Journalists and Media Workers: Safety and Security

Lord Oates Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Oates (LD)]

My Lords, in my teenage years I grew up literally on Fleet Street, where my father was rector of the journalists’ church, St Bride’s, in the days when newspapers still clustered around the street. I learned a lot during that time about the courage of journalists in bringing us news from around the world and in holding the powerful to account. At the journalists’ altar in St Bride’s, those who have given their lives reporting the news continue to be remembered every day.

Today, journalists are under greater threat around the world than ever. In Sudan, at least seven have been killed since the war broke out, and many have been detained. In Gaza, as the noble Baroness, Lady Mobarik, and others have told us, more than 176 journalists and media workers have been killed.

In Zimbabwe, a country close to my heart, media freedom has been under siege for decades now. Journalists are regularly intimidated, detained and, on occasion, murdered. Printing presses have been blown up and public dissent silenced. As we speak, the journalist Blessed Mhlanga has been detained for 59 days and denied his constitutional right to bail. His crime is having the temerity to conduct an interview with a former war veteran who opposes President Mnangagwa’s desire to extend his term in office and has highlighted the criminal corruption of the regime and the President’s family.

I note that the President’s wife is due to speak at a summit in London in June. I hope that Members of our Parliament who are choosing to take part will challenge Zimbabwe’s First Lady on the continued detention of Blessed Mhlanga and the overall brutality of the regime she represents, and I hope the Government will continue to make clear that there will be no resumption of normal relations with Zimbabwe while the ZANU-PF regime continues to detain journalists, deny media freedom and defy democratic norms. As the noble Baroness, Lady Mobarik, said in her excellent speech, there must be consequences for such actions.