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Election countdown
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-09
Monday February 28th - Sunday March 6th 2005

1. Campaigns
THIS week the national broadcaster, ZBH, began giving airtime to contesting parties to broadcast their campaign manifestoes. Independent candidates were allocated about five minutes per contestant while political parties were each accorded about 12 minutes on all ZBH's stations. However, the national broadcaster did not publicise its programming schedule of election programmes in advance. As a result, its audiences were not clear on the exact times different candidates and parties would be broadcast.

To make matters worse, just before its 8pm bulletin, ZTV (1/2) misled the electorate when it announced that it would broadcast independent candidate Dunmore Makuwaza's manifesto after the bulletin but then went on to screen the MDC's manifesto. Consequently, some members of the electorate who were not interested in Makuwaza's manifesto missed the opportunity to hear the opposition party's policies. Besides the manifestoes, the national public broadcaster also carried ZANU PF advertisements. Notably, there were no advertisements from other parties. It was not clear whether the absence of the opposition adverts was due to their failure to produce any, the short notice given to them by ZBH or the prohibitive cost of advertising space.

But what was more evident was ZBH's biased coverage of political parties' campaign activities, which continued to be tilted in favour of ZANU PF. For example, 33 (83%) of the 40 stories that ZBH (ZTV, Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM) carried on campaigns were positive portrayals of the ruling party. Four (10%) reports were on the MDC while the remaining three (7%) were on the independent candidate Silas Mangono's attack on the opposition. Other independent candidates and smaller parties were not covered. Notably, while the four reports on the MDC deviated from the usual vilification of the party as a stooge of the West, the opposition party was denigrated in most of the stories on ZANU PF.

Similarly, 85% of 27 stories the government Press carried gave positive coverage to the ruling party while only three (11%) were on the MDC. One was an announcement of independent candidates' rally in Bulawayo. All but one reports on the MDC portrayed the opposition in bad light. The only neutral report on the party was buried on page 16 in The Manica Post's Business section. Apart from according ZANU PF positive publicity in their news columns, the government Press also featured five pro-ZANU PF columnists. The Herald (3/3)'s, Youths' vote decisive, is an example. The columnist argued - while vilifying the MDC - that "ZANU PF has proved that it is not a party of rhetoric, but a party of results" and called on the youths to "reassert our integrity [and] sovereignty" by denouncing British Premier Tony Blair on March 31. Alternative views on the ruling party's policies were largely ignored as shown on Figure 1 below.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

The private radio stations did not perform any better. They were equally guilty of giving more space to one political party almost to the exclusion of other contestants. For instance, of the seven reports they carried on campaigns, five (71%) gave publicity to the MDC while the remaining two were on two independent candidates. None of their reports were on ZANU PF activities.

However, the private Press were more professional as they tried to balance their coverage in the 52 stories they carried on campaigns. Twenty-three of their reports were on ZANU PF, 19 on the MDC and 10 on the independent candidates. Most of the stories (20) appeared in The Daily Mirror, which dedicated a whole page to daily neutral briefs on all parties' campaign activities. Unlike the government Press, which passively endorsed ZANU PF's manifesto, the private newspapers subjected both the ruling party and the MDC's policies to scrutiny. For instance, The Financial Gazette's columnist Denford Magora criticized, among other issues, the MDC's policy on land reforms and argued that ZANU PF's failures in the last 25 years made its promises to the electorate "unbelievable". However, Magora devoted more space to attacking the MDC and fleetingly critiqued the ruling party's policies at the tail end of his article. To further balance its coverage, the private Press's reports were diversely sourced as shown on Figure 2 below.

Fig 2 Voice distribution in the private press

2. Administrative issues
ZBH's dishonesty in handling the mechanics governing the running of the election manifested itself in 23 reports it aired on the matter.

The broadcaster simply carried official pronouncements and endorsement of the country's electoral framework and avoided subjecting the country's electoral environment to scrutiny. For example, ZTV (2/3, 8pm) merely announced that the registration fees for local observers had been hiked from $10,000 to $100,000 per individual without discussing the implications of this development on the citizenry's right to observe their own elections. For instance, for an organisation such as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) to register about 5,000 observers it would need half a billion dollars, an amount most - if not all - organisations would be unable raise. Neither did ZTV (28/2, 8pm) follow up President Mugabe's announcement that there would be more polling stations by demanding the exact figures on the number of stations to be used during the elections, a critically important issue given that the election will now be conducted in one day.

