Back to Index

Economy
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-19
Monday May 14th 2007 - Sunday May 20th 2007

THE official media short-changed its audiences on the exact state of the country's economic crisis and its root causes in 90 stories they carried on the matter: ZBC 42 and government papers 48. This was illustrated by their blatant efforts to conceal Zimbabwe's record hyperinflation for April, which shot up to 3 713 percent from last month's 2 200. ZBC totally censored the inflation leap, while The Herald and Chronicle (17/5) buried it in a story that projected government as taking measures to arrest the economic decline through the National Incomes and Price Commission Act (NIPCA).

No coherent detail was provided on the causes of this alarming news and its implications for society.

In fact, the official dailies simply hailed the law as "an essential part of a process to slow down inflation and eventually bring it down to single digits" without explaining how. Neither did they discuss the negative impact of the law, which, among other things, seeks to impose a price freeze on basic commodities. Nor did they discuss how the pricing commission to be established under the Act would relate to the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) and the reserve Bank's proposed social contract, which were also aimed at addressing the country's economic troubles through similar means.

This professional ineptitude replayed itself in several stories that the government media carried on symptoms of the country's economic ills. Almost all the reports avoided linking the economic decay, such as the galloping cost of living, the doctors/nurses strike, massive brain drain in the education sector, industrial viability problems, price hikes and shortages of sugar, fuel and other basic commodities to government's poor policies.

The official papers' failure to critically examine the economic malaise was again reflected by their dependence on official voices (Fig 5).

Fig 5 Voice distribution in the government Press

Although ZBC's sourcing pattern appeared balanced (Fig 6), its reports remained piecemeal and uncritical of government's economic mismanagement.

Fig. 6 Voice distribution on ZBC

Except for SW Radio Africa that inexplicably did not carry any economic stories, the rest of the private media continued to inform their audiences on the worsening economic crisis. For example, Zimbabwe Times and the Independent (18/5) quoted economist John Robertson describing the new inflation rate as "a classic case of hyperinflation" while the online news agency questioned the new policy of concealment adopted by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in its operations. It observed that the CSO had abandoned its norm of inviting local and international media to its offices where it would routinely announce inflation figures.

In addition, Studio 7 (17/5) and the Independent quoted economists predicting inflation to soar to at least 8 000 percent by the end of the year. The private radio station also reported business expert Tony Hawkins dismissing official claims that the NIPCA would curb inflation. Instead, he contended that it would be used to clamp down on business, while The Financial Gazette (17/5) viewed the Act as part of the "ill-advised populist policy" that would not work unless government implemented sound economic policies.

By the end of the week, Zimbabwetimes.com (19/5) announced the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ)'s new poverty datum line figures for April. According to the report, the cost of living for a family of six had soared by 125 percent to $3 349 051.97 in April.

ZBC ignored this development.

The private media's sourcing patterns are shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

Fig. 7 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig. 8 Voice distribution in the private papers

Visit the MMPZ fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP