# Zimbabwe: the High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists under the media registration law

Published 2026-09-23. Last reviewed 2026-09-22. 2 sources.

Status: historical, as of 2026-09-22.

What we don't know: The source reviewed does not explain what additional documents the Media and Information Commission required or why the registration was withheld.

Zimbabwe's High Court ruled that Daily News journalists could not be accredited to work as reporters until their newspaper's publisher had itself been registered with the government's Media and Information Commission.[1][2][3][4]

- Country: [Zimbabwe](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/zw) (RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180)
- Where: ZW
- Level of government: National
- Tactic: Credential control
- Stage: Punish (ladder: https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/credential_control#stage-punish)
- Ladder note: Journalists at a named newspaper were denied the individual credential needed to work at all, conditioned on a separate corporate registration the government withheld for years.
- Head of government at the time: [Robert Mugabe](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/robert-mugabe)
- Issue of the day: The Daily News, Zimbabwe's largest independent newspaper, had been closed since September 2003 after the Supreme Court found it unregistered under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), a 2002 law requiring every media outlet and journalist to register with the government.
- Outcome: Upheld by a court, 12 May 2005. The High Court upheld the requirement that the publisher be registered before its journalists could be accredited; the paper was not relicensed until 2010.
- Era: The 2000s

## What happened

On May 12, 2005, a judge on Zimbabwe's High Court ruled that journalists at the Daily News could not receive individual accreditation to practice as reporters until the newspaper's publisher, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), had first been granted registration by the government's Media and Information Commission (MIC), the body created under AIPPA to register media outlets and license journalists. The ruling came during ANZ's long-running effort to reopen the paper, which police had shut in September 2003. At a hearing five days earlier, the MIC had requested additional documents from ANZ, and the company's lawyer said the commission had demanded information beyond what the law required. The Committee to Protect Journalists' executive director at the time, Ann Cooper, said the accreditation process amounted to a means of providing cover for a government campaign against the independent press, rather than a genuine licensing procedure.[1][2][3][4]

The accreditation refusal stood as of the ruling; the Daily News did not reopen for several more years.[1][2][3][4]

## What reason was given

Not stated in the sources reviewed; the Media and Information Commission did not issue a public statement explaining the additional documents it requested from the newspaper's publisher.[2]

## What changed for reporting

Daily News journalists remained unable to work as accredited reporters because the newspaper's publisher itself could not obtain registration, keeping Zimbabwe's largest independent paper off the newsstands.[1]

## Timeline

- 2005-05-12: Zimbabwe: the High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists under the media registration law

## Who acted

| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Robert Mugabe](https://thewaronnews.com/actors/robert-mugabe) | other | President of Zimbabwe |

## Outlets and journalists

| Name | Kind | Relation |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Daily News](https://thewaronnews.com/outlets/daily-news-zimbabwe) | outlet | affected |

## Sources

1. High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists. https://cpj.org/2005/05/high-court-refuses-to-accredit-daily-news-journali/ (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-05-12).
2. Attacks on the Press 2003: Zimbabwe. https://cpj.org/2004/03/attacks-on-the-press-2003-zimbabwe/ (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2004-03-11).

## Claims cited

[1] The publisher's lawyer said the commission demanded information beyond what the law required of it. Quote: "the commission had demanded information beyond the legal requirements" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-05-12. High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists. https://cpj.org/2005/05/high-court-refuses-to-accredit-daily-news-journali/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/504, checked 2026-09-22.

[2] CPJ's then executive director said the accreditation process served to cover a government campaign against the independent press. Quote: "a farce designed to provide cover for the government's campaign to crush the independent media" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-05-12. High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists. https://cpj.org/2005/05/high-court-refuses-to-accredit-daily-news-journali/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/505, checked 2026-09-22.

[3] The judge ruled that Daily News journalists could not be accredited until the paper's publisher itself was registered by the Media and Information Commission. Quote: "until the newspaper had been granted registration by the government's Media and Information Commission (MIC)" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-05-12. High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists. https://cpj.org/2005/05/high-court-refuses-to-accredit-daily-news-journali/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/567, checked 2026-09-22.

[4] The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act requires all journalists and media outlets to register with the Media and Information Commission. Quote: "requires all journalists and media outlets to register with the MIC" Source: Committee to Protect Journalists, 2005-05-12. High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists. https://cpj.org/2005/05/high-court-refuses-to-accredit-daily-news-journali/ Claim: https://thewaronnews.com/claims/568, checked 2026-09-22.

Source page: https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2005-zimbabwe-court-refuses-daily-news-accreditation. The War On News, CC BY 4.0.