Media freedom- An American illusion

It seems like there is trouble in paradise!The United States is one of the major players when it comes to the game of judging,which country has freedom of press and which one does not have.The Bible makes it very clear,’’thou shall not judge’’.I do not know who that young lady was but what i know is that she grabbed the microphone that was held by Jim Acosta, a renowned CNN journalist.The White House has since suspended Acosta’s press pass following the press briefing incident,when he posed a simple question to the president pertaining to the issue of migrants trying to enter the american lands through the US-Mexico border.If this sort of drama was performed in Harare,president Trump would have taken it to the social media,particularly twitter,to condemn the incident and label Zimbabwe as a country without freedom of press.Well it is a beautiful thing that this drama was not performed in our media landscape.If one has been doubting the levels of freedom that our journalists enjoy in Zimbabwe and giving more credit to the US’s freedom of press,this battle between Trump and the CNN serves as a litmus test for US’s press freedoms. In Zimbabwe there has never been a situation whereby a ZBC journalist or any media practitioner is ridiculed in such a manner,particularly by the Head of State.What surprises me is that the CNN has enjoyed for quite a long time,a good record of spreading American propaganda.We were all misled that there is no violation of human rights in the US,particularly press freedom.The CNN has filed a lawsuit against President Trump and his aides simply because they felt that their rights were violated.It was not without irony to me that a U.S. White House correspondent who is an American citizen was denied access to a ceremony by his own government but was granted access by the government of France," CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist noted in a declaration attached to the lawsuit.These remarks by the CNN bureau chief simply reflect lack of democracy in America and Trump’s real face of a deceiver.Things are starting to get sour for the US,even its relationships with its allies.Saudi-Arabia and USA could end or maybe compromise their friendship prior to the death of Jamal Khashoggi.Meanwhile California is literally ablaze with wildfire and hundreds of people are missing,plus nearly 55 people have lost their lives so far.What is happening to Trump,what is he going to do,perhaps he will skip the court session scheduled for this week so that he can attend to the California disaster,but knowing Trump’s character,maybe he will be sleeping at home,playing some video games. American propaganda can not be undermined because it is serious.The White House is on record castigating African regimes for suppressing media freedoms,but apparently our journalists and the office of the President have never been on turf wars.What would possibly happen to a President who lies to the people? because during his presidential campaign,Trump told CNN that, if elected, he would not kick reporters out of the White House.But now the opposite of what he told CNN is happening.This is a wake up call for Africans to remain patriotic and sound in maintaining their dignity,and never to be fooled by Western media or any organization claiming to be for the people and is with the people.If Donald Trump is mistreating his own people like strangers,well we have to see what happens next or what their next illusion will be like. Written by Tinashe Mapirazuva