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Government-controlled media coverage of political violence
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-46
Monday November 28^th – Sunday December 4^th 2005

MMPZ applauds the candid observations of the Financial Gazette columnist Mavis Makuni who accused the government-controlled media of "breath-taking hypocrisy and double standards" in their recent coverage of political violence within the opposition MDC in the Gazette’s latest issue.

Makuni exposed the hypocrisy of government media efforts to use the intra-party clashes in the MDC to portray the opposition as being responsible for establishing a culture of violence while ignoring the real source of the vice that has characterised the country’s political landscape in the last five years.

She noted that while the government media raised their concern about the isolated skirmishes that resulted in the assault of MDC MP Timothy Mubhawu during a rally in Highfield recently, they had "maintained a deafening silence" on "countless horrific atrocities in which opposition party supporters were killed or maimed" through political violence, which ZANU PF has "been accused of institutionalising as a political strategy".

To support her observations she cited examples: "Where were ZBH’s cameras when (Didymus) Mutasa himself was accused of slapping a police officer who was trying to quell bloody (ZANU-PF) intra-party clashes in Makoni North last year?" she asked. And: "Where were all these suddenly fired up public media journalists when an MDC youth was shot dead at point-blank range during a by-election in Chitungwiza a year ago?

"Why did they elevate the art of self-censorship to new levels during the dark days when opposition party supporters were routinely abducted and brutalised or killed?"

The intolerably unprofessional bias and distortions of the government-controlled media could not have been more graphically expressed – and highlights the need for greater media diversity.

The government media displayed another face of this indefensible conduct when they censored the arrest of civic leaders during processions to commemorate World Aids Day and 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence in Harare during the week.

These media ignored the 24-hour detention of five members of civic society who were arrested in Harare during the march. Reportedly, the police picked up the five for questioning despite the fact that they had sanctioned the procession.

The private Press also missed the story, although The Standard (4/12) briefly reported on another related arrest in Seke. Through a picture caption of Aids and gender activists, the weekly revealed that the police had "pounced" on 150 women, accusing them of breaching the draconian Public Order and Security Act by "marching without a police permit". The chairperson of the Association of Women’s Clubs in Seke, Winnie Manyere, and a photographer covering the event were reportedly "taken in for questioning". But no more information was provided.

The media’s failure to cover such incidents adequately is a clear dereliction of journalistic duty and allows the authorities to get away with unlawful and unreasonable acts of harassment, including the arrest and detention of individuals, without being called to account publicly. There can be nothing more alarming than a media that allows this impunity to flourish.

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