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Special
Report on quality of access to national public broadcasting
stations between ZANU PF and MDC
February 26th
- March 17th 2005
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
March 20, 2005
A participatory
democracy depends upon the electorate being able to make informed
choices about who they wish to vote for. Media diversity is instrumental
in providing this information. But in Zimbabwe where 60% of the
people in the rural areas depend upon radio for information, all
the electronic media are government-controlled.
- This situation
has remained, despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled as
unconstitutional the monopoly of the airwaves enjoyed by the national
public broadcasting corporation (now known as ZBH) five years
ago.
- No other broadcasting
entity has been allowed in Zimbabwe since then.
- ZBH has been
used as a propaganda tool for the ruling party in the last two
national elections (2000 and 2002) and the referendum before that.
- This situation
persists today and only very limited access has been granted to
the political opposition (see detailed study of airtime allocation
below).
The SADC guidelines
state that all political parties should be given equal access to
the electronic media; Zimbabwe's regulations state that they should
be given "equal opportunities" to access the public media with regard
to the broadcast of election matter. Zimbabwe's regulations also
state that news coverage of political parties during an election
should be fair, balanced, accurate and complete.
In regard to both
these regulations the situation is being severely distorted: While
all the main political parties have been granted 12 minutes each
to present their manifestoes (on ZTV), the presenter misinformed
the public about the broadcast time for the MDC manifesto. The TV
station stated that an independent candidate would present his manifesto
at a certain time (1/3) but then broadcast the MDC manifesto. As
a result, those wishing to hear what the MDC's policies were missed
the presentation.
With regard to
election programmes relating to interviews and discussion programmes
aired by the national public broadcaster, these have been used to
attack the opposition MDC, which has not been given a fair chance
to respond to allegations made by the panelists. In one instance
the transmission of an interview with a senior MDC official was
suddenly lost to Bulawayo
(Zimbabwe's second
city) and severely compromised in other main centres of the country,
including Mutare. The ruling party has only appeared once in such
discussion programmes and interviews compared to two times for the
MDC.
News bulletins
are heavily dominated by favourable coverage of ZANU PF campaign
activities, while the MDC receive brief and inadequate reports,
albeit generally neutral. Coverage of the ruling party activities
frequently includes disparaging attacks against the MDC, which is
not given the right of reply.
Coverage
of ZANU PF and MDC on ZBH
The coverage of the country's two main political parties on the
national broadcaster, ZBH, since the election period begun on February
26th till March 17th was heavily tilted in favour of ZANU PF. Apart
from giving both ZANU PF and the MDC 12 minutes each to air their
policies to the electorate, the broadcaster's news coverage of the
two parties has favoured ZANU PF. For instance, of 142 reports on
the broadcaster (ZTV, Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe) carried on the
two parties' campaigns, 116 (82%) were on ZANU PF, while the remaining
26 (18%) were on the MDC. All reports on ZANU PF were positive pieces
about the ruling party. While reports on the MDC were largely neutral,
the party was denigrated in almost all the reports on ZANU PF campaigns.
The broadcaster's
bias was also reflected in the time allocated to the two parties.
Of the 2 hours and 22 minutes allocated to the two parties on ZTV's
main 8pm bulletins 2 hours and four minutes (87%) minutes were devoted
to ZANU PF campaign events while only 18 minutes was allocated to
the MDC.
The lack of balance
on ZBH's coverage of the two parties' activities was clearly illustrated
by the manner the broadcaster handled the launch of their election
campaigns. When ZANU PF launched its campaign on February 11, ZTV
and Spot FM (11/2) changed their mid-morning programming to accommodate
four hours of live coverage of the ruling party's event. On the
same day ZTV allocated 18 minutes of its 8pm bulletin to the event.
In addition, ZTV devoted 13 minutes 15 seconds in its subsequent
evening news bulletins of February 12 and 13 to the ruling party's
campaign launch. ZTV also carried 30-minute repeats of the event
after its main bulletin on Friday (11/2) and on Sunday morning.
Spot FM & Power FM adopted a similar trend. These stations each
carried two reports of the launch on February 11. They then carried
six reports of the event on February 12 and 13. Similarly, Radio
Zimbabwe carried 10 stories on the launch between February 11th
and February 13th. By comparison, the national broadcaster allocated
2 minutes 35 seconds to the MDC's election launch on ZTV's main
news bulletin of February 20, the day of the event. Unlike ZANU
PF's launch, no other reports of the event were carried in ZBH's
subsequent news bulletins. Spot FM, Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe
carried a single story each on the MDC launch in their main news
bulletins on February 20. Power FM and Spot FM carried a repeat
of the report the following morning.
Election
programmes
Although ZTV has so far granted the MDC 1 hour and 30 minutes to
feature in its interviews and discussion programmes, the time has
been mainly used to try to embarrass and discredit the policies
of the MDC. MDC officials were given inadequate time to express
themselves as the panelists kept interjecting. Notably, the first
discussion programme carried on ZTV and featuring the MDC's secretary
for economic affairs, Tendai Biti, was only clearly transmitted
in Harare and Masvingo after transmission was lost in Bulawayo and
other southern districts immediately before the programme. Transmedia,
the government-controlled signal carrier company, has never explained
this unprecedented break in transmission - or the severe interference
the ZBH signal suffered from in Mutare and other parts of the country,
effectively obliterating the debate. In contrast, ZANU PF was treated
differently in the 30-minute slot allocated to them so far. The
ruling party official was given time to respond to questions with
minimal interjections. In addition, the programme was mainly used
to give the ruling party a platform to discredit MDC's policies
and not to discuss ZANU PF's manifesto.
Advertising
All election advertisements that have been broadcast so far on ZTV
are from ZANU PF. These are carried mainly before the news, during
newsbreaks and after all bulletins. Other parties have yet to advertise
on ZTV. It is not clear whether they have chosen not to buy airtime,
or because the prohibitive cost of buying advertising space has
put advertising beyond the reach of the opposition. The trend is
slightly different on ZBH's radio stations. Although ZANU PF also
dominates advertising time, MDC advertisements have been featured
on Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe. However, the adverts were generally
fewer than those of the ruling party.
Music
While other parties can only air their policies through buying advertising
space, ZANU PF has the opportunity to sell its policies and vilify
the MDC through songs that are incessantly played across all ZBH's
radio stations. Most prominent is ZANU PF National Commissar Elliot
Manyika's campaign album, whose song, Mbiri Yechigandanga, is on
Power FM's Top 40 songs. The video of the song, which celebrates
ZANU PF's liberation struggle credentials - the party's campaign
theme - has also been played on ZTV's musical programme, Ezomgido.
Other
programmes
ZBH has also used its current affairs programmes to amplify ZANU
PF's policies. For instance, ZTV's Media Watch has given a platform
to pro-ZANU PF analysts, such as the government-appointed Media
and Information Commission chairman, Dr.Tafataona Mahoso, to defend
the policies of the ruling party while disparaging the MDC. The
MDC has never been given the opportunity to defend itself in the
programme. The station also carries a 30-minute New Ziana programme
on the liberation struggle every Sunday evening. Like Manyika's
songs, the programme glorifies ZANU PF's liberation war record,
which the party is using in its campaigns. Radio Zimbabwe and Spot
FM also have similar programmes.
Clearly, ZBH is
not living up to the spirit and letter of the SADC guidelines relating
to equal access to the electronic media; nor is it complying with
government regulations relating to fair and balanced coverage to
the main contesting parties
Visit the MMPZ
fact
sheet
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