The Daily News has found a new home on the worldwide -web. The web edition of The Daily News formerly published from a Zimbabwean domain www.dailynews.co.zw will be re-launched in the next two weeks on the new domain- www.daily-news.co.za.
The move has been inspired by our unwavering commitment to serve the millions of people who read The Daily News every day. Our core commitment is to keep the people of Zimbabwe informed about important national issues and also provide entertaining as well as educational material on a variety of Issues that may be of interest to our readers.
We have had to accept that Zimbabwean laws do not permit us to base this operation in our country of origin but we are also open to the opportunities that other countries whose laws are less hostile to a free press provide. We have therefore taken the decision to externalize our publishing operation and operate from where it is legal for us to do so whilst we await the conclusion of our case in the Zimbabwean courts.
The Internet is a media that is almost impossible for the nation state to control through legal instruments because in order to exercise jurisdiction over publishers there must be the co-operation of the host country. Quite clearly when the Zimbabwean government enacted the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which has been used to stop the publication of the Zimbabwean print edition of The Daily News they did not fully consider the technological advancement that enable publishers to reach their audiences from beyond the physical boundaries of Zimbabwe.
There is a general consensus amongst the democratic nations in the world that few, if any obstacles should be placed in the path of free expression and the internet has emerged as one of the most effective vehicles for free expression. Democratic governments only interfere with Internet usage when such interference is clearly in the public interest as has been the case with crimes committed
through the net such as pedophilia and terrorism. This will challenge governments like are own which have laws that are hostile to free expression to remove these laws from their statute books.
We will continue the fight to get the Daily News back on the streets of Zimbabwe where we can serve the greater portion of our established readership. This is because access to the internet in Zimbabwe remains the preserve of a privileged few who constitute less than one percent of the total population.
Currently, although our readers can access the new site, only the interactive features on the site are operative. Since our operation in Zimbabwe was shut down our readers continue to submit letters to the editor and humorous anecdotes on Zimbabwean issues. Readers are also participating in polls on key Zimbabwean issues, the results of which are published on the web. The readers, or ‘Friends of The Daily News' are the ones who have kept the site going whilst our editorial team prepares to re-launch what we believe will become the premier site for news and information on Zimbabwe. The enthusiasm of our readers has been remarkable. We have counted a total of 90 000 hits since the new site was established and our promise to readers is that we will soon be back to continue telling the Zimbabwean story “like it is”.