Censorship as a regressive developmental instrument for radio and television broadcasting service in Zimbabwe

The current Zimbabwean media laws have failed to emancipate the broadcasting service by recycling old systems from its colonial era. For instance, the constitutional law of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) endorsed in 2001 is connected to the Law of Official Secrets Act of 1970. Most of the media laws still restricts how media practitioners access information and unveil rampart corruption and atrocities encountered by ordinary people. The operations of all existing broadcasting media companies are controlled by Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and a board called Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), which also has the right to issues licenses to those who are interested in owning a broadcasting services. Currently, only two privately owned radio stations exist in Zimbabwe and they are owned by politicians. Zimbabwe Broadcasting Co-operation (ZBC) is still the sole national television broadcasting service provider. The research made use of a descriptive case study method and concludes that media legislative laws and BAZ have been constraining the growth of broadcasting service in Zimbabwe. The paper will focus on the radio and television broadcasting service of Zimbabwe, how the media legislative laws have been a regressive instrument to broadcasting service development of Zimbabwe.