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Daily Media Update No.10
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
March 29, 2008

MMPZ's daily media updates monitor the output of the domestic print and electronic media, particularly relating to coverage of election issues. Monitoring of the national public broadcaster, ZBC, is confined mostly to the main news bulletins on television and its two main radio stations, Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe, although prime-time programmes containing political content or material relevant to today's national elections is also monitored in a separate report. (This includes prime-time political advertising on ZBC). In addition, the main evening news bulletins of two privately owned radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe from abroad are monitored - Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa, together with the "news" pages of four web-based online news agencies specializing in news about Zimbabwe

Daily print media report - Saturday, March 29th, 2008 (Election Day)

Summary
The government-controlled press (The Herald, Chronicle, and Manica Post [28/3]) carried 41 reports on the elections, which started today. The stories comprised 32 articles on parties' campaigns, seven on election administration, political violence (six) and four on ZANU PF donating goods and services to the electorate. The Zimbabwe Independent (28/3) published 19 stories on the topic: Eleven on parties' electoral activities; six on the management of the polls and vote buying (one). There were no stories on politically motivated violence.

Election campaigns
The three government papers covered parties' electoral activities in 32 reports. Of these, 20 were on ZANU PF, MDC (eight) and Simba Makoni (four). All the stories on ZANU PF preparations were positive, five of which were editorials that openly rooted for a ZANU PF victory. For example, The Herald carried a front-page comment, Time to consolidate freedom gains, in which it frankly urged the electorate to vote for ZANU PF and President Mugabe against the "combined might" of the West, the US, the international media, local and foreign labour bodies, Christian organizations and NGOs "dressed up as the local opposition".

And as has become tradition with the paper's rally coverage of the outgoing state president, it carried a front-page round-up entitled, 'Defend your independence: President' on three of his rallies, accompanied by a colourful picture of Mugabe kicking a football at Zimbabwe Grounds, under the caption "Victory is Certain".

There was nothing materially new in the content of the lengthy coverage, or that of his lieutenants' campaigns carried by the government papers. The papers passively rehashed the ZANU PF candidates' accusations of the opposition as Western surrogates, who, on winning the elections would facilitate the re-colonisation of the country.
For example, The Herald and Chronicle reported Mugabe blaming Zimbabwe's economic problems on the MDC and "illegal sanctions", saying on the contrary, his "government had not failed, but had been bogged down" by the sanctions. He was also reported reiterating threats to nationalise companies that defied government's price controls. The opposition were not granted the same privilege.

Eight stories the official Press carried on the opposition's campaigns (MDC [five] and Makoni [three]) portrayed them negatively. Only three of these were neutral, two of which were on the MDC and one on Makoni. However, the two stories on the MDC were pegged on negative developments in the party.

One of the stories, for example, was on the "abandonment" of the party by its aspiring MP candidate for Shurugwi, Batsirai Mugama, over the opposition party's alleged "autocratic" way of selecting representatives. Reportedly, Mugama urged people to vote for ZANU PF and "President Mugabe who is a tried and tested leader with people's concerns at heart".

The Herald and Chronicle did not carry any sponsored political advertisements.Only the Manica Post, published yesterday, carried nine adverts in its business section: four each on ZANU PF and the MDC. The remainder was on the campaign by the Women's Trust for equal political rights. However, The Herald carried a bizarre full-page colour campaign illustration of Mugabe scoring an emphatic winning goal against his rivals.

The Zimbabwe Independent (28/3) gave more reasoned coverage of the parties' campaigns: nine of which were on ZANU PF, Makoni (two) and MDC (one). Eight of the paper's stories on ZANU PF were editorials critical of Mugabe's governance, while the other was on Mugabe's rally in Mbare despite "his low opinion" of the suburb's residents, whom he has previously mocked. The paper's coverage of the MDC and Makoni campaigns was fair. The Independent carried 15 political advertisements; six were inserted by the MDC (Tsvangirai) and nine by Makoni.

Administration issues
The government papers carried no independent audit of the country's electoral preparations as voting began today. Their seven reports were mostly limited to regurgitating official opinions on the electoral process without independent verification. For example, they passively carried statements from regional observers, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) either commending the electoral environment or expressing satisfaction with electoral preparations. In one of the reports, The Herald and Chronicle quoted the head of the East African Community (EAC) observer mission saying "it was highly impressed with the peaceful environment in Zimbabwe on the eve of the election". Reportedly, EAC only arrived in the country on Thursday.

Notably the rash of endorsements by the regional observers appear to be a blatant violation of the regulations covering their participation in the elections, namely, that "[Observers and monitors] will refrain from making personal or premature comments or judgments about their observations to the media or any other interested persons, and will limit any remarks to general information about the nature of their activity as observers . . . " The Herald and Chronicle carried a total of six adverts notifying voters on electoral procedure, including the movement of results from wards and constituencies to the national collation centre. The papers also carried a 12-page ZEC supplement listing the names and locations of the country's polling stations.

The Zimbabwe Independent (28/3) not only reported on irregularities surrounding the poll preparations, its lead story claimed that the authorities planned to rig the elections and ensure an "absolute majority" win for President Mugabe through the use of "all sorts of fraudulent measures". The paper claimed that a secret taskforce of security and electoral personnel were working together to rig the poll by reducing polling stations and ballot papers in opposition strongholds, slowing down the voting process, having ghost voters, and playing with the numbers of ballots. It linked the plot to the recent opinion poll by the Politics and Administration Department at the UZ predicting a majority win for Mugabe. However, the story - based on unnamed sources - did not seek official comment.

