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Image building and political developments
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-22
Monday June 4th 2007 - Sunday June 10th 2007
June 14, 2007

ALL media gave attention to the country's political developments, comprising progress on South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts; concerns on Zimbabwe's bad governance and government plans to overhaul the country's electoral system. The print media carried 56 stories on these issues, of which 25 appeared in the official Press while the private papers featured 41. The private electronic media carried 13 and ZBC aired 47. However, the government media selectively gave prominence to reports that simplistically projected Zimbabwe as having cordial relations with the international community while suppressing those that showed otherwise. As a result, their audiences were left with a distorted picture of the country's soiled international image and regional attempts to address the problem.

Only the private media coherently handled the subject.

a) Image building

ZBC provided a good example of the government media's determination to spruce up the country's image during the week. For example, 45 of the 47 stories that it aired on the country's political developments simplistically interpreted routine official events such as the presentation of donated equipment by some diplomats as indicative of the good relations the international community had with Zimbabwe and its unconditional support of the country. Only two reflected world displeasure with President Mugabe's misrule.

Even then, these were in the context of government's response to widespread denunciation of its controversial policies.

For instance, Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe (4/6, 8pm) presented Pakistan Ambassador Riffat Iqbal's donation of navigation equipment to the Air Force of Zimbabwe as reflective of "excellent" relations between the two countries that "backdate to the liberation struggle". No background information surrounding the donation was given. Instead, Spot FM simply presented (4/6, 8am) the announcement by Angolan Ambassador that his country was "considering scrapping visa requirements for Zimbabweans" and positive statements made on the country (9/6, 1pm) by the outgoing Indian Ambassador as other demonstrations of sound relations between Zimbabwe and the rest of the world.

Besides using such diplomatic etiquette to paper over the country's isolation, the official media also carried several stories on various community development projects that depicted the authorities as working tirelessly to improve the public's livelihoods.

It was against such attempts to sanitize the country's deteriorating socio-economic and political situation, that the Chronicle (5/6) handily used plans by the UK-based Lonrho Africa to invest more than 50 million pounds in Zimbabwe as a "vote of confidence for the country" and a "slap in the face of outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair" and "other detractors", who "have tried to portray (the country) as an investment risk".

Without viewing Lonrho's plans as exposing the fallacy of government's incessant claims that the West had imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, the paper and The Herald (8/6) passively reported the company claiming that "it had doubled its planned investment fund" due to "strong demand from foreign companies and individuals that are keen to invest in Zimbabwe". No effort was made to corroborate these claims. Rather, the official media continued to present the country's troubles and Western criticism of its leadership as instigated by Blair.

It was in this context that ZTV (7/6, 8pm), Spot (8/6, 8am) and the official dailies (8/6) projected the University of Edinburgh's annulment of an honorary degree it conferred on Mugabe as due to "political pressure" from Blair. No concrete evidence was provided to support these allegations save for the observation that Blair had told the British parliament that he "endorsed" the move on the eve of the withdrawal of the degree.

Neither did they discuss the actual reasons behind Edinburgh's move. Instead they drowned their audiences with Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu's rhetoric dismissing the development as immaterial. He described it as a "joke" that did not "perturb" Mugabe as he had "several earned degrees, and honorary degrees by world-class universities".

The Sunday Mail (10/6) then carried a brief biography of Mugabe's academic and political achievements that was accompanied by a catalogue of his degrees. It then claimed that "no university" could "take away" the fact that Mugabe was a "living legend". It was only the private media that explained the reasons behind Mugabe's stripping of the degree, a development they interpreted as a reflection of growing concerns on his bad governance. Studio 7 (6/6), for example, reported the university justifying its decision on the basis of the country's deepening crisis, saying it would "not have granted the degree had it known (in 1984) of Mugabe's role in the death of up to 20,000 people during . . . the Gukurahundi genocide".

