Zimbabwe journalists launch new media council

HARARE, June 8 (Reuters) Zimbabwean journalists launched a voluntary media council today, hoping to show the government the media can oversee itself and does not need what critics say is increasingly draconian state regulation.

President Robert Mugabe's government introduced tough media laws five years ago, forming an official media commission, imposing state permits on local reporters and barring foreign journalists from working permanently in the country.

About 150 journalists -- mostly from private media organisations -- attended the launch of the voluntary media council, which seeks to supervise and maintain professional and ethical conduct among the country's media practitioners.

A 14-member board -- which includes a retired high court judge, a cleric, a media law expert, lawyers and some senior journalists -- was elected to steer the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ). The country's publishers and editors' associations will also be represented on the board.

The government has accused the country's journalists of being unprofessional and willing tools in the hands of Western nations plotting to unseat Mugabe.

Dozens of journalists have been arrested on charges of violating stringent media laws, while the country's largest circulating private newspaper, the Daily News, and its sister Sunday paper, as well as two other weeklies, were forced to close after failing to comply with the regulations.

Matthew Takaona, head of the journalists' union which was instrumental in the establishment of the voluntary council, said the self-regulating body would be more effective in promoting high standards in the media.

''An independent, non-partisan and apolitical media council, as opposed to a mandatory regulatory body, is the best system for promoting freedom of expression,'' Takaona said.

''As ZUJ (Zimbabwe Union of Journalists), we support the launch of the voluntary media council and hope it ushers in a new era for the media in this country.'' Although all the country's media organisations were represented at the launch, there was a low turnout from journalists working for state media.

The government has previously said the voluntary council would be of very little significance because it did not have statutory powers to rein in excesses.

The MCZ launch was deferred last January after Leo Mugabe, the president's nephew and chairman of a parliamentary committee on transport and communications, warned journalists against forming an independent body without government approval.

REUTERS SBC RK2240