Ray Choto

Ray Choto, Zimbabwe, is working on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Project at Voice of America in Washington, D.C. Previously he was a senior research fellow at Stanford University.

He is the former chief investigative reporter for The Standard, a Sunday weekly based in Harare, where he uncovered several stories about government and business corruption. In July 1998, The Standard and Choto reported that numerous business entrepreneurs, cabinet ministers and senior police officers were linked to drug barons and involved in money-laundering. In January 1999, he also revealed that 23 soldiers, including seven officers, had been in jail since mid-December for urging fellow soldiers to overthrow President Mugabe. Choto and his editor Mark Chavunduka were thrown in jail and tortured for not revealing their sources on that story. Choto and Chavunduka were released after nine days and later honored as joint-winners of the International Press Freedom award, sponsored by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. They also became the first African journalists to receive the British James Cameron Award. Choto was a 2000-01 Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University.