Press Gazette: Sun falls prey to Mugabe house hoax

The Sun has taken down an article from its website about a palace it claimed belonged to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe - it has emerged that the photograph showed an American house used in the film Beethoven's 4th. Full story...

Tags: Beethoven's 4th, Robert Mugabe, The Sun, Zimbabwe

Google News launches for nine African countries

Further to its addition of a Turkish version, Google News has launched English-language editions in nine African countries.

Sites for Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe have been set up, according to the Google News Blog.

Google News now has 52 editions worldwide.

Tags: Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe

NUJ calls for investigation into death of photojournalist Richard Mills

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called for a full investigation into the death of photojournalist Richard Mills, who died while working for The Times in Zimbabwe.

In a letter from NUJ president James Doherty to South African president Thabo Mbeki, the union raised concerns that Mills’ death could be linked to his work and was not suicide as claimed by the Zimbabwean authorities.

“The National Union of Journalists shares with his family, colleagues and friends their grave concern at the circumstances surrounding Richard’s death (…)You will be aware that the current Zimbabwean government has a notorious record in relation to human rights and freedom of expression. Against this background we are requesting that you raise this incident in your discussions with Zimbabwean authorities to ensure that it is investigated in an open and transparent manner,” the letter said.

Mills, whose funeral was held in Belfast yesterday, was working undercover for The Times at the time of his death.

Editorial Photographers UK published an obituary for Richard on the site.

UPDATE - the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), who had also called for an investigation into Richard’s death, have withdrawn their demand after his family announced they had accepted the result of a post-mortem, which suggested he had taken his own life.

Tags: James Doherty, nuj, Richard Mills, Thabo Mbeki, The Times, Zimbabwe

Threats to Zimbabwe’s voters mapped by campaigners

As part of their Zimbabwe Election Watch campaign, website Sowanele.com has mapped data of conditions affecting last month’s election (thanks to a tweet from Paul Bradshaw for the link).

Users can see where different factors or issues, including violence, state propaganda and press freedom, have had an impact on the election process.

The map below shows areas where voters have been affected by issues relating to food supply, voter registration, looting and political cleansing.

The map is based on data collected since July last year from media sources in the country. As such the creators point out some caveats to the project:

“Zimbabwe has a highly restricted media environment, and fuel shortages make remote rural areas inaccessible to journalists who do manage to circumvent the legislation and report regardless. This means that urban areas have a greater representation on the map. Blank areas on the map do not indicate ‘uneventful’ areas; they are more likely to represent stories we are unable to tell and incidents that have not been reported.”

Nevertheless the map is a fascinating combination of campaign journalism, political coverage and interactive mapping.

Tags: food supply, media sources, Paul Bradshaw, restricted media environment, Zimbabwe