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The economy and consumers
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-40
Monday October 2^nd – Sunday October 8^th 2006

DURING the week the government-controlled media failed to adequately address the erosion of consumers’ socio-economic rights caused by the continued decline in Zimbabwe’s economy.

Their 35 stories on the matter – 12 of which were on ZBH and 23 in government papers – did not give a holistic picture on how a new spate of price increases had greatly compromised the buying power of the public, or how they were linked to government’s inflationary economic policies.

Instead, they simply blamed unscrupulous businesses for the economic misery while simultaneously projecting the authorities as taking measures to protect the people from exploitation.

ZBH’s coverage of the increases, as shown in Fig 1, was sparse.

Fig. 1 Breakdown of ZBH’s coverage of the economic issues affecting consumers.

Most of its stories just announced new price increases in goods and services without interrogation. Consequently, there was no analysis on the impact of the price hikes on people’s consumption patterns.

This lack of investigative effort was reflected by the fact that only three of the 12 stories that ZBH carried on the matter cared to seek the views of ordinary people.

For example, Spot FM’s coverage (6/10 1pm, 8pm & 7/10, 1pm) on the increase in the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) family basket from $96 000 in August to $112 000 in September lacked analysis. It did not, for example, test the truth of the basket against the soaring prices of services and commodities.

Instead, it just reported CCZ as planning to introduce a new "Tsaona Basket" (Crisis basket) that would contain fewer products a family of six would need monthly for basic survival without quizzing the logic of the move or explaining how it would translate into bringing food to the tables of the consumers.

The government Press’ stories (12 of which were on the increase in the price of goods and services and 11 on commodity shortages) generally portrayed government as championing the cause of the consumers in the face of profiteering by businesses.

It was against this background that they reported approvingly of government’s planned enforcement of its price control regime without question (The Herald 3 & 6/10). For example, the paper (3/10) passively reported unnamed economists hailing the move as a "positive step" that would "flush out some price distortions on the market". No assessment of the move’s impact on industry viability or availability of goods was made, especially in view of the fact that previous price controls have invariably resulted in acute commodity shortages.

In fact, criticism of the development by other analysts such as the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) were buried deep in the story and never fully explored.

The next day the Chronicle (4/10) approvingly reported on the new controlled bread price of $295 a loaf, down from the bakers’ proposed cost of $335, as a reflection of the effectiveness of the authorities’ measures. Consequently, it did not reconcile the new price with the bakers’ viability or its affordability. Neither did it say how government arrived at the figure.

However, in a rare display of openness The Herald and Chronicle (5/10) reported the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Budget and Finance expressing concern over the country’s worsening economic problems saying government’s fiscal and monetary policies had "failed to adequately address…inflation" as they "just narrated the woes besetting the country…without proffering solutions".

Although the government papers’ sourcing pattern appeared diverse as shown in Fig. 2, their stance remained largely uncritical of the impact of government’s economic mismanagement on the public.

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

The private media performed better.

Their 28 stories on the topic (private electronic media [3] and private papers [25]) either highlighted the effects of economic distress on the public or examined the extent of the decline, which they blamed on government’s poor policies.

The issues they tackled included difficulties the public was facing in getting fuel, food, transport and medical treatment, among problems people faced accessing goods and services in other sectors.

The Daily Mirror (6/10), for example, carried a table highlighting exorbitant prices of basic commodities being charged by the country’s main retailers, noting – in another story – that the rapidly spiralling cost of living had forced teachers to "concentrate on other money-spinning jobs" to supplement their meagre salaries.

The extent of the consumers’ economic woes was further underscored by revelations that the value of the local currency had suddenly plunged by nearly 100 percent against international currencies, triggering more price increases (the Gazette 5/10, Zimbabwe Independent (6/10) and The Standard 8/10).

The government media ignored the development that has resulted in the Zimbabwe dollar trading at more than $1 200 to the US dollar on the parallel market.

Instead, in its Financial Highlights ZTV (2/10, 8pm & 5/10, 8pm) chose to mislead its audiences by claiming that "the Zimbabwe dollar gained slightly against key currencies on the official market…" adding, "no notable changes were recorded in most key currencies as low volume exports failed to move the green-back above the $250 mark…"

The private media’s sourcing pattern as exemplified by that of private papers is shown in Fig 3.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private papers

Studio 7 and Zimdaily.com completely ignored the subject.

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