Zimbabwe to tighten newspaper control

The Zimbabwe government announced moves to tighten control of the country's main newspapers but pledged that press freedom would not be impaired. Information Minister Nathan Shamuyarira said the government had established a mass media trust to buy out South African controlling interests in the newspapers -- the Herald, the Bulawayo Chronicle, the Sunday Mail, and the Sunday News -- all of which are edited by whites. The government would appoint the trust's directors who would replace the present editors with black Africans, he said.

"This is the beginning of many changes in the assertion of Zimbabwean nationality," Mr. Shamuyarira said, adding that the present "white orientation" of the newspapers would d isappear.