Daily news says journalist’s deportation will not silence journalists

The Daily News said the deportation of American journalist Andrew Meldrum was not going to silence him or other journalists.

“Through its deportation of Meldrum, President Robert Mugabe’s regime has merely added to the list of journalists who are determined to tell the true story of Zimbabwe, even if they have to do it from beyond the country’s borders,” the paper said.

Meldrum was deported after writing a false story which had initially been carried by the Daily News.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE958, INDEPENDENT PAPER REACTS TO MELDRUM EXPULSION

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 000958

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS

NSC FOR JENDAYI FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

LONDON FOR GURNEY

PARIS FOR NEARY

NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI

SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT PAPER REACTS TO MELDRUM EXPULSION

¶1.   Under headline “Iron fist will fail” the

independent daily “The Daily News” dedicated its May

19 editorial to the expulsion of Andrew Meldrum, a

United States national and correspondent for the

British newspaper “The Guardian.” The editorial said

Meldrum’s ejection was “ill-advised and unlawful” and

that “the government’s crude actions will not silence

Meldrum or other journalists.” Excerpts follow:

¶2.   “The government of Zimbabwe has yet again

contrived to make an international spectacle of itself

with its ill-advised and unlawful deportation of

Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum. . . It is tragic

for the nation that the government fails to realize,

or simply does not care, that its iron-fisted response

to its citizen’s attempts to express basic rights that

they are guaranteed by the Constitution is fuelling

the tension it prefers, ostrich-like, not to see. . .

Through its deportation of Meldrum, President Robert

Mugabe’s regime has merely added to the list of

journalists who are determined to tell the true story

of Zimbabwe, even if they have to do it from beyond

the country’s borders. The government’s crude actions

will not silence Meldrum or other journalists. . . .”

WHITEHEAD

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