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International relations and image building
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-08
Monday February 21st - Sunday February 27th 2005

APART from simplistically amplifying the government's claims that the country's electoral framework had been democratised, the government media stifled news of regional and international concerns over issues of governance in the country. All 61 stories the government media carried on these developments reflected this stance. These media, especially ZBH, used the country's hosting of the Miss Tourism World Pageant to divert attention from government's troubled relations with the outside world over the compromised political situation in Zimbabwe.

The government electronic media devoted 33 stories to this topic, while its Press accorded it six reports. ZTV alone dedicated 12 of its16 reports on international relations to the hosting of the Miss Tourism pageant, which, according to the station's reporter (24/2, 8pm) was aimed at promoting "the image of the country that had been tainted by negative publicity since the year 2000". It was not surprising therefore, that ZTV allocated the Miss Tourism World pageant 37minutes (15%) of airtime out of the 245 minutes devoted to its 8pm bulletins (excluding sport) in the week. The government TV station used another 1 hour 45 minutes in altered programming before and after its main news on ZTV (22/2) to advertise the beauty contest.

However, the government controlled media did carry 18 reports that attempted to publicize the international community's displeasure with political developments in the country (ZTV (3), Radio Zimbabwe (3), Power FM (6), while the Zimpapers stable of newspapers carried six reports altogether). But most of these stories were reported in the context of dismissive official responses to the criticism and therefore always obfuscated the exact nature of the original criticism. For example, the government Press responded to news of the renewal of targeted sanctions against government individuals by the EU with venom and conspiracy theories without attempting to address the real reasons for the EU's decision.

Besides, the government media also passively used unflattering government responses to discredit, among other actions by regional and international organisations, COSATU's planned blockade of the Zimbabwe/ South Africa border to protest the repressive political environment in the country. The private media handled the topic differently. Apart from giving the Miss Tourism pageant a more proportionate space in the news (six reports), the private media were the only ones that clearly reported the international community's concerns about Zimbabwe in 18 stories.

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