A conference of journalists in Pretoria last week heard that CNN and BBC stage-managed 'violence' in Kenya and Zimbabwe this year in a bid to prove that Africa cannot hold peaceful elections. First to make the accusation was a senior political reporter at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Mahlatse Gallens who said BBC stage-managed events during the recent constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe in a bid to report negative news about Africa. She said she was among journalists covering the referendum and she was shocked to watch a footage on BBC claiming that it was marred with violence. "We later learned that upon realising that there was no violence, the BBC reporters covering the referendum went to Mbare, a location in Harare, with a supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change. Upon reaching the place, the MDC supporter started distributing placards and making political statements with the intention to provoke rival supporters. That's when the purported violence ensued and BBC filmed it," she said.
She added that immediately after the stage-managed event, the BBC reporters flew out of the country with the 'scoop'. Gallens has covered elections in several African countries among them the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Kenya, but she said the western media often blow out of proportion, any form of violence.She was supported by Kipkoech Tanui, managing editor of Standard newspapers in Kenya who stated that CNN is guilty of manufacturing news of violence ahead of his country's general elections in March. He said the Kenyan government responded with caution that might make it difficult for foreign journalists to work in the country as accreditation requirements might be tightened.
