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The economy: Fantasy and reality
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-30
Monday July 24^th 2006 - Sunday July 30^th 2006

THE official media’s passive endorsement of government policies was illustrated this week (before the momentous news of the Reserve Bank Governor’s monetary reforms) by their sanitised coverage of the authorities’ programmes to revive the country’s troubled economy. Their stories on the subject did not test the wisdom of these plans against reality. For example, almost all the 60 reports they carried on the mid-year fiscal policy review and the presentation of a supplementary budget by Finance Minister Hebert Murerwa (ZBH [34] and government papers [26]) diverted attention from the review’s shortcomings by merely celebrating its formulation as if it was a solution in itself.

As a result, these media ignored the economic circumstances that had obliged the authorities to present a record-breaking supplementary budget in the first place and failed to question the government’s extravagant operating costs, which were three times that forecast in Murewa’s original budget.

Neither did they question how the budget would be financed.

For example, there was no attempt to question the source of government’s optimistic predictions of a 23 percent growth in agricultural production for 2006, or an expected stabilization of inflation (Spot FM 27/7, 8pm). These pertinent questions were muted in the government media’s single-minded defence of the budget. Instead of querying how the authorities would tackle its ballooning debt, or reverse dwindling production, The Herald (29/7), for example, just dismissed government’s insatiable spending as negligible. It argued that although "at first glance" it seemed "government domestic debt has ballooned totally out of control, from $15,9 trillion at the end of last year to $46,1 trillion at the end of June", once the figures were adjusted for inflation, it would show that the debt "merely rose by a trivial 0,19%".

To support their unquestioning coverage of the matter, the government media roped in ruling party MPs, including uncritical comments from analysts and members of the public welcoming the supplementary budget, saying it was "a step in the right direction" (ZTV 27/7, 8pm).

Contrary views on the matter were silenced. For example, MDC MP Tapiwa Mashakada was cut mid-sentence when challenging government’s positive projections of growth in the problem-plagued agricultural sector (ZTV 27/7, 8pm). Questions raised by another MDC legislator, Tendai Biti, seeking to know where the money to finance the budget would come from considering that the "revenue base is shrinking", were buried in the comments of four ruling party MPs praising Murewa’s fiscal policy (ZTV 27/7, 8pm)

Similarly, The Herald (28/7) relegated Mashakada’s dismissal of the policy review – which he said had "merely outlined the challenges facing the country without offering practical solutions" – to the tail end of a report welcoming the fiscal policy.

Consequently, facts and figures cited in the fiscal policy remained unverified.

For instance, there was no vigorous debate on the adequacy of government’s tax relief for workers, upped from a non-taxable income base of $7 million per month to $20 million. Instead, ZTV (27/7, 8pm) parried the dismissal of the figure as still "far below the poverty datum line" by economist Andy Hodges with editorialised comments from its reporter, Robson Mhandu, who welcomed it as "good news to shout home about". The report claimed a ZBH survey revealed that "most" people were happy that "the widening of the tax bands will leave them with more disposable income".

In fact, the official media did not reconcile the new tax-free threshold with the country’s hyperinflation of 1,184 percent or the skyrocketing consumer basket, which Spot FM (27/7, 1pm) ironically reported as having shot up to $78 million per month for a family of six in July.

The government media’s ineffectual coverage of Murerwa’s budget was not isolated. They also showed similar professional negligence in the 41 reports they carried on President Mugabe’s perception of Zimbabwe’s economic problems during his official opening of the second session of the Sixth Parliament. The stories, 20 of which were aired by ZBH and the rest by government papers, either hinged on massaging the President’s ego or merely downgraded Zimbabwe’s myriad economic difficulties to corruption. This then provided ammunition to these media to vilify the informal sector, which they portrayed as the source of the country’s economic problems.

The Herald (27/7) front-page report, Trillions stashed in homes: Only 15% of cash circulating in Zimbabwe’s formal sector epitomised this stance. The story was based on unnamed sources and did not disclose the source of its claims. It simply stated that the "bulk of the $43 trillion in cash circulating in Zimbabwe cannot be accounted for" meaning "the economy is now largely being driven by the informal sector where most have turned to illicit deals such as parallel market trading, hoarding of basic commodities for sale at inflated prices…"

Although the paper tentatively attributed the increased activity in the sector to the "dwindling formal sector where thousands of people have been retrenched …", it did not attempt to establish the cause of this problem.

