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Inflation and eonomic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-2
Monday January 9^th – Sunday January 16^th 2005

DESPITE the government media’s New Year predictions of an economically prosperous 2006, this week all media reflected an economy in turmoil characterised by the latest leap in inflation from 502.4 percent in November to 585.8 in December.

The public broadcaster had 40 stories on the topic and related matters. Of these, 26 were carried by ZTV, 17 by Spot FM and the remaining seven by Radio Zimbabwe. Studio 7 aired seven stories while SW Radio Africa carried four.

Except for Radio Zimbabwe, both ZTV and Spot FM prominently reported on the rise in the inflation and generally carried reasonable analysis in the 12 reports they carried.

For example Spot FM (10/1,1pm) not only quoted economist Farai Dyirakumunda predicting further increases in the first quarter of this year, but also called on policy makers to "stimulate" production in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

The following day, ZTV (11/1, 7am) also cited analysts projecting the current inflationary pressures to spill into 2006.

Although the official dailies (11/1) reported on this latest indicator of the country’s shrinking economy, they relegated it to their business sections. The Herald even misrepresented news of the rise in inflation by giving more prominence to the 8,7 percentage points fall in month-on-month inflation rate to 18,3 %.

There was no attempt to link inflation to failed economic policies. Instead, the Chronicle (14/1) peddled the increasingly absurd conspiracy theories that the rise in inflation and the general economic decay was a "consequence of the sabotage unleashed on our economy via Tony Blair’s machinations, with support of most European Union countries."

Besides, the government media carried 60 reports (ZBH [37] and government papers [23]) on indicators of economic decline. However, they merely highlighted the adverse effects of the economic meltdown on Zimbabweans without interpreting them as indicative of government’s economic mismanagement. Moreover, they glossed over government’s purported solutions to the economic crisis.

For instance, the official papers carried four stories simplistically portraying resolutions made by government, business and labour, all members of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF), as a panacea to the country’s economic ills.

The Herald (12/1), for example, celebrated the TNF’s Prices and Incomes Stabilisation Protocol saying this would "raise economic growth, bring down inflation … and find a permanent remedy to the challenges facing the country."

As a result, it failed to reconcile Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa’s abolition of price controls with the Forum’s resolution that commodity price increases would only be "permitted when there are justifiable and legitimate cost rises that undermine the viability of producers".

However, in a rare moment of candour, The Herald (11/1) reported analysts dismissing government’s plans to introduce a new currency saying the move would not "automatically change the economic situation in the country" because as long as inflation remained high and production low "the new currency would also develop a chain of zeroes".

Although the government media sought comment from alternative and business commentators on the economic crisis, their stories remained largely uncritical of government policies. See Fig 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig. 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

SW Radio Africa did not report the rise in inflation and The Daily Mirror’s coverage of the news was no different from that of the government Press. The paper (11/1) also buried the news in its business section and drowned its audiences in confusing official figures.

A more analytical approach was adopted by Studio 7, the Independent and The Standard (15/1). They cited analysts predicting that, due to inflationary pressures on the ground, inflation could skyrocket to around 800-1 000 percent by year-end.

Such gloomy claims also characterised the 17 stories the private media (SW Radio Africa [3], Studio 7 [6], private papers [17]) carried on symptoms of the country’s economic decay.

The private media’s critical approach was illustrated by their attempts to seek more independent views on the subject as shown by the private papers’ voice sourcing pattern in Fig 3.

Fig 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

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