them the material to report
on?

The Herald never reports anything
positive about the oppositionneither do they point out the faults of the
bullying party or, more aptly,the ruining party. The government media is
engaged in institutionalisedmendacity - cheating the people with outright
lies.

"Following the Flag" is following
the government's lead in policymatters, seeking to glorify them even if they
are bad.

For instance, the land policy
which the government has adopted shouldhave had the support of the media
even when the way the land was beingacquired and distributed was haphazard.
Talk about hoodwinking.

Ankomah's opinion
is that the media must "help the government tocontrol the masses by acting
as a sieve between the state and the
citizenry".

The people are just
allowed enough information to think that they arepart of the government but
the bulk of it being hidden from them.

Anyone in their right mind whoread the story in The Herald
headlined"President Mugabe speaks on MDC petition" can see that it has
passed througha very fine sieve.

The
State media gives the people the very obvious, insignificant anduseless
information. Knowledge is power.

By giving
the people full, adequate and accurate information, theindependent media is
also empowering them to make decisions on
theirdestiny.

In the same issue of New
African, Ankomah's real world includesBritain, the United States and France.
If his perceptions of the real worldare so biased then he is a lost
soul.

Living in Europe for 15 years does
not necessarily make him one ofthem.

There is a Shona saying: "Gunguwo nyangwe rikashamba sei idemachete" -
literally translated: No matter how much a crow cleanses itself, itwill
still remain black.'

If he was in his
motherland and seeing how much the public is beingdeceived by the state,
maybe he would take a stand