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Independence celebrations overkill
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-15
Monday April 16th 2007 - Sunday April 22nd 2007

WHILE the government papers weaved conspiracies to explain Zimbabwe's crisis, ZBC was flooding its audiences with glowing stories about Zimbabwe's 27th Independence Anniversary. Nowhere was this overkill coverage more prevalent than on ZTV. The station dedicated 1 hour and two minutes of the two hours and 34 minutes of its 8pm bulletins during the week (excluding business, regional, international and sports news sections) to the celebrations.

But for all the publicity, there was hardly any informed analysis in the reports. The national broadcaster's 81 reports (ZTV [40], Spot FM [17] and Radio Zimbabwe [24]) basically stoked nationalist fervour and justified ZANU PF rule on the basis of its credentials as an anti-imperialist party as espoused in this year's Independence theme: "Uniting Against Sanctions".

During the run-up to Independence Day, Spot FM aired daily interviews on the liberation struggle with various ZANU-PF members between 13.30 and 14.00. In addition, it carried excerpts of previous speeches by President Mugabe, which depicted him as a resolute nationalist fighter. Notably, nobody outside the ruling party were portrayed as having contributed to the country's independence or given a say on the matter.

Instead, ZBC merely fed its audiences with mundane updates on the anniversary's preparations, including official statements urging all Zimbabweans to participate in the celebrations. However, no reasons were given why "everyone regardless of party affiliation or religious persuasion" was requested to commemorate an otherwise national day (ZTV 16/4, 6pm).

This lopsided coverage of the celebrations also manifested itself in the way ZBC passively reported President Mugabe narrowly blaming Zimbabwe's woes on a perceived coalition of local and outside enemies led by Britain in his independence speeches.

For example, during a party held for school children on the eve of the anniversary, ZTV (17/4, 8pm and 18/4, 7am) reported him attributing Zimbabwe's problems to "illegal sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies", adding that the "recent violence by MDC were (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair's final push before he leaves office (in June)". Rather than verify these allegations and question their accuracy in the eyes of school children, the broadcaster's Reuben Barwe took the opportunity to insert his own gratuitous opinion: "Yes, the British are trying their level best to effect regime change but this will not happen."

The pattern remained unbroken in ZBC's coverage of Mugabe's Independence Day speech. It reported him accusing the West and their "shameless local puppets" as working tirelessly "to reverse the gains of independence", including some businesses, which "were being used to cause people to rise against the state by unjustifiably increasing the price of goods" (ZTV 18/4, 8pm).

However, the station did not balance such accusations with government's own policy shortcomings. For example, it did not qualify Mugabe's observations claiming "successful implementation" of land reforms; question the economic prudence of his plans to nationalise mines; or raise an eyebrow at his commendation of the police for curbing "criminal tendencies of the opposition parties" in the face of "extreme provocation". These pertinent issues were buried in glowing independence tributes from people ranging from artists, war veterans and "political analysts" to foreign dignitaries.

For example, ZTV, Radio Zimbabwe (19/4, 6pm & 8pm) and Spot FM (20/4, 7am) carried as headline news Zambian Vice-President Rupiya Banda's praise of Mugabe as "one of the greatest leaders in the world".

Earlier, ZTV (18/4, 8pm) reported thousands of people as having gathered at most provincial capitals in the country "to hear the President's speech read out by governors". The Herald (19/4) also unquestioningly allowed Deputy Youth Minister Savious Kasukuwere to deify Mugabe saying he was like "Jesus", who "has no supporters but believers". Like ZBC, almost all the 28 stories the official Press carried on independence festivities (excluding independence supplements) simply magnified President Mugabe's attacks on alleged Western machinations and avoided subjecting his policy pronouncements to scrutiny.

But exactly how the calls by Western nations and Zimbabwe's civil society for democratic political reforms amounted to a reversal of independence remained unexplained.

The Herald and Chronicle (19/4) interpreted the huge turnout at Rufaro Stadium and the presence of several foreign diplomats from the EU and Africa as a reflection of the local and world support Zimbabwe enjoyed in its fight against Western imperialism. In addition, The Herald (20/4) used a Pastoral letter by 14 Central African Anglican Bishops condemning Western "sanctions" as an affirmation of the country's growing support against its enemies. The two government-controlled papers also interpreted the absence of the British and US ambassadors at the celebrations as an "open show of their disdain for Zimbabwe's right to self-determination".

However, the papers did not clarify whether the diplomats had been invited to the occasion - as protocol demands. It was left to US Ambassador Christopher Dell to explain that he had not been invited in a letter published in The Standard (22/4).

ZBC's interpretation of independence was also mostly viewed either through the voice of the ruling party or government officials, which constituted 80% of the 118 voices it sourced as shown in Fig 1. The rest of the voices accessed also magnified official sentiments.

Fig. 1 Voice Distribution on ZBC

Notably, MDC views on independence were ignored. Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe's morning bulletins (22/4) simply reported political analysts Godfrey Chikowore and Goodwills Masimirembga accusing the party of shunning the celebrations.

The private electronic media tackled the issue in a more balanced and holistic fashion.

Not only did they note the significance of the celebrations in their 15 stories on the subject, they also assessed the context in which they were being held. Studio 7 (17/4) quoted several Zimbabweans living in Britain who expressed displeasure at the country's economic and political woes, which they said had blighted Independence Day.

MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara were also reported making similar observations.

Unlike ZBC, which accused the MDC of spurning the celebrations without seeking their comments, SW Radio Africa (17/4) reported Tsvangirai saying he could not attend events where "his participation is vilified and attendance at personal risk". His party spokesman, Nelson Chamisa agreed, telling Zimdaily (19/4) the MDC could not join in the celebrations when its members were being "abducted and killed by ZANU-PF". In this context the online agency and SW Radio Africa (17/4) reported that activists all over the world had arranged demonstrations to express their disgust over the crackdown on the opposition as Zimbabwe marked its 27 years of independence.

The sourcing pattern of the private electronic media was also lopsided in favouring opposition views of the celebrations as shown in Fig 2.

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