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Zim blasts CNN, BBC
28/09/2007 14:06 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's information minister has castigated western media for their coverage of President Robert Mugabe's speech at the United Nations General Assembly, say reports.
Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said CNN and the BBC gave United States President George W Bush full coverage when he criticised Mugabe in his address to the Assembly this week, but denied Mugabe similar coverage for his speech.
Ndlovu said: "The so-called champions of press freedom, CNN and BBC cut the live broadcast when the President was hitting hard, full throttle, with a volley of intellectual punches left, right and centre.
"Bush was given full coverage to demonise our President and our nation, but our president was not given equal time to defend himself and his country."
Zim people 'needed help'
He said: "They always claim that they give balanced information through their media, but they have proved themselves to be suffering from inexactitudes and stretches of imagination. I know why my predecessor threw them out of Zimbabwe."
In his speech at the UN, Bush said the people of Zimbabwe needed help to free themselves from suffering under a "tyrannical regime".
Mugabe hit back saying Bush "has much to atone for and very little to lecture us on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights", adding that the US leader's hands "drip with the innocent blood of many nationalities".
The US and the European Union imposed sanctions on Mugabe and members of his inner circle after presidential polls in 2002, which the main opposition and western observers charged were rigged to hand Mugabe victory.
BBC and CNN were banned in Zimbabwe after the passing of tough media laws compelling foreign correspondents to seek advance permission to work in the country.
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