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Economic meltdown
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-39
Monday October 10^th – Sunday October 16^th 2005

THE economy’s continuing freefall was reflected in the media with reports showing that inflation had leapt a massive 94 percent in one month to 359.8 percent in September. The revelation formed part of a wide range of symptoms of economic decay that the media highlighted in 147 stories on the topic. These included the galloping cost of living, acute shortages of basic commodities, fuel and foreign currency and looming company closures.

Eighty of the reports appeared on ZBH (ZTV [33], Power FM [32], Radio Zimbabwe [15]), eight on Studio 7 and one on SW Radio Africa. The print media carried 58 stories, 27 in the official Press and the remaining 31 stories by the private Press.

However, the government media’s widespread coverage of the matter did not translate into a coherent and incisive examination of the crisis. For example, while ZTV (10/10, 8pm) reported on the rise in inflation, it did not explain what effect this would have on the country’s recovery plans.

Neither did Power FM (10/10, 8pm) or The Herald and Chronicle (11/10), which relegated the news to their business sections.

Instead, the next day the papers supinely quoted Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono assuring the nation that inflation would "start subsiding in November" because the central bank had a "battery of policy instruments to deal with the resurgence". The pattern remained unbroken with ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe (12/10, 8pm) and The Herald (13/10) failing to question the economic sense behind government’s renewed "pledges to take decisive action in controlling prices".

Similarly, although the Chronicle (13/10) reported that the country’s biggest tyre manufacturer, Dunlop, had sent 800 of its 1 000 workers on "unpaid leave" due to viability problems, it would not view this as a reflection of the shrinking economy. The private media were categorical, attributing the poor economic performance to government’s failed economic policies in several informed news features.

For example, Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa (11/10) and The Standard (16/10) carried reports highlighting how the wheat shortage was affecting operations at Lobels, National Foods, Blue Ribbon and Victoria Foods. Studio 7 reported that Blue Ribbon millers had already stopped operations, while Victoria Foods had scaled down.

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