The Zimbabwean presidential elections will be held on 29 March 2008 in the backdrop of rigged presidential elections and a muzzled independent media. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), this repressive climate has forced 48 journalists to seek refuge outside the country since 2001, creating the largest group of exiled journalists in the world. However, this has allowed Zimbabwean journalists now outside of their native country to lend insight and provide information to their people through new media outlets physically removed from the repression.

In particular, far from his home, Geoffrey Nyarota, editor of the The Zimbabwe Times, published online in Boston, US, is providing Zimbabweans with an alternative look into what is occurring in his native country. Regardless of its place of issue, The Zimbabwe Times consists of daily contributions from a broad network of correspondents still in Zimbabwe, many of them former Daily News staffers, along with journalists like Nyarota reporting from outside the border. It is credible press coverage, like what is offered through The Zimbabwe Times that ultimately plays a large role in determining what is next for Zimbabwe.

However, the recent surge of arrests and harassment, as reported by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), suggests that opportunities to head in a new direction are perhaps grim; the heightened crackdown appears to be part of the tactics of Incumbent President Robert Mugabe’s campaign to remain in an office he has held since he led the country to independence in 1980.

The aging president, 84, is running against Simba Makoni, a younger, 57, former ruling party loyalist, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the head of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change. With no clear winner in sight Mugabe has been undertaking a strong campaign designed to increase his chances of staying in office. Amid worsening economic conditions the race appears tight, though Mugabe is on the record to have already vowed his victory.

Media suppression is also not a new phenomenon. In the 2000 elections the police and the oft-menacing Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) were at the frontline in attacking both the media and the opposition. RSF notes that this is used to instil fear in the general population in the crucial days leading up to the polls.

Reports indicate that with the strong press and broadcast crackdown currently underway, the media in Zimbabwe will have a difficult time to sufficiently play its vital role of informing people of, at a minimum, who’s really who in the political race. Furthermore, surviving independent newspapers are virtually all weekly publications with much smaller circulations making it even more difficult to get credible information to all sectors of the country’s population.

During this critical time, the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) office in Zimbabwe has been trying reinforce the media’s role; “it [the media] is there to serve the citizens by educating the electorate on how to vote as well as familiarising them with the role and functions of electoral bodies.” In its 2008 Election guide for reporting and safety guidelines, MISA describes the media’s role as a duty while also referring to the heavy challenges this poses.

The heavy challenges were revealed especially in February when media professionals were increasingly harassed and ordered to reveal their sources. Specifically, two media offices were raided, and four journalists were charged with ‘publishing false news.’

On 9 February state security agents demanded reporters of the privately-owned weekly The Masvingo Mirror to reveal sources of two articles that referred to former Finance Minister Makoni’s candidature. If such ‘anti-government’ remarks and ‘aims at de-campaigning Mugabe,’ it was warned, ran again in the weekly the paper could face closure.

On 21 February, the Information and Publicity Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu forced the weekly The Financial Gazette to remove an article that discussed dissent within Mugabe’s administration.

In this context, The Zimbabwe Times, which has been online since October 2006, holds a profound advantage that allows information to be disseminated amid the government’s crackdown. Nyarota noted to RAP 21 that many Zimbabweans (with access to the Internet) depend on the website for their daily news. Being able to escape government control allows the website to uniquely provide Zimbabweans with a forum for “serious and mature debate on the many vexing political and economic issues currently bedevilling their country,” Nyarota relayed.

Still, working from abroad to inform a citizenry miles away is not an easy task. While government forces are not going to storm the new headquarters of The Zimbabwe Times in Boston, Nyarota is forced to grapple with the barriers of being so far away. Managing the newsroom is a lot harder for him as he depends on sources in a different time zone that cannot always be reached. He also has to deal with the limitations of his audience. To read his headlines one still needs a computer.

However, times are changing and Nyarota says that “within the continually shifting technological landscape of today...The Zimbabwe Times contributes to a better-informed citizenry, while in a demonstrably practical way encouraging public participation in civic life and offering inclusive and accessible space for analytical and creative expression.”