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Derek Pringle faces deportation

England's tour of Zimbabwe has been plunged into further doubt after the journalist Derek Pringle refused to restrict his coverage to cricket only

Wisden Cricinfo staff
29-Nov-2004
England's tour of Zimbabwe has been plunged into further controversy after the journalist Derek Pringle refused to restrict his coverage to cricket only.
Pringle, a correspondent with The Daily Telegraph, now faces deportation after his editor ordered him not to sign a declaration that would commit him to covering nothing but cricket. The Telegraph was one of 13 media organisations whose representatives were banned last week by the Zimbabwean government, which prompted the England team to stay in South Africa until the ban was lifted.
"My editor told me on no account to sign any such guarantee," the former Test player Pringle was quoted as saying on the BBC's website. "If they want to deport me for that, then so be it."
And Pringle suggested that he may not be the only British journalist to refuse to sign the document, depending on what their editors advise. "A lot of them haven't discussed it yet at length with their editors. "Mike Walters, the Daily Mirror's correspondent, has been told not to travel at all by his paper and he is travelling home. I've been told one or two others have been told not to sign any such declaration."
It is not the first time the Telegraph has taken a firm stance in Zimbabwe. Described at various times by the regime as an agent for MI5, the paper has repeatedly highlighted political abuses inside Zimbabwe. In April, another of its correspondents, Mihir Bose, was deported from the country for what he claimed were fabricated accreditation reasons.
England will play the second of their one-day series against Zimbabwe on December 1. The series was reduced from five to four matches following England's delayed arrival after the debacle over media accreditation last week.