriously terrible happened in Zimbabwe this week, but sadly, it is not a talking point because it is hidden in a 40-page document and most people don’t want to read long form material.

The hidden dangers in Zimbabwe’s New Media Policy are not only seriously retrogressive and taking Zimbabwe decades behind regarding free speech and media freedoms, but they also actually actively promote corruption by punishing media houses and journalists who expose corruption.

The media policy is very vague on specifics and heavy on rhetoric such as “national interest,” “patriotism,” and other similar terms meant to instil fear in the hearts of journalists and media houses.

The Zimbabwean government launched this media policy it described as a “comprehensive framework” to foster a vibrant, inclusive, and modern media landscape.

It was launched by the Zimbabwean dictator, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It promised digital transformation, media sustainability, and professional ethics.

The media policy has been naturally hailed by government officials as a key pillar in the march towards the so-called Vision 2030.

Yet, behind the glossy rhetoric and carefully crafted language lie serious concerns that, if unaddressed, threaten to undermine press freedom, restrict civic space, and consolidate state control and power over the country’s media and also social media platforms.

The new media policy is a framework for control and not freedom. Despite repeated references to media diversity and access to information, the policy’s framework is fundamentally rooted in repressive state oversight as it was during the early 2000s under Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a Zimbabwean law enacted in 2002 under Robert Mugabe’s government.

The media policy has given the government controlled Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) wide regulatory powers, and while co-regulation is mentioned, it is framed as a fallback, allowed only when the ZMC lacks capacity.

This structure leaves little room for genuine self-regulation by independent media practitioners or organisations like the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ).

It reinforces a top-down approach in which media independence is conditional on government tolerance and professional mercy.

The government does this through licensing as a weapon of choice. A clear red flag is the centrality of this licensing.

All media houses, whether community radio, print, or digital, must be registered and subject to regulatory levies.

For online platforms and citizen journalists, this will mean navigating a hostile environment designed to frustrate operations like what is happening today to HStv News.

Licensing has historically been used in Zimbabwe as a political weapon to silence critical voices. Under this new media policy, that power is expanded rather than curtailed.

It uses and names “National Interest” as a deceitful cover for broad-based media censorship.

The media policy is obsessed with “defending Zimbabwe’s image, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” and calls for the media to promote national identity and development.

It is very George Orwellian and straight from his book Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). 1984 is a dystopian novel published in 1949, depicting a totalitarian regime that uses surveillance, propaganda, and repression to maintain control over its citizens.

These patriotic demands in the Zimbabwe Media Policy sound benign, but they have been consistently deployed by authoritarian regimes, including Mnangagwa’s, to justify censorship and media clampdowns, as has happened in Zimbabwe during the past torturous seven years of Mnangagwa’s misrule.

He is simply officialising standard repressive practice that previously hit a wall in prosecutions because there was no law to back it up.

Any journalist questioning government performance or reporting on corruption risks being labelled unpatriotic or anti-development, and sent to jail, as happened to Blessed Mhlanga and me.

I was jailed three times without trial in 2020 and 2021 for exposing Mnangagwa and his family for looting public funds. They called it “…planning to remove an elected government by force.”

I was called a Western puppet for pointing out the theft of public funds meant for poor black people who were, and still are, dying due to the lack of medicines and equipment in public hospitals.

The regime’s media policy is media siege for online journalism, Mnangagwa said in his presentation that if journalists write what he doesn’t like, he will use violence against them.

It was said as a joke but those of us from Zimbabwe know that he was not joking, he has done it before.

With the rapid rise of social media and citizen journalism, the state’s grip on information flow has been largely loosened, and this hurts corrupt government officials including the King of the criminal cartels himself, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This is because the biggest newspaper in Zimbabwe, which is run by the state and called The Herald, no longer independently sells more than 4,000 copies a day. The state has lost the ability to use propaganda outside rural areas.

Citizens now rely on social media and independent media outlets like The NewsHawks, ZimLive, Nehanda Radio, NewsDay, The Standad, and independent journalists for information.

The new media policy seeks to reassert repressive control over both the state run and independent media. It outlines plans to regulate digital content, promote “fact-based reporting,” and suppress “misinformation” without defining these terms or establishing independent oversight.

In practice, this will give the state a free pass to surveil, censor, and intimidate digital content creators under the guise of maintaining order, national interest and protecting the image of Zimbabwe.

As expected, the media policy has a very worrying aspect of being hostile towards foreign media and journalists, nothing new here, we have had this since 2000 where foreign journalists visiting Zimbabwe must obtain security clearances done through the secret service. They must also pay prescribed fees and leave copies of any documentaries made.

Anyone who has worked in television or radio news knows that it is impossible, it is a ridiculous proposition by a government that has no understanding of the media because Mnangagwa doesn’t hire professionals, he hires his relatives and friends who then go on to write such conceptual nonsensical stuff.

It can take a year or even more to shoot a documentary film, and most of the work is done in editing, so how can I give you a copy of my work before it is broadcast and before I leave Zimbabwe when postproduction is done elsewhere?

You can see that this was a group of regime enablers who cobbled together this idiotic rule without considering whether it is practical.

