Financial Control of the Media

Critics say the announcement by the Mozambique government to introduce hefty license fees for local and foreign journalists is an attempt to discourage reporting from the country. Local correspondents will be expected to pay two-thousand five –hundred dollars per trip for media accreditation while foreign correspondents living in Mozambique will be charged eight-thousand – three-hundred dollars per year. Mozambique’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has warned that the imposition of licensing fees on the country’s mass media must not compromise the fundamental right of the public to information.

To help us unpack this discussion, we are joined by:

• Prof Franz Kruger, is the Director at the Wits Radio Academy at the University of Witwatersrand

• Jovial Rantau Chairman of the Africa Editors Forum

• Zenaida Machado is the Angola and Mozambique researcher in the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch