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Economic issues
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-17
Monday April 24^th 2006- Sunday April 30^th 2006

THIS week the government media used the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) to conceal the country’s sad economic realities. Almost all 95 stories these media carried (ZBH [66] and official Press [29]) simplistically projected the annual trade showcase as a resounding success and crucial in kick-starting the country’s economic revival through improved foreign currency inflows.

No evidence was provided to support these assertions.

For example, ZTV (26/4, 8pm) simply reported that "regional and international exhibitors have expressed satisfaction at the amount of business they have generated so far" without backing up the claims. Neither did the station give an intelligible profile of exhibitors at the fair save to say 600 out of the 650 were local while the rest were foreign. Nor did it give exact figures of the total number of people who had visited the event which it has always done in the past. Instead (27/4, 8pm) it vaguely noted that "a fairly large turnout" was recorded at the first public day of the Fair.

Such slavish attempts to market ZITF as a key ingredient of government’s efforts to revive the economy were also evident in the official papers’ coverage of the event.

The papers, as exemplified by the Chronicle (26/4), narrowly viewed the Fair as the pacesetter to the targets set under the recently launched National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP) and expressed hopes that "this year’s event will be a panacea to the country’s economic challenges."

However, like ZBH, there was no methodical assessment of the projected economic benefits of the event and how these will alleviate the country’s economic distress. Neither would the papers carry comparative analysis of the Fair’s alleged successes with its predecessors to justify their optimism that this year’s event would be the all-cure for Zimbabwe’s economic woes.

Instead, The Herald and Chronicle (27/4) simply underlined the government papers’ determination to obfuscate reality with unfounded claims when they passively quoted the Deputy Minister of Environment Andrew Langa alleging that the "large turnout" at the Fair was a "clear demonstration that the economic revival initiatives the country had put in place were not in vain."

The Sunday Mail (30/4) story, ZITF hailed as a success, further illustrated this point.

The passive manner in which the government media handled the event further manifested itself in their coverage of the 300% pay rise for civil servants and the uniformed forces.

Rather than view the development as an indication of the authorities’ failure to arrest economic decline, they simply portrayed it as an eloquent expression of government’s commitment to improving the living conditions of its workers.

Consequently, none of the 13 stories they carried (government Press [9] and ZBH [4]) on the subject explained how government would finance this additional and unbudgeted salary bill or measured its impact on inflation. Neither did they question whether the increases were enough considering that the official Poverty Datum Line presently stands at $33 million, about $6 million more than the lowest paid member of the army.

ZBH (26/4, 8pm & 27/4, 6am) and The Herald (27/4), for example, just passively quoted Public Service Commission chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwa justifying the increases on the grounds that government wanted to cushion its workers against inflation and "bring relief to all public servants."

However, apart from disclosing the new salaries for teachers and the uniformed forces, The Herald was silent on the pay packets of other civil servants.

Instead, the following day (28/4) it reported that government had awarded nurses and health workers "hefty salary increases" without even disclosing the figures.

In fact, the paper seemed to contradict its assertions when it quoted Health Service Board chairman Lovemore Mbengeranwa revealing that the "award might not be to the expected level" but that "government is continuously improving the conditions of service of its workers". But even in the face of such rare and candid official reservations on the adequacy of the purported pay hikes, the paper still projected otherwise. It carried a childish cartoon showing a teacher advertising free holiday lessons to portray teachers as content with the salary hike.

The Sunday Mail (30/4) also celebrated the pay rise for public workers in its story, More money for teachers, soldiers.

Earlier, the official papers carried five reports defending massive increases in public hospital fees on the basis of official pronouncements that the new charges would "improve service delivery" and decongest "casualty departments" in the state institutions (The Herald and Chronicle 25/4).

Although ZTV (26/4, 8pm) highlighted that the fees would put access to health institutions beyond the reach of many, it also dodged interpreting the issue as yet another indication of government’s failure to address the country’s hyper inflationary collapse.

Neither would the official media cross-examine the policy framework in which the authorities planned to induce foreigners, including those resident in Zimbabwe, to settle their hospital bills in foreign currency as a "new revenue-enhancement" measure to generate the scarce resource.

The government media’s supine tone was also mirrored by the other 96 stories they carried on other economic developments in the country, 62 of which appeared on ZBH while 34 were in the official papers.

These included isolated reports on indicators of further economic decline and glowing coverage of the NEDPP.

In fact, the one-sided manner in which these media generally tackled Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown was also reflected in their reliance on official pronouncements as shown in Figs 1 and 2.

Fig 1 Voice distribution on ZBH

Fig 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

Notably, though these media seemingly carried divergent views on the economy, almost all their sources either echoed official positions or simply highlighted the problems blighting the economy. They barely discussed the root causes of the economic decline.

However, the private media remained unimpressed by ZITF and the general state of the economy. The private stations carried 13 stories on these issues while the private papers featured 41.

These media questioned government policies, which they viewed as the main cause of the country’s economic ills. For instance, they noted that while the new pay packets for civil servants would help alleviate their suffering, it would also worsen the country’s hyperinflationary environment.

Studio 7 (27/4), for example, quoted economist Anthony Hawkins contending that the salary hikes would further fuel the country’s inflation as only a 300% increase, which was awarded last January, had been budgeted for. Said Hawkins: "Another 300% increment to civil servants would add another $70 -$80 trillion to the budget which was equivalent to doubling the current budget."

The Zimbabwe Independent (28/4) agreed. It cited analysts revealing that government needed to print close to $60 trillion to fund the salary hikes, a development that would further push inflation to levels way above 1000 percent. It then questioned when the vicious circle would break, saying, "all these (pay and medical fee) increases cause more inflation but have also been necessitated by inflation".

Besides, while the government Press approvingly reported on ZITF, depicting it as a precursor to prosperity in the country, the Independent quoted delegates attending an international conference at the Fair as calling on government to "resign immediately as it had failed to steer the economy out of the current crisis".

SW Radio Africa (26/4) and Studio 7 (26-28/4) also projected a different picture of the Fair. They both revealed that the event was a "flop" as reflected by few foreign exhibitors and a lot of unoccupied stands.

Moreover, the private media carried several stories that highlighted the country’s worsening poor macro-economic environment, which they linked to government’s failed policies.

The private Press’ attempt to balance government perceptions of Zimbabwe’s economic problems with alternative ones is illustrated in Fig 3.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

Notably, most of the government voices were in the Mirror stable.

However, the private stations compromised their critical stance by failing to balance their independent views with official comment as reflected by Studio 7’s sourcing pattern. See Fig 4.

Fig 4 Voice distribution on Studio 7

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