Monday, January 15, 2007

Voice of the People appoints first UK correspondent


The independent award winning shortwave station Radio Voice of the People (VOP), which broadcasts to Zimbabwe via RNW’s Madagasacar relay station, has appointed veteran journalist and social commentator Selbin Kabote, as its first UK correspondent.
Kabote, a highly experienced journalist, holds a Post Graduate Diploma and a Masters Degree in International Broadcast Journalism. He also holds diplomas in Broadcast Management, Public Relations, Mass Media studies, Radio Reporting and Marketing.
Kabote worked as a Sub-Editor at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) in the early eighties. He left the ZBC in 1995 to work for the external broadcasting services of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Channel Africa as a radio news journalist, sub-Editor and producer on the English news desk.
Radio VOP, which he joins with immediate effect, has been harassed by the government over the years under Zimbabwe’s draconian media laws. It’s Harare offices were destroyed in a bomb attack in 2002. No-one has been brought to justice for the attack as in the case of the banned Daily News newspaper.
During the past few years the radio station has been raided by the police, journalists and board members arrested and its frequencies were jammed. Radio VOP has, however, continued to broadcast a daily programme into Zimbabwe providing for at least half a million listeners hungry for independent news in the country.
Due to draconian media laws, many journalists from Zimbabwe are increasingly operating from outside the country working for stations such as Studio 7, which is based in the United States, and the London-based SW Radio Africa.
(Source: Zimbabwejournalists.com/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)