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Economic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-24
Monday June 18th 2007 - Sunday June 24th 2007
June 28, 2007

THIS week the government media continued to refract the real causes of the country's economic woes in the 97 stories they carried on the economy. Of these, 40 appeared in the official Press while ZBC aired 57. None of the stories unravelled government's culpability in the economic mess. Instead, they projected the authorities' interventionist policies as the panacea to the economic problems while simultaneously blaming those outside government for the crisis. For example, 35% of ZBC's 57 reports on the matter simplistically presented government's pledge to financially support small businesses and the establishment of a Cabinet taskforce to "monitor" prices as the solution to the ailing economy.

There was no clarity on how the taskforce would relate to the National Incomes and Pricing Commission and the recently signed social contract. Neither was there any attempt to analyse the effectiveness of such bodies on reviving the struggling economy.

Rather, Spot FM (18/6,8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (19/6, 6am) simply reported members of the public calling on the pricing commission to "deal" with businesses that increased "prices by more than 60% in the month of June". Without frankly discussing the actual causes of price hikes, Spot FM (19/6, 1pm) narrowly presented them as due to business' "defiance" of a "formula" agreed to by partners to the social contract.

There was no elaboration on the formula or comments from business.

It was hardly surprising therefore that all the 37 stories ZBC carried on indicators of economic decline such as price increases and commodity shortages solely blamed business for the economic chaos. Spot FM (19/6, 8am), for example, merely accused "unscrupulous" businesses for putting "high mark ups" on commodity prices "without economic justification". It avoided discussing the macro-economic environment they were operating in. Similarly, The Sunday Mail (24/6) blamed the latest spate of price increases on "profiteering by retailers" and Western-backed machinations to destabilize government.

It was against this background that ZTV (20/6, 8pm), Spot FM (21/6, 8am) and official dailies (21/6) buried revelations by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry (CZI) that the "manufacturing sector had declined by 7%" and operating at "33% capacity" due to the deteriorating economic climate. Neither did they link these revelations, and indeed reports that the country's May inflation rose to 4,500% from 3,700% in April, to government's failed policies. In fact, Spot FM (18/6, 8pm) tried to downplay the inflation rise by describing it as a "psychological figure" without explaining what that meant.

Although the government media gave space to a significant number of sources outside government as shown in Figs 4 and 5, these were mainly quoted only highlighting symptoms of economic decline without discussing their actual causes or offering solutions.

Fig 4 Voice distribution in the government media

Fig 5 Voice distribution in the government Press

Again it was only the private media that exposed the negative impact of government's economic policies on the country's economy. Almost all their 35 reports on the topic (private Press [26] and private electronic media [9]) highlighted this aspect. Not only did they expose the ramifications of the pricing commission on the country's economy, they also categorically interpreted the CZI's revelations on the problems bedeviling industry as yet another indication of government policy deficiencies.

The Zimbabwe Independent (22/6) captured the private media's tone. Its comment dismissed the effectiveness of government's pricing commissions saying "this economy will never be put right through threats and controls" but can only be revived by "aid from outside" and that "will not come as long as there is no political settlement". Its columnist Eric Bloch concurred, adding that government's "massive economic mismanagement" in the last 10 years characterised by "grossly counterproductive . . . policies" was proof that it was "dogmatically determined upon the total destruction of the Zimbabwean economy".

However, although the private media also carried indicators of economic slide they failed to give a comprehensive picture of the rising cost of living and its effects on the public.

Zimdaily (23/6) merely reported unnamed sources revealing that the situation was so bad that government had resolved to recruit members of the National Youths Service to "monitor and enforce price controls of basic commodities to avert an imminent popular uprising".

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