Southern African region media entrepreneur Trevor Ncube said Thursday that he plans to run a “litmus test” for news liberalization under Zimbabwe's new national unity government by proposing to launch a new daily newspaper in Harare under the title of NewsDay.
Ncube's ZimInd Publishers already puts out the Independent and Standard weekly papers in the Zimbabwean capital. HE says he needs only a green light from authorities to go ahead.
Ncube also publishes the Mail & Guardian paper in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Publishing sources told VOA that plans are also afoot to revive the Daily News, which closed under heavy government pressure in 2003, and the Daily Gazette, which folded in 1993.
Director Jethro Goko of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publisher of the Daily News, said his organization has sought authorization and is confident of success.
ZimInd executive Ncube told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the unity government will open up new opportunities in the media.
More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...