In another story, the paper quoted the opposition also alleging government's intention to rig the election result. The paper carried nine voter education adverts from ZEC, which included publication of House of Assembly and Senate constituency boundaries maps for Harare and Bulawayo.

Political violence and vote buying
The government-controlled papers carried six stories relating to politically motivated violence and recorded two incidents. Both were on court reports: One reported that five MDC activists had been charged with kidnapping and assaulting an Epworth resident whom they accused of destroying an MDC campaign poster. The other was on a girl (17) who was arrested for "stamping on Mugabe's posters" and insulting him (Chronicle). The rest of the stories were general reports relating to the threat of political violence. These included the official dailies' lead story on Election Day reporting a joint statement from all the country's security force chiefs (together with their picture) warning that they were on "full alert" to deal with "any threats to national security" on and after Election Day. The context of this was not really explained except for Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri's general references to "those who have been breathing fire about Kenyan-style violence". Notably, on the eve of the 2002 presidential poll, the service chiefs also held a Press conference, vowing not to recognize a leader without liberation credentials.

The government papers reported on government promises and donations of goods, which they did not view as vote buying. The Zimbabwe Independent did not carry any stories on politically motivated violence but reproved "Mugabe's latest acts of generosity for what they are, namely desperate attempts to buy their votes".

Figs 1 and 2 show the voice sourcing patterns of the government and private Press.

Fig 1. Voice distribution in government controlled Press

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Zimbabwe Independent

Daily electronic media report No.10 - Friday, March 28th, 2008

Summary
ZANU PF campaign activities continued to dominate ZBC's news coverage of political parties' electoral preparations. The broadcaster paid very little attention to poll administrative issues and allegations of irregularities. This was reflected in the 46 reports that the broadcaster aired on the topic. In comparison, the private electronic media gave balanced coverage to all the competing parties, and critically examined Zimbabwe's electoral shortcomings in 41 reports.

Election campaigns
There was no improvement in ZBC's grossly biased coverage of parties' campaigns. For example, of the 32 reports that ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe (28/3, 8pm) allocated to parties' campaigns, 30 of them were on the ruling party while two were on the MDC. None was on independent presidential candidate, Simba Makoni, or any other contestants. ZTV alone devoted 52 minutes 35 seconds (91 per cent) of its 58 minutes news coverage of political parties' campaigns to ZANU PF while the MDC got five minutes 25 seconds. All the ZANU PF reports were positive, approvingly reporting ruling party candidates predicting their win over the opposition.

ZTV (8pm), for example, recorded Mugabe's rallies in Epworth and Greendale where he "kicked three footballs symbolizing his victory against three opposition projects in Tsvangirai, Makoni and Arthur Mutambara". This contrasted with the negative publicity ZBC gave to the opposition. ZTV (6pm) trivialised MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's promise to his supporters at a rally in Chitungwiza that he would "prioritise the health sector if he comes into power", by saying that his promise "came after President Mugabe had commissioned vehicles for doctors".
The station went on to quote unnamed analysts "dismissing" Tsvangirai's promise as "nothing new as government has already started improving the health sector".

In another report, ZTV (8pm) reported MDC Tsvangirai parliamentary candidate for Shurugwi as having "withdrawn his candidature" and "urged the electorate to vote for Mugabe" citing the MDC leader's imposition of candidates during primary elections for these harmonised elections and "failure to respect the party's constitution". No comment was sought from Tsvangirai.

The private media fairly covered electoral activities of all the major contestants in 25 stories. For example, they covered Mugabe and Makoni's rallies in Harare and Tsvangirai's rallies in Goromonzi and Hatcliffe, Harare, highlighting their promises to the electorate and assessing their chances in tomorrow's vote.

Administrative issues
ZBC did not carry out any independent audit to measure the adequacy of the authorities' poll preparations to ensure a free and fair vote. They relied on official claims that preparations for tomorrow's vote had been completed smoothly.
ZTV (8pm) cited the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairman George Chiweshe announcing their readiness to hold the poll and that the voters' roll was "in a credible state". Chiweshe assured the electorate that any voter who would be in a queue at the close of polling at 7 pm would be allowed to vote. These formed part of the seven stories that ZBC carried on the subject.

In comparison, the private electronic media's 13 stories highlighted anomalies in the electoral process, arguing these might render the elections neither free nor fair. Zimonline, for example, quoted the opposition and civic organisations bemoaning a "distorted and outdated" voters' roll, among other irregularities. In another story, Zimonline quoted the Foreign Correspondents Association of South Africa criticising government's "denial" of accreditation of its journalists seeking to cover tomorrow's elections.

Political violence and vote buying
ZBC did not record any incident of political violence. But they led their bulletins with three reports on Zimbabwe's defence and security force chiefs warning that they were on "full alert" to deal with any threats to the country's security. ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe (8pm) quoted police chief Augustine Chihuri speaking on behalf of all the security forces that they were on "full alert to deal with any kind of political violence during and after the polls".

They also recorded ruling party candidates donating money and commodities to the public in four stories without assessing the implications of these acts on people's voting behaviour. ZTV (8pm), for example, reported ZANU PF candidate for Mutare West, Christopher Mushowe, donating bicycles to Marange police station and religious leaders, while another report in the same bulletin recorded him donating hospital equipment to Marange District Hospital. The private electronic media viewed as electoral misconduct ZANU PF's vote buying tactics in three reports. However, they did not record any incident of political violence.

Figs 1 and 2 show the sourcing patterns on ZBC and the private electronic media

Fig 1: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 2: Voice distribution on Studio 7 and Online Publications

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