One of the stories that has been doing the rounds on the society for professional journalists mailing list is about the so-called independent press.

British author, Andrew Morton, is better known for his biographies of celebrities: Princess Diana and Monica Lewinsky.

The recent changes and restructuring in the state-controlled media, engineered by the Department of Information and Publicity, is beginning to pay dividends according to the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe.

Divisions within the Movement for Democratic Change, fanned by an overzealous state-controlled media all out to discredit the strongest opposition party this country has ever had, could derail the party’s presidential election campaign.

Though under pressure from leaders of the Southern African Development Community who forced the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to the same conference for the first time in September, the MDC cannot afford to talk to ZANU-PF because this could cost it its credibility.