Robert Mugabe interviewed on Sky

Sky News is surely to be congratulated on awarding a grand propaganda coup to one of the world's most vicious tyrants. Robert Gabriel Mugabe who calls himself President of Zimbabwe and is no doubt effectively ruler of that afflicted country after his party's blatant rigging of the presidential election in 2002, was given one hour of prime time on British television this week. One hour for Mugabe and his cronies to duck and dive from the real issues and to peddle their own obnoxious propaganda, which they did so plausibly one might almost wonder if they believed it themselves .

Those of us who respect the freedom of others to express views quite contrary to our own (and that certainly does not include Robert Mugabe), do not take issue with Sky News for interviewing Mugabe and his ZANU PF chefs What we do question however is the lack of balance and fairness shown by Sky News in their reporting. Two points in particular:

Robert Mugabe interviewed by Sky

In a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Sky News' Africa Correspondent, Stuart Ramsay, President Mugabe talks about the economy, land reform, Zimbabwe's relationship with the international community, Tony Blair and George Bush, the domestic opposition, allegations of political repression and corruption - and cricket...

Here is the full transcript of his interview:

STUART RAMSAY: Mr President, there are a number of issues I'd like to talk to you about. I'll start first with the political situation in Zimbabwe today. One of the impediments to substantive negotiations between ZANU PF and the opposition MDC was the opposition's demand that you step down from office. Now they have told us that that demand has gone away, do you think it is now time for negotiations between the two parties to get underway?

Greenbombers: a still from the BBC news footage

BBC Radio 4 : Broadcast 6 March 2004
Hilary Andersson

Never before have I spent months sitting in front of young people who have tortured, raped, beaten their relatives and who speak of it quite matter-of-factly.

Hilary Andersson spent months interviewing young rapists and torturers for a BBC investigation which revealed the brutal secrets of Zimbabwe's training camps. This job is a steady diet of wars, death at close range, natural disasters that make the earth shake, or that cause liquid fire to spew from mountains, planes that fall out of the skies, diseases that kill millions and meetings with individuals at the heart of unspeakable tragedies.