SECTOR 1 There is also the challenge of institutional reform, whereby those working in institutions still have a mindset of withholding information, as opposed to freely providing it to the public. The army, as well as certain ministries, will demand that journalists send them written questions for the information they are seeking, but can take two weeks or more to respond to these questions. Websites are poorly maintained. The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), for example, at the time of this AMB did not have a comprehensive website where people could get information about establishing a radio station. There is also limited information in braille for the visually impaired; and those who are hearing impaired and require sign language interpretation are often cut off from receiving relevant information. There are also examples of “information dumping”. The budget of the City of Harare runs to hundreds of pages, but getting the focused information required can be a challenge. 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: Score of previous years: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 2.7 2006: 1.1; 2008: 1.2; 2010: 1.9; 2012: 2.5; 2015: 2.6 1.8 Websites, blogs and other digital platforms are not required to register with or obtain permission from state authorities There is no specific legal requirement for the registration of websites and blogs. The Broadcasting Services Act contains provisions to regulate these “nonfrequency services”, but until now, they have never been used. Section 7 of the Act talks about ‘narrowcasting’ and ‘webcasting’ and the legislation states that such media need to be licenced. In 2018, BAZ published an advertisement requiring people with broadcasting services ‘not requiring a frequency’ to register. These included ‘web on demand’ and ‘net casting’ services, among others. As a result, some media houses – Alpha Media and Zimpapers, for example – have now received a webcasting licence. 14 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2020