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Findings
of the MDC commission investigating the attack on Trudy Stevenson
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-38
Monday September 18th
2006 - Sunday September 24th 2006
THE extent of the gap in the coverage
of important national issues between the privately owned media and
government-controlled media was underscored by the manner in which
they selectively reported on the findings of the MDC commission
investigating the attack on Trudy Stevenson and four of her colleagues
in the Arthur Mutambara-led faction of the political opposition
party.
While The Herald (21&22/9)
narrowly focussed on the commission’s criticism of the leadership
of the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai, The Financial Gazette
(21/9) and - to a lesser extent - the Zimbabwe Independent
(22/9) gave greater emphasis to revelations that the infiltration
of the MDC by government intelligence operatives was partly to blame
for the problems bedevilling the party.
None gave a holistic summary of the
commission’s findings.
Instead, The Herald simply used
the commission’s criticism of the party’s failure to fully implement
recommendations of previous inquiries into violence within the MDC
to reinforce the image it portrays of Tsvangirai as a man devoid
of any political strategy except violence.
In fact, in its determination to vilify
Tsvangirai the paper (21/9) falsely claimed that the commission
had "blamed" him for "fanning
violence" in the "fractious opposition party".
Nowhere in the report was this mentioned.
But even as Tsvangirai spokesman William
Bango alerted the paper (22/9) of this apparent falsehood, it would
not retract.
Instead, it quoted unnamed party officials
projecting him as an undemocratic leader who made "unilateral
decisions" in violation of his party’s constitution.
There was no independent verification of their claims.
Neither did the paper expose the alleged
infiltration of the MDC by CIO agents, which the commission noted
was one of the main sources of infighting in the opposition.
Although the Gazette openly
reported on this issue, it also failed to give a full picture on
the results of the investigation.
For instance, the weekly steered clear
of the commission’s criticism of the opposition leadership’s failure
to stem violence in the party, giving the impression that the alleged
infiltration of the party by the CIO was the sole cause of the problems
in the opposition.
Only New Zimbabwe.Com (22/9)
carried the full text of the inquiry.
As this report was being compiled,
the private electronic media (25 & 26/9) revealed that a Harare
magistrates’ court had dismissed the State’s attempts to postpone
for the third time the trial of the Voice of the People trustees
and employees charged with breaching the country’s repressive broadcasting
laws. The State claimed that it still needed more time to conclude
its investigations and decide whether to charge the seven trustees
as individuals or as the trust running the station.
New Zimbabwe.Com (25/9), for
example, quoted magistrate William Bhila saying the case was "becoming
a circus", adding that there was "no reason
to keep the accused on remand" as the "matter
has already been postponed three times".
The government media completely ignored
the matter, further demonstrating their reluctance to expose issues
that reflect badly on the authorities.
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fact
sheet
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