The perpetrators of these acts of violence had not been arrested at the time of publication of this report. While Zimbabwe may not have recorded the killing of any journalists while on duty, impunity for crimes against journalists still goes beyond murders and assassinations. Journalists face retribution for their work that sometimes uncovers public scandals, acts of corruption and general misgovernance. A recent example of the dangers journalists live with is the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khasshogi in October 2018 at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Turkey. It is believed that Khasshogi was assassinated for his criticism of the Saudi government. Unfortunately, his death is not an isolated incident as the United Nations estimates that globally, 88 journalists were killed for their work between January and October 2018. While some of the violations or crimes against journalists, may appear to be minor infractions, they are nonetheless still crimes and for that reason, must be investigated, and where appropriate, prosecuted accordingly. The State has a constitutional duty to promote and protect fundamental rights enshrined in Zimbabwe’s Constitution. These rights include the right to access information, free expression and media freedoms in general. The State through its various arms and agencies also has a responsibility to investigate allegations of crimes against journalists and to ensure that such crimes are duly prosecuted. ❖ Arrests, threats and harassment of journalists While the country was beginning to experience steady decline in the number of media freedom violations in the wake of the 2013 Constitution and its explicit provisions on freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information, these regrettably shot up in 2018. Several of the violations recorded in 2018 occurred during the election and post-election period. For instance, a total of seven (7) journalists were unlawfully arrested or detained in 2017 compared to 23 journalists the previous year. This marked a decline of almost 70% (69.5%). In 2017, MISA Zimbabwe recorded the specific assault of eight (8) journalists during the course of their duties compared to the 12 recorded in 2016. Then, the majority of the cases of assault of journalists on duty were perpetrated by the police. 9