Zimbabwe
their partisan and narrow perspective on
what constitute a community radio and
how they should be regulated, structured and operated.

Broadcasting Digital Migration –
near yet so far
After missing the 17 June 2015 International Telecommunications Union’s
deadline for migration from analogue to
digital broadcasting, Zimbabwe says it is
now on course to meet the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
June 2016 deadline.
While there was significant coverage
and updates on progress post the June
2015 deadline, there is still need for
public awareness campaigns on the
process and its implications on ordinary
Zimbabweans.
Information relating to the process remains confined and only accessible
to a select section of the Zimbabwean
society. There is need for a wider and
much more structured public awareness
campaign that uses people- centric platforms to ensure that citizens know what
exactly will be at stake including the
benefits of digital migration.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE
Increase in internet and mobile
access
The Postal and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) noted
an increase in the number of active mobile subscribers, which grew by 0.5%
to reach 11.9 million from 11.8 million
subscribers recorded in the previous
year.
As a result, mobile and internet access
in the country continued to change the
face of both the mainstream print and

broadcast media, communication by
the citizenry and the general monetary
transactions in the country.
Significant strides were taken by the
mainstream media to harness, particularly social media and mobile applications in enhancing the citizenry’s access
to and participation in the production
content.

The internet is not
completely secure
since laws that are
used to regulate and
control expression offline can still be used
to regulate online
activity.
The Zimpapers and Africa Media Holdings groups used mobile technology in
the distribution of their content on the
SMS platforms with the country’s three
Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s)
Econet, Telecel and Netone, until about
June 2015, when Econet subscribers
stopped receiving the Zimpapers Mobile News. The SMS platforms continue
to bring in significant revenue for the
newspaper groups with a charge of 88
cents and 80 cents, respectively. Social
media applications Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter continue to be platforms of choice for many Zimbabweans

So This is Democracy? 2015

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Select target paragraph3