The Zimbabwean (7/6) and the Zimbabwe Independent (8/6) carried similar reports with the latter claiming that "several universities worldwide" were also "mooting" stripping Mugabe of honorary degrees they awarded him due to his misrule. And contrary to the picture painted by the official media, the Independent and The Zimbabwe Times (6/6) carried several stories exposing growing disenchantment with Mugabe's rule. These included plans by the International Commission of Jurists to send a delegation to probe reports of the arrests, detention and beatings of human rights lawyers and the condemnation of Zimbabwe's repressive media laws by World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

In fact, Studio 7 (7/6) revealed that the International Labour Organisation had summoned Zimbabwe to "appear before its standards committee" to "respond to charges that it violated human rights." Reportedly, Harare refused. Earlier, the station (6/6) interpreted Mbeki and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's discussion on Zimbabwe as another indication of widespread disapproval of the country's governance.

b) Mbeki mediation efforts

Again the government media failed to give informative updates on the SADC-sanctioned Mbeki efforts to broker an internal settlement to Zimbabwe's problems. In fact, all their stories on the matter were premised on bland official endorsements of the initiative and avoided independent investigations on the matter. Neither did they relate the arbitration efforts to regional discontent over government's administration of Zimbabwe and its attempts to rein it in.

For example, ZTV, Spot FM (6/6, 8pm) and the official dailies (7/6) passively reported Foreign Affairs Secretary Joey Bimha expressing government's commitment to ensuring that the SADC initiative was a "success" without reconciling his statements with private media reports exposing ruling party's attempts to scupper the process. Neither did they question the source of Swedish Ambassador Sten Rylander's optimism that Mbeki would succeed in his mission. Nor did they provide useful updates on the progress made by the visiting SADC team assessing the country's economic problems.

Rather, ZTV and Spot FM (5/6, 8pm) narrowly presented the visit as part of SADC's dedication to help Zimbabwe overcome the effects of the alleged economic sanctions imposed by the West.

Only the private media gave a clue on the progress of Mbeki's mediation and examined its chances of success. SW Radio Africa (4/6), The Financial Gazette (7/6) and the Independent, for instance, revealed how ZANU PF had already started stalling the mediation initiative after its chief negotiators Ministers Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche reportedly failed to turn up for a "key meeting" with the MDC delegation in Pretoria. The Independent quoted unnamed sources claiming Mbeki had to "contact Mugabe" over the matter after his "frantic efforts to contact the two" failed. Besides, the Gazette highlighted South Africa's anxiety on the negative effects of ZANU PF succession battles on Mbeki's mediation, while the Independent revealed issues the opposition wanted discussed during the negotiations.

c) Constitutional amendment

The government media also poorly covered the gazetting of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 18) Bill, which - among other issues - seeks to synchronise presidential and parliamentary elections, expand the legislature and establish a Human Rights Commission. While the official papers reported on the matter, ZBC simply ignored it. Even then, The Herald and Chronicle (9/6) merely reported on the provisions of the Bill without subjecting them to scrutiny.

For instance, none of them discussed the underlying implications of the Bill on the country's electoral process, particularly in view of observers' fears of gerrymandering by the government-appointed Delimitation Commission in demarcating constituencies.

Neither did they examine the independence of the proposed Human Rights Commission, nor how it would relate to human rights activists' ongoing efforts to lobby regional and international bodies to censure Zimbabwe for gross human rights violations. Rather, they merely quoted Ndlovu defending the proposed constitutional amendments and dismissing views that the Bill would "scuttle" Mbeki's mediation efforts saying "the process began long before talks of the talks" and "had no relation" to the SADC initiative.

Earlier, the Independent report had noted that "if the proposals are passed into law they will virtually sink Mbeki's mediation plan" because "Mugabe's parallel process to hang onto power would get a new impetus after several months of setbacks". And unlike the government media's passive coverage of the subject, the weekly reported ruling party "insiders" viewing some of the proposals as aimed at blocking Vice President Joice Mujuru's elevation to the presidency, while "entrenching" Mugabe's stay in "office for another five years, which may translate into rule for life". Its columnist Jonathan Moyo agreed, contending that it was imperative for Mbeki not to "keep (his) eyes off . . . the 18th constitutional amendment" to avoid an "embarrassing failure" of his mediation efforts.

The differences in the media coverage of the country's political developments were mirrored by their sourcing patterns. For instance, although the government media quoted a wide range of sources as shown in Figs 1 and 2, they were mainly used to portray Zimbabwe as enjoying world support against Western machinations.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

In contrast, the private media's diverse sourcing pattern (See Figs 3 and 4) illustrated their balanced coverage of the topic.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig. 4 Voice distribution in the private Press

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