Imprensa em Mocambique: Mais um computador roubado!

Mozambique Alert
21 July 2008
Another independent news organization loses computers in break-in

Independent media organisation, "Alternativa", one of Mozambique's daily news organisation distributed by fax and e-mail, lost equipment in a break in on 19 July 2008. The news organization lost four computers according to Sérgio Massinga, editor of the publication. Massinga told MISA-Mozambique that the computers which were stolen contained the stories which had been prepared for the coming edition. The paper had to cancel that issue. "That was all we had in terms of computers, so we are really in a bad situation", he added. The latest break in and stealing of computers is the latest in a long string of such happenings raising suspicion and concern that there is more to these events than mere break-ins.

The editor of "Alternativa" said that his paper was working on the kind of stories it normally works, when asked what he thinks about the robbery. "We never know what are the reasons for these things", he underlined. The Mozambican Police told local reporters on 21 July that the matter is still under investigation promising that no stone will be left unturned in finding the criminals.

"Alternativa" is not the first newspaper to lose property. In July last year, another break-in took place at "Magazine Independente", which was very strange, as the thieves only took the hard discs of that publication's computers. In total of 12 (10 PCs and 2 laptops) had their hard discs stolen. Talking to MISA-Mozambique in that time, Salomão Moyana, the Editor-in-Chief of that weekly, said that the break-in and stealing of equipment was a way to silence his publication, as it was always coming out with investigative pieces. Two months later, 'Vertical", a local faxsheet, was also broken into. Two computers were stolen.

Background

Mozambique has more than 10 daily papers distributed by fax and e-mails. The oldest one is Mediafax, which was established in 1992 by Carlos Cardoso, the Mozambican journalist assassinated in 2000, when he was investigating a bank fraud of USD 14 million. Faxsheets constitutes an alternative way of informing people, as the production costs of this kind of publications is very low. //End//