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Print and Electronic Daily Media Update #13
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
April 04, 2005

This is the Media Monitoring Project's final daily analysis of the local media's coverage of the 2005 parliamentary election. From now on, we will resume issuing our regular weekly media updates starting from April 14th, which will cover the present week, April 4th - April 10th, 2005

1. Daily Print Media Update: April 4th, 2005

a. Election aftermath: Observers' reports
THE government Press (The Herald and Chronicle) continued to celebrate ZANU PF's election victory. This was illustrated by the fact that out of 15 stories the two papers carried, eight simplistically celebrated the outcome, three were unquestioning reports on the observer missions' endorsement of the election, two on the police warning against political violence and two on President Mugabe's comments on plans to amend the constitution.

There were no reports of the irregularities during polling raised by the opposition MDC, except passing comments within their stories on the foreign observers' reports. In these stories the papers carried statements from the SADC observer team, the African Union, SADC Electoral Commissions Forum, the Iranian observer team and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN). Except for ZESN, all the observers were reported as having endorsed the elections as free and fair. The observers' statements were not subjected to scrutiny.

ZESN's concerns on the elections were dismissed as the "usual claims of the alleged unfairness" of laws such as the Public Order and Security Act and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and "other processes concerning the election". Its specific highlights of irregularities that marred the poll were suffocated. Instead, the papers chose to highlight the independent electoral body's acknowledgement of the peaceful environment on polling day.

The official dailies also simplistically interpreted the AU's cautious statement on the conduct of the elections to mean that it had endorsed the election as free and fair. However, the papers did not cite the AU report in their stories, which largely relied on the head of the SADC observer team, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Critical poll reports from civic organisations and members of the international community were ignored.

In fact, such attempts to legitimise the election and gloss over glaring irregularities reported by other media saw The Herald only making a fleeting reference to the condemnation of the poll by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in the context of its story that two British Embassy officials had also endorsed the poll. One of the officials was quoted saying the election had demonstrated "one of the major strides Zimbabwe has made in creating a democratic platform for elections since the elections were peaceful, smooth and blood-free". However, the report was conspicuous by its anonymous sources. Reasons for masking the identity of the two officials on such a seemingly harmless issue remained a mystery.

The two dailies' failure to balance their reports was illustrated by their sourcing pattern as shown here.

Voice distribution in The Herald and Chronicle

All eight foreign voices quoted endorsed the election.

In contrast, The Daily Mirror carried a much greater variety of subjects in its six reports following up on the elections. One report was on the MDC's response to President Mugabe's statements that he was willing to work with the opposition, one on Zanu (Ndonga)'s comments on its defeat in Chipinge South, one on the total number of people who voted and one on Mugabe's comments on the succession issue. The paper also carried a comment endorsing the outcome and calling for national reconciliation. The remaining report was on political violence.

In its report on the observers, the paper, like the government Press, interpreted the AU report to mean that it had unequivocally endorsed the poll, as did the SADC observer mission. However, it appeared from the paper's report that the AU mission had restricted its judgement to the polling day saying that "at the point of the ballot" voting was conducted in a "peaceful and orderly manner" allowing voters "to freely choose their preferred candidates by casting a secret ballot". The mission also raised concerns relating to the conduct of the election, which the paper duly reported.

Unlike the government dailies, The Daily Mirror sought comment from the opposition parties on the outcome. For example, it quoted Zanu (Ndonga) leader Wilson Kumbula attributing his party's defeat in Chipinge South, a seat it has held for the past 25 years, to intimidation of its supporters by ZANU PF activists, who allegedly threatened to starve the constituency's population if they did not vote for the ruling party. The paper also quoted two alternative voices giving their views on the possible reasons for Ndonga's loss. The MDC was also quoted expressing its concerns on the low voter turn out and dismissing President Mugabe's statements that he was prepared to work with the MDC as a "public relations exercise" aimed at the "international community" and the "gullible".

b. Political Violence
THERE was only one incident of political violence recorded by the Press. This appeared in The Daily Mirror. The paper reported that supporters of ZANU PF and Zanu (Ndonga) had clashed in Chipinge South following the announcement of the results. Zanu (Ndonga) president Wilson Kumbula was quoted blaming ruling party activists for starting the violence during their victory celebrations. The police confirmed the incident but blamed Zanu (Ndonga) activists for attacking "triumphant ZANU PF supporters".

