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afrol News, 16 October - The Zimbabwe government has announced its intention to take to parliament a Bill to amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. "The amendments are meant to plug what the government calls loopholes in the media law," critiques say. The Bill will result in more powers being accorded to the Mass Media Commission (referred to in the media law as the Media and Information Commission) and "many of the so-called loopholes amount to nothing in offering a reprieve to media houses and journalists," according to the media watchdog Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The media law created the Mass Media Commission whose functions and powers are to receive and act upon comments from the public about the administration and performance of the media in Zimbabwe and to conduct investigations and audits to ensure compliance with any provision of this Bill. The Commission further is to receive and evaluate for registration and consider applications for registration as a journalist; to accredit journalists; to enforce professional and ethical standards in the media; to authorise the collection of personal information from sources other than the person to whom the information relates; to monitor the media and raise public awareness of the media; and to register mass media in Zimbabwe. The Bill is set to amend definitions of certain important terms that relate to information and the protection of "privacy" and the registration of mass media houses. Clause 6 of the Bill seeks to substitute section 35 of the principal act by framing the offence of "deliberately falsifying personal information" in a less "ambiguous way". It will replace the reference to a specific maximum fine by a "level" of a fine in accordance with the Criminal Penalties Act of 2001. According to the amendment any person who supplies any information, which he/she knows to be false, or does not have reasonable grounds for believing it to be true, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or both, MISA reports. Clause 5 seeks to amend section 28 of the principal Act on information to be disclosed if in the public interest by combining into one provision the reference to public order and security that are presently separated or duplicated in two provisions. Clause 3 seeks to replace section 22 of the principal Act so that issues of personal safety are not mixed with issues of national security. - The Mass Media Commission's general powers will be enhanced by clause 8, which seeks to provide it with powers to hold inquiries and issue orders, MISA observes. "Presently those powers are only provided for in the context of requests for reviews of decisions by heads of public bodies to deny access to information." With respect to the powers of the Commission to hold enquiries, it is provided in the same clause that the Commission may dispense with the formality of any inquiry where it considers that no substantial disputes of law or fact are required to be determined. A mass media service shall, if ordered to do so by the Commission, publish free of charge on the front page or centre spread, the full particulars or a summary approved by the commission of a decisions of a court or the commission pertaining to its mass media service. If it is an electronic mass media, it must broadcast the decisions on three different occasions during prime time. Clause 10 seeks to substitute section 64 of the Act by new provisions, which frames that offence of "abuse of freedom of expression" in a manner that avoids any apparent conflict with the constitutional freedom of expression. It seeks to replace the reference to a specific maximum fine by a "level" in accordance with the Criminal Penalties Amendment Act. The Bill also seeks to exempt from registration mass media service founded by or under an Act of Parliament and those services consisting of the activities of a person holding a license issued in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act. A representative of a foreign mass media service permitted to operate in Zimbabwe and publications of any enterprise, association, institution or any other person that are disseminated exclusively to members or employees are exempt from registration. In house publications are not considered to be mass media services and are exempted from registration unless it is seen that they circulate their products to the general public. Clause 11 seeks to give permission to existing foreign mass media houses owners to continue owning local mass media services to the extent of their ownership interest held on 31 January 2002. Any person who, at the date of commencement of the proposed law, does not qualify to be a mass media owner or to own shares in a mass media service in terms of section 6 of the principal Act shall within three months of the commencement of the proposed law, dispose of his controlling interest or shares, as the case may be, to a person who is qualified. The Bill also seeks to amend section 69 of the Principal Act by providing for a right to appeal to the Administrative court from a decision by the Mass Media Commission to refuse to register a mass media service. It also seek to amend the Act's section 78 by supplying a definition of a "journalistic privilege" and clarifying the journalist's rights in relation to any editing of his/her work that he/she considers to be distortive. Clause 26 permits journalists who were accredited before the commencement of the principal Act, to continue to be accredited till the end of 2002.
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