Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is the state-owned broadcaster in Zimbabwe. It was established as the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC), taking its current name in 1980. Like the RBC before it, the ZBC has been accused of being a government mouthpiece with no editorial independence.

History

Introduction of radio

Radio was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in 1933, in Belvedere in Salisbury (now Harare) by Imperial Airways, which was used to provide radio guidance and weather reports.''World Broadcasting: A Comparative View''
Alan Wells, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, pages 157-159 However, it was not until 1941 that the first professional broadcaster was established.''Zimbabwe: A Survey''
African Minds, 2009, page 10 This was known as the Southern Rhodesia Broadcasting Service (SRBS), and was established to meet the needs of the colony's white population. The same year, a second broadcaster, the Central African Broadcasting Station (CABS), was established, which had responsibility for broadcasting to African audiences in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) as well as Southern Rhodesia.

Following the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953, the SRBS was renamed the Federal Broadcasting Service (FBS). The CABS, still based in Lusaka, continued to use African languages as well as English. In 1955, a Federal Commission of Enquiry into the organisation of broadcasting in the Federation proposed the creation of a new broadcasting organisation, to be called the "Rhodesia and Nyasaland Broadcasting Corporation", which was to be established in 1956. However, it was not until 1958 that the FBS and CABS would be merged into the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (FBC).

When the Federation was dissolved in 1963, the FBC was disbanded, and each territory acquired its own broadcasting service, which in Southern Rhodesia was initially known as the Southern Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (SRBC). This later became known as the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC).

Introduction of television

Television was introduced on 14 November 1960, first in Salisbury, with transmissions in Bulawayo beginning seven months later. It was only the second such service in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, and the first such service in Southern Africa, as South Africa did not introduce television until 1976.''Sanctions: The Case of Rhodesia''
Harry R. Strack, Syracuse University Press, 1978, page 235

It was initially operated by a private company, Rhodesian Television (RTV) on behalf of the then FBC, with its major shareholder being South African companies, including the Argus Group of newspapers, through its subsidiary, the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company, and also served Northern Rhodesia until its independence as Zambia. Other companies included Davenport and Meyer, the latter of which operated LM Radio, based in Mozambique, then under Portuguese rule.

Following the dissolution of the FBC in 1964, the Government of Southern Rhodesia attempted to take control of RTV through the RBC, whose chairman, J.M. Helliwell, announced that the RBC would acquire all shares in RTV, "at a price agreed upon by both parties". This prompted criticism by MPs, one of whom, Vernon Brelsford, moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly deploring the proposed acquisition. He asked: "Does it actually run the programmes to make sure that only its point of view is put over and no one else's is?". Prime Minister Ian Smith argued that control of television was necessary for "winning the war for the minds of men", and would save it from falling into the hands of "communist sympathisers".

However, the government's move was rejected by RTV's directors. Instead, the RBC initially acquired a 51 per cent stake in the service, which became part of the RBC in 1976. RBC TV was funded by advertising and a television licence fee. Television reception was confined mainly to the cities and largest towns, and most viewers were whites. Umtali (now Mutare) only received television in 1972, by which time it was estimated that more than 90 per cent of the white population had access to the service. By 1973, RTV was broadcasting 42 hours a week from three transmitters, and 61 716 combined radio and television licences had been issued.

Unilateral Declaration of Independence

In November 1965, the white minority government of Ian Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, under which censorship of broadcasting and the press was imposed, and key posts at the RBC were gradually filled by supporters of the ruling Rhodesian Front party.''Censorship: A World Encyclopedia''
Derek Jones, Routledge, 2001, page 2713 The previous year, the Deputy Minister of Information, P. K. van der Byl, described the aims of his Ministry as "not merely to disseminate information from an interesting point of view but to play its part in fighting the propaganda battle on behalf of the country". In response, the RBC Director General, James Neill, resigned, citing political interference.

On 1 January 1965, the RBC had ceased to relay the morning world news bulletin from the BBC
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