What The Source Being Raided Means For Zim Media

Thursday was a dark day for media when online media site The Source was raided by the deputy Sheriff.

: lرسام كاريكاتير اشتراكي / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

This was over an article they published which Steward Bank and its owner Econet Zimbabwe did not like. They then went and got permission from the court to cease any material relating to Econet or Steward Bank.

This action shocked the media industry to the core with many expressing shock and sadness. NewsDay owner Trevor Ncube tweeted:

Saddened that @econetzimbabwe which benefited from media and public support at launch is now leading an attack on the media #TheSource
— Trevor Ncube (@TrevorNcube) March 26, 2015

What does this mean for the media? Well it means trouble on the horizon. A precedent has been set where the media can be raided for writing a story. On the back of Strive Masiyiwa being voted the most powerful business man in Africa by Forbes, this is not exactly the look he would have wanted. As Ncube stated it is that same media that has backed the company.

Further down the line we will have a limp media which will not be able to report evidence brought in by whistleblowers because, well, they might get raided. The whistleblowers will not want to come in lest they are uncovered. And what happened to the protection of sources as enshrined in the new constitution.

We have no idea whether the story in question was a misrepresentation of facts but the fact the matter is… the media is worried about the precedent.

The government has so far said nothing about this. We’ll see.