(a) to visit Parliament and any public body referred to in Part I of the Second Schedule with the express
purpose of carrying out duties as a journalist;
(b) to be given prior access or privileged access to records to which access is permitted in terms of this Act
or to such other records or documents as may be prescribed;
(c) to attend any national event with the express purpose of carrying out duties as a journalist;
(d) to attend, as of right, and notwithstanding any reservation of the right of admission (but subject to the
payment of such fee as may be required of other members of the public attending the event), any public
event with the express purpose of carrying out duties as a journalist;
(e) to make recordings with the use of audio-video equipment, photography and cine-photography in connection with the carrying out duties as a journalist for the purposes of paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d).
(2) Any person or journalist who in any manner holds himself or herself out as an accredited journalist wit hout being so accredited shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level fourteen or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(3) An unaccredited journalist shall not have any right to claim the privileges provided in subsection (1).
(4) No mass media service or news agency shall employ any journalist on a full-time basis unless such journalist is accredited by the Commission.
[Subsection substituted by section 15 of Act 20 of 2007]
79 Accreditation of journalists
(1) A mass media service or news agency shall make a block application or individual applications for accreditation in terms of this section on behalf of all or any journalists employed by it on a full-time basis.
(2) A part-time or freelance journalist may, if he or she so wishes, make application on his or her own behalf
for accreditation in terms of this section.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), no journalist shall be accredited who is not a citizen of Zimbabwe, or is not regarded as permanently resident in Zimbabwe by virtue of the Immigration Act [Chapter 4:02].
(4) A journalist who is not a citizen of Zimbabwe, or is not regarded as permanently resident in Zimbabwe by
virtue of the Immigration Act [Chapter 4:02], may be accredited for any period specified by the Commission not
exceeding sixty days:
Provided that the Commission may, for good cause shown or for the purpose of enabling the journalist to
work for the duration of any event he or she is accredited to cover, extend the period by a specified number of
days.
(5) In relation to an application for accreditation made in terms of subsection (1) or (2), the Commission shall
accredit an applicant journalist or journalist on whose behalf a mass media service or news agency makes the a pplication, and issue a press card to him or her if it is satisfied that—
(a) the applicant or mass media service or news agency has complied with the prescribed formalities, including the payment of the prescribed fee; and
(b) the applicant, or journalist on whose behalf a mass media service or news agency makes the application,
is not disqualified by virtue of subsection (3).
(6) In relation to an application for accreditation by a journalist referred to in subsection (4), the Commission
shall accredit an applicant journalist and issue a press card to him or her if it is satisfied that the applicant has
complied with the prescribed formalities, including the payment of the prescribed fee.
(7) Every news agency that operates in Zimbabwe, whether domiciled inside or outside Zimbabwe, shall in
respect of its local operations not employ any journalist other than an accredited journalist:
Provided that the news agency may employ or use the services of a journalist referred to in subsection (4) for
the duration of that journalist’s accreditation.
(8) Any news agency that contravenes subsection (7) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level fourteen or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such i mprisonment.
[Subsection substituted by section 15 of Act 20 of 2007]
80 Abuse of journalistic privilege
(1) A journalist who abuses his or her journalistic privilege by publishing—
(a) information which he or she intentionally or recklessly falsified in a manner which—
(i) threatens the interests of defence, public safety, public order, the economic interests of the State,
public morality or public health; or
(ii) is injurious to the reputation, rights and freedoms of other persons;
or
(b) information which he or she maliciously or fraudulently fabricated; or
(c) any statement—
(i) threatening the interests of defence, public safety, public order, the economic interests of the
State, public morality or public health; or