Zim to get another daily

by | Apr 15, 2009

Zimbabwe will soon have a second private daily paper after publishers
of the Financial Gazette announced they will be launching their daily
soon, writes a journalism.co.za correspondent.

 
Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Chisese said in a statement that The Daily Evening Gazette, would be  published by Modus Publications, who are also the Financial Gazette’s holding company.
 
He said they were granted the licence for a daily paper in 2007 by the Media and Information Commission (MIC) but the project was put on hold due to financial constraints precipitated by the economic and political crisis.

“The success of the Daily Evening Gazette would be underpinned by the strength of its management and its fearless, balanced, fair and authoritative reporting,” Chisese said. “A lot of ground has been covered in capitalising the project, putting in place appropriate equipment, raw materials and the expertise ahead of the launch.”

Last month,  South African-based Trevor Ncube announced he will be launching a daily paper – NewsDay following the formation of an inclusive government involving the two formations of the MDC and Zanu-PF.
 
Ncube is the publisher of the The Independent and The Standard – popular weeklies that compete with the Financial Gazette. He is also the publisher of the South African Mail&Guardian newspaper.
 
However, Ncube is yet to get a licence although he has started recruiting to fill editorial and production posts.
 
The MIC, which played a pivotal role in the closure of several newspapers under the country’s tough media laws, is expected to be replaced at the end of April by a new media regulating authority, the Zimbabwe Media Commisison, in line with agreements reached between the  coalition parties.
 
Zimbabwe's inclusive government has said it wants to heal the scars brought by the political turmoil and closure of newspapers during the era of the MIC.
 
The MIC closed several papers including the largest circulating Daily News for "defying" tough press laws which forced media houses to seek a licence.