This lack of analytical approach was also apparent in the seven stories the government Press carried on the matter. For example, the Chronicle (2/3) merely announced the appointment of the deputy Chief Elections Officer and a National Election Logistics Committee without fully explaining their roles. Neither did the paper analyse the composition of the committee, which is mainly made up of secretaries from various government ministries. In fact, the government media's uncritical nature was illustrated by ZBH's sourcing pattern as shown here.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution on ZBH

Notably, all alternative voices quoted on ZBH hailed government's electoral reforms. In contrast, Studio 7 continued to use independent analysts to critically examine the country's electoral process in seven stories it carried on the issue. Besides, the private station revealed that government had not invited the SADC Parliamentary Forum to observe the election without giving reasons.

Similarly, the private Press exposed defects in the country's electoral framework in five stories they carried on administrative issues. For example, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that members of the military, who will once again be involved in the running of the election, had "already finished scrutinising the voters' roll and are now doing intelligence appreciation of the situation before the election".

But like the government media, the private papers did not demand information from the authorities on the number of polling stations and their location. Neither, did they analyse the underlying effects of the prohibitive fees required for the registration of observers. Inexplicably, SW Radio Africa ignored the topic.

3. Political violence and persecution
THE government media continued to ignore incidents of political violence and the continued persecution of opposition activists, thereby giving the impression that the electoral environment was peaceful and conducive for a free and fair poll. For example, all 21 reports that ZBH carried on the topic commended Zimbabweans for heeding President Mugabe's calls for peaceful campaigns. Eighteen selected members of the public were quoted confirming that there was peace in the country. Notably, the nine people interviewed by ZTV (28/2,

8pm) were all in the vicinity of ZANU PF's Harare Provincial offices. The government Press adopted a similar trend in all six stories on political violence. These papers quoted the authorities, chiefs and some church leaders claiming there was no violence.

It was only through the private media that the public got the other picture of the campaign period. The private radio stations carried 13 new cases of continued harassment and intimidation of MDC activists, the party supporters and teachers. These included arrests; the barring of MDC campaigns and denial of food aid to suspected MDC supporters. All the reports implicated the police and Zanu PF supporters. However, these stations sought comments from the accused in only three of their stories. Otherwise, the rest relied mainly on the MDC and the victims' accounts.

The private Press also reported eight incidents of political violence and intimidation of perceived MDC supporters in 10 stories they carried on the issue. All the reports implicated ZANU PF supporters and the police. Although the private Press largely relied on the MDC's accounts on the issue, they tried to balance the party's claims by seeking comments from the police, government and ZANU PF as shown below.

Fig 4 Voice distribution in the private press

4. International relations
THE authorities' claims that the country had fully conformed to the regional protocol on the conduct of elections were reinforced by supportive comments from regional leaders such as President Thabo Mbeki and Sam Nujoma and visiting South African Chiefs. Predictably, the ZBH latched onto the leaders' endorsement of the country's electoral reforms and used their comments to dismiss the international community's growing concerns over the governance of Zimbabwe. As a result, all 30 reports that ZBH carried on international relations glossed over the country's undemocratic tendencies by amplifying the regional leaders' apparent approval of Zimbabwe's policies.

No attempt was made to relate the leaders and chiefs' claims to the reality on the ground. Consequently, no independent commentators were quoted in all ZBH's stories on the matter. Rather, only voices from government (6), regional leaders and chiefs (21) were quoted. Twenty-one stories that the government Press carried on the issue were tailor-made in the same fashion.

Only the private media sought comments from independent observers and the opposition on regional leaders' endorsement of the country's electoral framework. For example, the private radio stations quoted the MDC's Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, analysts from South Africa and members of Zimbabwe's civic society on the issue. They all noted that the situation was a direct opposite of Mbeki's observations. The Standard (6/3) agreed in one of the three stories the private Press carried on the topic. It reported the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa calling on President Mugabe to fully conform to the SADC electoral guidelines to ensure a free and fair poll. The remaining stories were on the US's renewal of targeted sanctions against the country's leadership. The government Press only reported the matter in the context of their vitriolic response to the development.

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