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Food security
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-19
Monday May 23rd - Sunday May 29th 2005

THOSE who rely on the government-controlled broadcaster for information still have no idea about the reality of the country's precarious food situation. ZBH continues to ignore or downplay the widespread threat of famine. For instance, the broadcaster merely carried 13 stories that presented a glowing picture of the agricultural sector. In one of the stories, ZTV (24/5, 6pm & 8pm) simply reported that the country was expecting to reap 40,000 tonnes of soya beans without explaining how that would assist the country in alleviating starvation.

The government Press also evaded open debate on the exact state of the country's food security position. These papers carried 11 reports, which typically downplayed the extent of food shortages while commending government's renewed efforts to import grain to mitigate the effects of the drought, their sole cause for Zimbabwe's food scarcity. The Herald (23/05) for example passively reported on government importing

150,000 tonnes of maize "since the beginning of the year" as a demonstration of its commitment to staving off nationwide starvation without giving a clue as to whether the rate at which grain was being imported matched national consumption. Neither did it quantify the exact daily tonnage of maize that the government run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said was being delivered to the country "on a daily basis".

Instead, the paper simply flooded its readers with figures of satellite depots that government has established in "affected" areas to ease accessibility by hungry Zimbabweans without giving a breakdown of the tonnage of maize reaching the 207 depots. The Sunday Mail also tried to pre-empt the food assessment mission by World Food Programme senior official James Morris by claiming that the international community had tried to force him to politicise his visit to Zimbabwe. The paper's political editor Munyaradzi Huni urged Morris not to ask "political" questions about Zimbabwe's food problems but "just focus on your humanitarian job" and realise that he was "not dealing with a leader who is clueless on how to find a solution to problems facing his country".

Typically, the private media presented a different perspective on the country's precarious food situation and Morris' visit in the 16 stories they carried on the matter. Twelve were in the private Press while the remaining four were on Studio 7. For instance, the Independent actually revealed that Morris was expected to quiz President Mugabe over his government's failure to submit a consolidated aid appeal in the face of a worsening food crisis. The paper noted that Morris had, on five occasions, tried to persuade Mugabe to change his economic policies and remove bureaucratic obstacles to food output and distribution without success.

In addition, the paper, Studio 7 (24/5), The Daily Mirror and the Financial Gazette (27/5) reported on the scientific findings by two reputable international organisations, which painted a grim picture of Zimbabwe's food security. One of the reports, released by the Famine Early Warning System

(FEWSNET), predicted that Zimbabwe would find it "an enormous challenge" to raise funds for sufficient food imports during the April 2005 - March 2006 consumption year as other requirements like fuel and electricity continue to put a strain on limited foreign currency resources.

The other study, funded by Britain's Department for International Development, contradicted government claims that drought rather than the authorities' critical policy errors, especially the fast-track land reforms, were the main causes behind Zimbabwe's current food and nutrition insecurity. The broad approach taken by the private Press was aptly demonstrated in way it sourced diverse comment from various interest groups as Fig 1 shows.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the Private Press

This contrasted sharply (see Fig 2) with the manner the government-controlled papers presented their stories.

Fig 6 Government-controlled Press' sourcing pattern

Notably, nine (82%) of the 11 voices these papers sourced echoed the official line, which showed that their stories were poorly balanced.

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