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International relations
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-37
Monday September 17th - Sunday September 23th 2007
September 27, 2007

The government media glossed over growing international condemnation of President Mugabe's rule this week. This was demonstrated by their lopsided coverage of the international debate on whether or not Mugabe should attend the December EU-Africa Summit in Portugal. The 47 stories that these media carried on the issue (ZBC [19] and government Press [28]) did not holistically examine the reasons why some members of the international community - particularly the West - were opposed to his attendance. Instead, they presented the West's concerns about Mugabe's repressive leadership as being at the instigation of Britain to isolate the country and effect "illegal" regime change.

It was in this light that the government media portrayed Portugal and Africa's support for Mugabe to attend the summit as an indication that, despite Britain's machinations, the international community was happy with government's political and economic policies. Notably, none of these bodies were quoted saying this. For example, The Herald and Chronicle (21/9) approvingly reported on a Portuguese diplomat saying it was "difficult not to invite Mugabe" to the summit because he was the "oldest leader in the AU and is seen as a freedom fighter" without fairly balancing this with concerns by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that Mugabe's presence would "undermine" it and "divert attention from important issues".

The government media's determination to suffocate Brown's views with comments from diplomats that projected the British leader's stance as unreasonable, was also evident on Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe (23/9,1pm). They subordinated his opinions to Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's "vow" to boycott the summit if Mugabe was not invited, adding that other African leaders would follow suit. No positive publicity was given to those who shared Britain's calls for the Harare authorities to reform, such as Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and incoming US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee. The government media simply responded by labelling them "regime change activists" without examining the relevance of their opinions.

It was in this light that The Herald and Chronicle (21/9) misrepresented McGee's speech on Zimbabwe, claiming he wanted to continue with the "illegal regime change agenda". They alleged that McGee had "made it clear that he would be dabbling in Zimbabwean politics" during next year's elections although he was not quoted saying so. Although the official media quoted a significant number of diplomats (Figs 5 and 6), their treatment of the topic remained superficial as these were either quoted in the context of supporting Mugabe, or as working against the country.

Fig 5: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 6: Voice distribution in government-controlled press

Only the private media soberly examined the matter in 33 stories they devoted to the topic. Of these, 21 appeared in the private electronic media and the rest in the private Press. Although they exposed the differences among the international community over Mugabe's invitation to the summit, they interpreted the divisions as arising from the need to save the summit from failing to occur, rather than over Mugabe's popularity, as projected by the government media. In addition, they also highlighted growing disquiet over government's poor policies within the international community, who included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the World Bank and the EU/ACP countries.

For example, Studio 7 (21/9) revealed that Ban Ki Moon had promised to take up the crisis in Zimbabwe with Mugabe at the UN General assembly, a development that was censored by the public media. The Zimbabwe Independent and ZimOnline (21/9) reported McGee accusing Harare of pursuing poor policies that had driven the country into the ground, saying he would work with the international community to "increase pressure" on government so that Zimbabwe could return to "a democratic state with a strong economy". Earlier, The Zimbabwean (20/9) reported that Zimbabwe was facing "punitive action" from the EU/ACP countries after turning down their request to send a fact-finding mission to investigate a "sharp escalation in rights abuses". The paper revealed that the body had asked for an official response from Harare at the next sitting in Rwanda in November.

Figs 7 and 8 show the voice distribution in the private media.

Fig 7: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig 8: Voice distribution in private press

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