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Budiriro
By-Election
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-19
Monday May 8th 2006
– Sunday May 14th 2006
THE media’s
lack of professional tenacity when covering elections was again
illustrated by the way in which they handled the forthcoming Budiriro
by-election scheduled for May 20th. They generally gave
scant attention to the election and, as a result, failed to thoroughly
examine the electoral process, which the ruling party has previously
been accused of manipulating to ensure victory.
For example,
since the nomination of candidates on April 21st none
of the media investigated the state of the voters’ roll or apprised
its audiences on the constituency boundaries as well as the location
of the polling stations.
Neither did
they analyse the election manifestos of the contestants, especially
those of the two candidates representing the fractious MDC, nor
did they provide information on the number of observers accredited
for the election or their background.
Rather, the
seven stories that ZBH carried on the mechanics governing the conduct
of the poll merely rehashed statements by the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) on its readiness to run the election.
Such reliance
on official pronouncements resulted in Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe
giving conflicting figures on the number of polling stations earmarked
for the poll. While Spot FM (6/5, 8pm) reported that 24 stations
would be used, the next morning Radio Zimbabwe put the figure at
40.
No attempt was
made to clarify the matter.
ZBH’s coverage
of campaigns was disproportionately pro-ZANU PF. For example, out
of its 17 campaign stories, 13 (76%) were pro-ZANU PF candidate
Jeremiah Bvirindi while four (24%) were on the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC faction candidate, Emmanuel Chisvuure. None were on Gabriel
Chaibva, the Arthur Mutambara-led faction’s representative.
Only one incident
of political violence in which ruling party officials accused MDC
supporters of "stoning four houses" belonging
to ZANU PF activists was recorded in the four stories the broadcaster
carried on violence. The rest were either denials of media reports
on violence or calls for peaceful campaigns by the ZEC and police.
The official
papers’ coverage was equally inadequate.
Like ZBH, almost
all the four stories they featured on the administration of the
election were on ZEC’s alleged state of preparedness for the poll
while their campaign coverage was in favour of the ruling party.
For instance, although they gave almost equal coverage to the contestants
(ZANU PF [5 stories], Chisvuure [3 stories] and Chaibva [2 stories]),
they carried two articles that maligned the opposition, particularly
Tsvangirai’s group as violent and confused.
In fact, all
their three stories on incidents of violence accused Tsvangirai’s
faction of attacking ruling party supporters and tearing their rivals’
campaign posters.
The private
media was no better. Besides failing to examine the electoral process,
they also did not give a balanced coverage of the parties’ campaigns
or incidents of violence.
For instance,
the two incidents of political violence that the private stations
carried were only on the alleged violence perpetrated by ZANU PF
against Chisvuure’s supporters.
In addition,
all the three campaign stories that SW Radio Africa aired were on
Chisvuure. None were on the activities of Chaibva and Bvirindi.
Although Studio
7 (two stories) and The Standard (one story) carried balanced
reports on both the MDC factions’ preparations for the election,
they ignored ZANU PF activities.
Only the Mirror
stable gave almost equal space to the contesting candidates, with
the papers devoting three reports to ZANU PF and two stories apiece
to the MDC candidates. The Financial Gazette and the Zimbabwe
Independent inexplicably ignored the poll.
Visit the MMPZ
fact sheet
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