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Sourcing patterns in the media
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2007-3
Monday January 22nd 2007 – Sunday January 28th 2007

DURING the week MMPZ examined the way the media used their sources to facilitate and guarantee public participation and enlightenment on national developments.

A total of 226 stories were monitored in the electronic media (ZBC [151] and the private electronic media [75]) in which 273 sources were recorded, 166 on the national broadcaster and 107 in the private electronic media.

Of the 106 reports monitored in the government Press 216 sources were recorded, while the 124 stories monitored in the private papers carried 209 voices.

The identities of the sources and the frequency in which they appeared in the media are shown in Fig 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the electronic media

NB. All bulletins are 8pm excluding ~ZBC TV 27/01 and Radio Zimbabwe (22/01).

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the Press

Notably, government and ruling party voices dominated the government media.

On ZBC, they constituted 44 percent of the 166 voices the national broadcaster carried in the monitored bulletins.

However, the voices were hardly newsmakers and hence did not deserve the prominence attached to them.

For example, except for the authorities’ revelations that the national power utility ZESA was broke, the rest of the official voices were chiefly reported making mundane calls peddled as news. A typical case was the way ZTV (25/1,8pm) made space for "breaking news" merely to announce that Operation Maguta Chief of Operations Vice Air-Marshal Henry Muchena had "expressed satisfaction at the performance and condition of the maize crop planted by A1 farmers in Bindura and Shamva". 

In addition, the authorities’ voices usually eclipsed the news developments at the events at which the officials were officiating. For instance, ZTV (22/1, 8pm) deliberately allowed Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti’s routine speech to cloud the donation of insulin kits to diabetic patients in Zvishavane by an Australian organisation, "Insulin for Life". The national broadcaster’s news banner even misleadingly announced: "Muguti donates insulin kit."

The same scenario replayed itself two days later when Muguti’s speech at the reopening of the cancer radiation unit at Parirenyatwa Hospital again became the highlight of the event rather than the unit’s reopening after nine months of closure (ZTV 24/1, 8pm). In fact, although the unit was reportedly reopened courtesy of repairs made by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the station’s reporter blamed the problems facing the health sector to sanctions allegedly imposed by the West.

ZBC’s poor sourcing was further worsened by its failure to use captions to identify key sources speaking in positions
of authority. In the week seven such voices remained unidentified.

Official papers also favoured official sources.

For instance, out of the 106 monitored stories, government officials were quoted 77 times and ZANU PF 23.

As a result, there was scarcely any critical assessment of the country’s myriad "challenges" and their root causes. The government papers’ reliance on official statements and their failure to balance them with alternative views was reflected by The Herald and Chronicle’s lopsided coverage (23/1) of State Security and Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa’s pronouncements on land.

The papers passively reported him saying government would allocate land to "some" white farmers and retain those who have shown "goodwill and preparedness to work with it". No effort was made to question the criteria government would use to select the farmers or seek alternative views and comment from the farmers themselves.

Such poor sourcing was also apparent in the official dailies’ coverage (24/1) of government’s approval of a 117% increase in sugar prices. Although the two papers quoted four sources in their reports, the dominant voice was that of Secretary for Industry Christian Katsande who projected government as having taken adequate measures to address problems affecting sugar producers.

Two other sources were members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Trade who quizzed Katsande on the sugar shortages, while the remainder was a statement by the Zimbabwe Sugar Association on problems bedevilling the sector.

There was no comment from economists or sugar producers on the viability of the sanctioned sugar prices.

Instead, the next day, The Herald depicted government’s intervention as already having triggered the "trickling into the formal market" of the scarce commodity by quoting two unnamed sugar producers and a retailer confirming the development. Reasons for concealing their identity on such a seemingly harmless story remained a mystery.

Similarly, government was allowed to dominate debate on the country’s acute electricity problems while unnamed sources were used to downplay the crisis (The Herald 24/1).

Although the government Press sought comment from alternative sources, these were granted little space compared with government. They were mainly business representatives and unnamed "experts" who simply highlighted problems facing the country but shied away from tackling their root causes.

ZBC was also economical in the use of alternative voices thereby denying commentators the chance to test the soundness of government actions and programmes.

The Mirror stable was no different.

Although it appeared to have balanced government opinion (34) with alternative comment (31), this did not translate into meaningful analysis of the country’s problems. Instead, most alternative views were largely quoted highlighting the country’s troubles without analysing the causes.

Likewise, the business voices that the stable carried were mainly reported announcing increases in the price of commodities, while members of the public were covered complaining about their suffering.

Except for the private online agency, NewZimbabwe.com, the rest of the private media extensively used alternative sources, which for example, made up 34 percent of the 107 sources the private electronic media used in the week.

The voices were mainly used to critique government pronouncements and other national developments. Consequently, the private media’s reports were more critical of government policies than those in the government media.

Generally, stories carried by New Zimbabwe.com and Zimbabwe Times.com were balanced, and their single-sourced reports were typically self-contained event reports like announcements and court rulings that did not necessarily warrant substantiation.

However, not all private media reports were unblemished.

The Zimbabwe Independent, for example, compromised the credibility of some of its reports by relying on anonymous sources even on stories where their identification did not appear risky. For example, it was not clear why the paper did not name "sugar producers" who pointed out that the government-approved hikes in sugar prices "fall far short of ensuring viability in the sector".

Neither did it explain why it masked the identity of a "dejected trader" who complained about the galloping cost of candles.

Similarly, SW Radio Africa (23/1) carried a story in which it claimed, without verification, that they were "receiving reports" that "mortuaries were overflowing with bodies" in the wake of the doctors’ strike. The source of the story was not identified, casting doubts on the credibility of the report.

In contrast, New Zimbabwe.com (22/1) gave a more balanced first-hand account of the job boycott that it reinforced by quoting patients, the Hospital Doctors’ Association (HDA) and the Health Ministry.

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