SECTOR 2 This is where Zimpapers with government as the majority shareholder has an advantage over other media houses. They are able to source and carry stories from rural areas and then ensure that their publications get to these areas. There are 22 cars sent out of Harare every night to distribute The Herald all over the country. In addition, Zimpapers has made arrangements with bus drivers to distribute the paper in areas that are not reached by their company cars. The privately owned daily NewsDay has also been working on increasing its circulation and made similar arrangements with bus operators to distribute the newspapers along their service route. Two civil society initiatives distribute older copies of newspapers for free to communities in remote areas so that citizens outside cities and towns get access to a diversity of news. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.8 (2010:1.7; 2008:1.0; 2006:1.3) 2.4 The editorial independence of print media published by a public authority is protected adequately against undue political interference. Zimpapers, the company which publishes newspapers such as The Herald, is majority-owned by government. The current board was appointed in October 2009 by the ZANU PF Minister of Media, Information and Publicity very much to the dismay of the MDC – the party complained that they had not been consulted. The editorial policy of Zimpapers’ publications is to defend government policy. If government supports indigenisation of the economy, for example, then The Herald as the stable’s flagship will endorse that position “one hundred per cent”. This is apparently achieved without too much overt coercion. A panel member observed that “... there is no daily interference. There is self-censorship. They may let you get away with things, but you don’t really know, so half the time people are self-censoring themselves.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2012 29