The government Press "missed" the story and instead, carried two stories in which they reported police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena threatening to "deal" with the MDC if it embarked on any mass action, saying the police "will not allow any form of action that will result in threat to human life or property".

2. Daily Electronic Update 13: Monday April 4th 2005

Post-election coverage: observers' statements
ZTV carried 10 election related stories in their 6pm and 8pm bulletins yesterday. Half of them were on ZANU PF victory celebrations and three were on the certification of the poll as free and fair by observer missions from the African Union, SADC, Malawi and Iran. The rest consisted of the announcement of the final poll result and the government broadcaster's attempt to link the endorsement of the poll by observers to the economic performance of the country.

For example, while ZTV (8pm) introduced its highlights of financial news with observations that the "Stock market trading is expected to resume following polls which ZANU PF won and foreign observers endorsed", it did not carry any financial news items with the remotest link to the election. That was not all. News anchors Fadzai Makombe and Henrietta Ndebele appeared so impressed by the endorsement of the election by the four observer missions that at the end of the bulletin they added their own editorialized opinion, "thousands of observers in the country praised Zimbabwe for holding free and fair polls. We scored a first."

In fact, the government broadcaster's determination to market the election as having been declared "free and fair" by observers saw it fail to establish the exact overall position of the somewhat cautious findings of the AU mission report on the conduct of the election. This was so because nowhere in its report did they quote the mission as having declared the entire conduct of the poll as free and fair. Although ZTV quoted the AU as saying that voting was peaceful, with elections being well organised and that people had voted despite the rains, it noted that it would make recommendations that would "further enhance the transparency of the electoral process and the verifiability of its outcomes." Other concerns by the AU included, the number of people who could not find their names on the voters' roll and the lack of adequate and impartial voter education.

However, ZTV reported more accurately on the endorsement of the election by the SADC observer mission, which it said had congratulated the people of Zimbabwe for holding "peaceful, credible and transparent elections". It quoted the head of the delegation, Pumuzile Mlambo-Ngcuka saying the election was "orderly, organised" but only mentioned, in a sentence, her recommendation to the authorities to improve voter education and reduce the number of those turned away during voting. How these negative aspects had impacted on the fairness of the election was, however, never questioned.

Similarly, the Malawian and Iranian missions were also reported as having been happy with the conduct of the election, although the two teams were not given sound bites. Notably, ZTV did not ask about the criteria the observers had used to arrive at their conclusions because their findings appeared to be based on the notion that since the election was held in a less-violent atmosphere it was therefore free and fair.

Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM adopted the same style in the 20 stories they devoted to election related issues. Seven of these were passive reports on ZANU PF victory celebrations and nine on the observers' endorsement of the poll as free and fair by the AU, SADC, Malawi and Iran.

The remainder comprised two announcements on the full results of the poll, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority's invitation to observers and journalists to go on an all-expenses-paid tour of Victoria Falls, and government's dismissal of the observation by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claiming the election was neither free nor fair. Notably, Power FM's five stories and the four Radio Zimbabwe stories on the endorsement of the elections did not have sound bites or pertinent detail supporting the reports' claims. Neither did they make attempts to verify with the observers allegations of irregularities raised by the opposition MDC.

The privately owned radio station, Studio 7, aired four election related stories, but restricted itself to reporting on the AU observer mission's reservations that many people, including "youths", were "assisted" to vote, and that the AU had called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Election Supervisory Commission to investigate the MDC's vote-rigging allegations. As a result, the station failed to balance its coverage with other observations by the AU mission that people, for example, had voted "peacefully". Although no AU official was quoted, a Studio 7 reporter said an AU official had told him that the union was also not happy with the large number of people that were turned away from polling stations.

The station also carried a story in which it quoted The Standard editor Bornwell Chakaodza and Tsitsi Matekaire of the Women In Parliament Support Unit, saying there was need for a thorough investigation into MDC's allegations that the elections were rigged.

In another story, the losing ZANU (Ndonga) candidate for Chipinge South, Wilson Khumbula, was cited as saying he was unhappy with the outcome of the election, alleging that ZANU PF used maize to coerce people into voting for the ruling party after they were threatened with starvation. The station's remaining story was an update on the continued detention of two British journalists arrested on Thursday for covering the election allegedly without accreditation. The station noted that the two were still in police custody despite the lapse of the 48-hour detention period limit.

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