Instead, its columnists, such as Victoria Ruzvidzo (27/7) and Caesar Zvayi (28/7), continued criminalizing the informal sector while simultaneously exonerating government from its failure to decisively deal with the problem. Ruzvidzo, for example, only commended how "Mugabe spoke passionately about corruption" and how "he has taken the onus to attack the vice head on" without reconciling this with any successes his government, especially under the Anti-Corruption Commission, had scored against the scourge.

Earlier, ZTV (25/7) passively reported Industry Minister Obert Mpofu calling for the arrest of traders selling bread "above stipulated prices". And as if taking a cue from the minister, Spot FM (28/7, 8pm) accused industry of "profiteering" and "hampering efforts to revive the economy".

However, the 41 stories the government media carried on indicators of economic decline belied these media’s impression that the economy was on the mend, or that its distress stemmed solely from corruption. On the contrary, the stories (ZBH [26] and government papers [15]) revealed the economy as suffering from numerous afflictions ranging from a galloping cost of living, low production and poor investor confidence.

Despite this however, the reports just highlighted the problems in isolation of their causes.

The passive nature of the government media’s reports is reflected in their dependence on government voices. See Fig 1 and 2.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in government papers

Fig 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

Most of the analysts the government media quoted also endorsed government policies.

In contrast, the private media critically assessed the budget in their 22 stories on the subject, 20 of which appeared in the print media. They argued that rather than give hope, the fiscal policy actually spelt further doom for the economy as it would spawn a hefty deficit and put government into additional debt of $253 trillion, a situation that would fuel inflation.

For example, the Zimbabwe Independent (28/7) described the $253 trillion supplementary budget as "startling" since it "bloats this year’s (original) budget to a colossal $451 trillion, a figure which surpasses last year’s initial targeted expenditure of $123.9 trillion". It added that this was "the only time in the history of Zimbabwe that a supplementary budget has exceeded the original budget". The paper also noted the authorities’ policy inconsistencies. It observed that Murerwa’s admission that inflation will remain high, ending the year between 950%-1,000%, contradicted Gono’s forecasts of "between 280% and 300%".

The private media also provided more opportunity for alternative views to be aired. For example, NewZimbabwe.com (28/7) reported Tsholotsho MP Jonathan Moyo rubbishing the supplementary budget as "scandalous" and "proof that the government has totally lost control". He speculated that government would print more money to finance it.

Studio 7 (27/7) and The Standard (30/7) quoted other analysts expressing similar opinions.

Like the government media, the Mirror stable expressed confidence that government’s fiscal and monetary policies would turn around the country’s economic fortunes. Thus, it simply regurgitated Murerwa’s policy presentation without analysis.

However, The Sunday Mirror (30/7) was sceptical of government’s promises to end corruption and stated that people "want to see action and not cheap talk".

Except for the Mirror stable, the critical pattern of the private media remained unbroken in the 14 stories they carried on Mugabe’s parliamentary address. They noted that although his speech is the closest he has come to acknowledging the perilous state of the economy, he still diverted attention from his government’s poor management of the economy by blaming others.

The Financial Gazette (27/7) noted that Mugabe was yet again in denial mode, blaming the usual suspects: "the dishonest and hypocritical anti-Zimbabwe strategy of the current British government" and "reactionary elements amongst us" while the online news agency, Zimdaily, (26/7) criticized Mugabe for failing to "articulate how his party intends to resolve the national crisis."

The Independent blamed Zimbabwe’s problems on "politics" and chastised Mugabe, saying productivity "can not be achieved by looking for scapegoats such as Western sanctions and transitory droughts" but through a "comprehensive political settlement, improvement of relations between Zimbabwe and the international community and (the) political will to solve the country’s economic problems".

But the Mirror stable maintained its uncritical approach, feeding into the official media propaganda that corruption was the chief cause of the country’s economic crisis. For instance, The Daily Mirror (26/7) hailed the opening of Parliament "amid pomp and fanfare". Otherwise, the paper (27 & 28/7) devoted its efforts to vilifying the Tsvangirai-led MDC faction for boycotting the event (27 and 28/7).

In addition, the private media used indicators of economic decline to support how government continued to mismanage the economy. They carried 26 stories highlighting this.

The private media’s sourcing patterns are shown in Fig 3 and 4

Fig 3 Voice distribution in private papers

Notably, 17 of the 36 government sources recorded by the private Press came from the Mirror stable.

Fig 4 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

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