Equipment used by foreign journalists must also be cleared before entry. These requirements go beyond normal journalistic protocol and suggest a government eager to shield itself from external scrutiny, especially on issues like human rights abuses, corruption, and election integrity.

The idea that the new Zimbabwe Media Policy is a public media reform is mythical and silly, it is the opposite of progressive.

The policy pays lip service to reforming state-owned media like the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) but offers no meaningful plan to guarantee editorial independence as should be.

A genuine attempt to promote media pluralism would have started with professionalising state media and turning it into a real public media that serves national and not sectarian and partisan ZANUPF interests.

Instead, the new media policy reasserts the role of public media in promoting “national values” and government programmes, effectively cementing their function as propaganda tools and institutions at ZANUPF’s disposal.

In a section devoted to penalties, the policy outlines sanctions against media organisations and individuals who violate undefined “standards.”

These include loss of licences, legal action, and even disqualification from media awards. 🤣🤣🤣Someone joked that this one about awards is meant for me 🤣🤣🤣

This punitive approach will almost certainly create a chilling effect, especially among smaller outlets and freelance journalists who cannot afford legal battles or financial penalties.

That is why Mnangagwa’s regime first crippled civil society through the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Amendment Act, hoping to stop organisations like the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights from funding litigation against this unconstitutional media policy.

The new draconian policy introduces media funds, training programmes, and capacity-building initiatives, but all are to be coordinated through state ministries or the ZMC.

In effect, the state will decide who gets support, who is “professional,” and who qualifies for development aid.

This undermines the independence of journalism training institutions and risks turning capacity building into a tool for ideological alignment, and more importantly, it will be used by Mnangagwa and his surrogates to create bogus training sessions in order to steal state funds.

At a time when Zimbabwe desperately needs an independent and fearless media to expose corruption, inform the public, and hold power to account, this policy moves in the opposite direction for reasons we all know.

It centralises control, promotes “patriotic” journalism, and blurs the line between state interest and the public good.

If left unchallenged, Zimbabwe’s 2025 Media Policy will become a blueprint for repression rather than reform.

For all its promises of digital transformation and inclusivity, the document reveals a government still deeply suspicious of press freedom, and determined to bend the media to its will, a government not confident of its electoral mandate and legitimacy to govern.

The real test of a media policy is not how well it serves the state, but how well it protects the public’s right to know. On that score, this policy fails dismally.

Zimbabwe has had only one terrestrial television station since 1960, controlled by ZANUPF. The government controls all radio stations in Zimbabwe, both directly and indirectly.

The only independent national radio station is owned by a ZANUPF Member of Parliament.

The biggest newspaper publishing house, Zimpapers, is run by the state; it also owns radio stations such as Star FM.

A government genuinely committed to media reform would have started by addressing these repressive and authoritarian anomalies.

There needs to be an independent media regulatory authority free from government or ruling party authority.

The Zimbabwe Media Commission must be reformed to ensure impartial oversight and to protect media freedom and not pack it with secret service officers and ruling party lackeys.

Licensing reform is also critical. The current system is always used as a tool to control or silence critical media outlets and journalists.

Licensing should be simplified, transparent, and must not limit media plurality, but instead encourage it.

Protecting journalists is another essential step. We all saw what happened to Blessed Mhlanga. Laws should be enacted and enforced to protect journalists from political and state harassment, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and violence.

Legal guarantees for freedom of expression are key to shield journalists from politically motivated prosecutions as is happening to Mhlanga and indeed to myself and others.

Public broadcasting must be transformed from what it is today to a professional level. State media, particularly the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), should become a genuine public broadcaster that serves the public interest without political interference. Today they get instructions from Mnangagwa’s office and ZANUPF headquarters.

Editorial independence, diversity of views, and professional standards must be ensured.

Access to information laws should be strengthened and enforced to guarantee citizens’ right to information and not limiting those rights.

Government data and documents need to be accessible to the public and journalists to enhance transparency and accountability. Today Government websites don’t even work or at times exist.

Media plurality and diversity must be a right and not seen as a privilege. This includes facilitating the growth of independent media outlets, such as community radio and private television stations, to diversify the media landscape.

Sadly, Mnangagwa has either invested in private media houses through his proxies in order to control them, or he harasses those that don’t comply and seek to expose his criminality.

Digital media freedom also requires protection. Online journalists, bloggers, and citizen journalists must be shielded from censorship and surveillance.

Terms like “misinformation” and “hate speech” must be clearly defined to prevent vague laws that suppress dissent.

Financial support mechanisms should be independent. Media funds and grant programmes need to support media sustainability without political interference or conditions that compromise editorial freedom.

Zimbabwe also needs Judicial independence, the courts must be able and willing to uphold media freedom cases and provide legal recourse against abuses of power. They must uphold the country’s constitution and not be used to misinterpret it deliberately.

Citizens should be equipped to critically assess news sources and resist propaganda and misinformation.

If these reforms are genuinely implemented, they will foster a more open, vibrant, and democratic media environment in Zimbabwe.

Without them, policies like the new media framework will entrench control rather than enabling freedom of the media.

Hopewell Chin’ono is an award-winning Zimbabwean journalist and documentary filmmaker