These laws accounted for the constricted media space as witnessed by the closure of newspapers such as the Daily News, Daily News on Sunday, Tribune and Weekly Mail under AIPPA prior to the formation of the GNU which saw the marginal opening up of the media space. Encouraging though is the fact that Professor Moyo has reiterated his commitment to comply with the new constitutional provisions on media freedom , freedom of expression and access to information. In addition, an inter-ministerial committee is reportedly looking into the laws that need to be re-aligned with the new constitutional dispensation. Moyo has further hinted that criminal defamation as enshrined under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act , should be repealed. It is reported that all in all, close to 200 laws need to be realigned with the new constitution. However, commitment alone is not enough. There is need for transparency as to the nature of the laws that are being looked at in that regard as well as allowing for input from interest groups and society at large as opposed to piecemeal approaches on the long overdue legislative reforms agenda. While MISA-Zimbabwe commends the Professor’s seeming repentance and determination to depolarise the media environment, we urge him to consult widely where it pertains to media legislative reforms as opposed to cherry-picking laws that should be subjected to repeal or amendment of their respective provisions. v Arrests, threats and harassment of journalists As noted in our 2012 report, the advent of the now defunct inclusive government, saw a marked reduction in the number of cases of media violations – a trend that continues to hold with further reductions in 2013 compared to the previous year. In 2009, MISA-Zimbabwe issued 80 alerts pertaining to media violations which then dropped to a total of 27 in 2010, 28 in 2011, with a similar number recorded in 2012. The number further declined to 22 as of 19 December 2013. While this reduction could be indicative of a country that is on the reform path, these cases tend to rise during elections as witnessed ahead of the 31 July elections. The cases some of which border on criminality ranged from, abductions, harassments, assault, arrests and destruction of newspapers by unruly political party supporters. These wanton acts of lawlessness which put the lives of journalists and media workers at great risk, assumed new shocking levels following the hospitalisation of Chinhoyi-based journalist Paul Pindani on 14 June 2013. Pindani was abducted from his home, severely assaulted, and left for dead by unknown assailants who were wearing masks.