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Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-26
Monday July 2nd 2007 - Sunday July 8th 2007
July 12, 2007

DURING the week the official media carried 43 stories (ZBC [20] and official Press [23]) that sought to project President Mugabe as a great statesman who enjoyed world support despite the alleged Western campaign to demonise him. Their coverage of his trip to Ghana for the AU summit is the case in point. Instead of giving the full import of the meeting and a complete picture of what transpired on the sidelines, they selectively reported on events that appeared to reflect massive African support for Mugabe in his fight against the West.

For example, Spot FM (2/7, 1pm), ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe (2/7, 8pm) glowingly reported on Mugabe's address to Ghanaian students who reportedly gave him a "thumbs up" describing him as "a symbol of African sovereignty." No evidence was given to substantiate the report.

Similarly, ZTV (5/7, 6pm) did not support its claims that Ghanaian rights groups and political leaders had also praised Mugabe as a "principled man and fighter for human rights" at an event held at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. In fact, the footage that accompanied the report only showed Mugabe minus his audience. However, The Herald and Chronicle (2/7) quoted Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park director Robert Williams Hrisir-Quaye and an opposition MP Jonathan Commey as having described Mugabe as the "only contemporary leader" who "personified Dr Nkrumah's vision for which he has been marked for elimination".

Such "resounding welcome afforded to Mugabe", claimed The Herald (4/7), contrasted sharply with the "flopped" MDC attempts to "condemn Zimbabwe" at the AU summit. No corroboration was sought from either the AU or the opposition on the matter. Rather, the following day, the paper's political editor Caesar Zvayi amplified these claims by portraying the MDC as hated by Africans.

To further paper over Zimbabwe's international isolation, The Herald and Chronicle

(2 /7) approvingly reported on the possibility of Portugal inviting Mugabe to the EU-AU Lisbon summit - "despite spirited efforts by hostile Western nations to bar the Zimbabwean delegation" - as "a slap in the face of the imperialist governments".

The papers did not give coherent details surrounding the origins of the standoff between the EU and AU on the matter. Likewise, Radio Zimbabwe (4/7, 6am) and Spot FM (4/7,8pm) simplistically celebrated the likely invitation of Mugabe as part of the "diplomatic victories" Zimbabwe had recently scored against the West. These included, the stations claimed, Zimbabwe's "victory" at the Tanzania SADC Summit, its election to the leadership of COMESA as well as the "adoption" of its "position on the AU government" during the Ghana summit.

It was against this background that The Herald (5&6/7) and Spot FM (5/7,1pm) subordinated outgoing US Ambassador Christopher Dell's critical observations on the Zimbabwe crisis to his "humiliation" by Foreign Affairs official Samuel Mhango who had grate-crashed the US' July 4 celebrations. Notably, what exactly Dell had said to entice Mhango's response was not stated. The Herald (5/7), for instance, vaguely reported that the US ambassador had made "disparaging remarks about the Zimbabwe government", while Spot FM simply claimed that ambassadors of China, Russia, Malaysia and other African countries were impressed by Mhango's ability to stand up against Dell. None of them were quoted substantiating this.

The government media's poor handling of the topic was mirrored by their narrow sourcing patterns as shown in Figs 5 and 6.

Fig 5 Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig. 6 Voice distribution on ZBC

Notably, almost all foreign voices were selectively used to reinforce claims that Mugabe enjoyed international support. In contrast, the 30 reports the private media carried on the topic (private Press [19] and private electronic media [11]) highlighted sustained international pressure against Mugabe's government. For instance, The Financial Gazette and The Zimbabwean (6/7) reported that the MDC had "stepped up" its continental diplomatic offensive by asking the AU to deploy election observers to Zimbabwe at least four months before next years' elections. They also reported on the contents of a petition the party presented to the AU.

In another report, New Zimbabwe.com (2/7) reported British MP Neil Parish denouncing plans to invite Mugabe for the EU-AU summit as a "disgrace" that would send out a wrong signal that the EU was "prepared to do business with dictators."

SW Radio (3/7) and The Zimbabwean quoted co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly Glennys Kinnock agreeing, saying Mugabe's invitation to Lisbon was "unacceptable" because he "knows little" and "cares less about priorities as the suffering of Zimbabwean people amply demonstrates." However, the weekly carried a misleading headline claiming that South African President Thabo Mbeki "wants Mugabe to go", when in actual fact, it was a Canadian MP who wrote a letter to Mbeki urging him to ask Mugabe "to step down". Besides, the private media openly reported on Dell's continued attribution of Zimbabwe's problems to poor leadership.

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