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This article participates on the following special index pages:
2008 harmonised elections - Index of articles
Daily
Media Update #2008-16
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
April 04, 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
last week'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 - Friday 4th April 2008
Post-election focus
Almost a week after the close of Saturday's historic national
elections, The Herald and Chronicle (4/4) continued to show no interest
in unravelling the reasons why the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
was still withholding the news the nation knows it has - the
result of the presidential election.
The two dailies also made no effort to question ZEC's delayed
release of the first 10 Senate election results last night, which
again appeared designed to portray a tight contest between ZANU
PF and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC.
The government-controlled papers also ignored widely reported "crisis"
meetings among the various political stakeholders following what
is all-but-known to be President Mugabe's loss to Tsvangirai
in the presidential poll. The big question was; by how much and
whether there would be a second election to settle the race for
the presidency.
They also carried no news of the arrest in Harare of a number of
foreign journalists covering the elections and the acquittal this
week of a South African pilot hired to fly Tsvangirai to rallies
in remote areas just before the election, despite loudly reporting
his arrest and unjustifiably linking his presence to British support
for the opposition.
Only the private
media paid attention to these developments.
Most of The Herald and Chronicle's 13 reports on post-election
developments generally focused on the continuing endorsement of
the polls by "friendly" foreign observers missions and
downplaying or discrediting the MDC's 'narrow'
parliamentary victory over ZANU PF.
For example, instead of explaining the real reasons for a visit
to Mugabe by the head of the AU observer mission, Ahmad Kabbah,
the papers preferred to highlight his "hailing" of "Zimbabwe
as one of the countries with the best-run elections on the continent".
As a result, the papers did not explore the context in which Kabbah
claimed Mugabe was of the "view that the problems of the country
will be resolved amicably", or the circumstances in which
Tsvangirai considered Mugabe as "father of this nation and
would respect the (presidential election) results".
The Herald carried
two editorial attacks against the MDC and Britain and its allies.
In one of these, the paper's reporter Caesar Zvayi denigrated
the MDC election victory as a "harvest of thorns", saying
it was manipulated by an economic crisis prompted by London and
Washington.
The Herald reported one incident of political violence in which
Ignatius Mudawaro (28), an MDC activist, was arrested on allegations
of threatening to take over a farm and bottle store owned by a Zimbabwe
National Army member, "once the MDC won the elections".
The paper then linked the matter to "reports of white former
commercial farmers threatening to grab back the land that was repossessed
by government for redistribution to the black majority" in
the event of an MDC election victory.
The private
weekly, the Zimbabwe Independent gave greatly more informed coverage
of the historic events unfolding in the country in its 12 stories
on the fall-out from the elections.
It reported extensively on the crisis in the ruling party stemming
from President Mugabe's "defeat" by Tsvangirai
and how it had triggered "bargaining and deal-making"
as part of a crisis management process among local, regional and
international figures and groups. Among those sucked into this "shuttle
diplomacy" included the AU, South African President Thabo
Mbeki, British and European diplomats.
ZANU PF's Politburo was due to hold an emergency meeting to
deal with the situation as Mugabe weighed his options. Already,
said the paper, Mugabe had gone on the "offensive" by
directing ZEC to "delay the (presidential) result in order
to manage a political crisis triggered by his defeat". The
paper also suggested that there was a possibility Mugabe could amend
the Electoral Act to hold a run-off in 90 days instead of the stipulated
21.
The paper also reported the MDC negotiating with losing presidential
candidate Simba Makoni "to craft a workable plan for the next
government".
The private weekly also carried reports that looked at the impact
of the low voter turnout, the costly decision by the MDC formations
to contest the elections separately and the implications of the
MDC victory on the country's political landscape.
Without today's Independent and yesterday's Financial
Gazette, the public would have had no realistic reference to compare
news of the dramatic developments in the country against the sanitized
and misleading information being disseminated by the government-controlled
media.
Figs 1 and 2
show the voicesourcing patterns of the government papers and the
private Press.
Fig 1: Voice distribution in The Herald and Chronicle
| MDC |
Traditional
leaders
|
Alternative
|
Foreign
diplomats
|
ZEC |
| 1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
Fig
2: Voice distribution in The Zimbabwe Independent
| MDC |
Alt |
Ordinary
People |
Unnamed |
| 2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Daily
electronic media report - Thursday 3rd April 2008
Post-election focus
ZBC continued to keep an increasingly worried nation in the dark
by refusing to demand a credible explanation from the electoral
authorities about the now inexcusable delay in the release of the
remaining results from Saturday's historic national elections.
It has also refused to enlighten the nation about Zimbabwe's
electoral laws, which require the results of elections to be announced
within six days.
The national public broadcaster did not even appear to be suspicious
of the authorities' motive for withholding the results, particularly
of the presidential poll.
Instead, it continued to plaster Zimbabwe's widely criticized
electoral process with endorsements by observers from "friendly"
countries, while ignoring concerns raised by sections of the media,
civil society, the opposition and the international community.
For example, ZBC (1pm, 6pm & 8pm) quoted the head of the African
Union observer mission, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, saying, "He was
impressed with the conduct of elections". He added that the
world had "a lot to learn from the way Zimbabweans conducted
the elections".
He was not asked to provide the evidence and was instead, allowed
to praise the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as being "very
disciplined, professional and very orderly".
ZBC allowed Kabbah to unjustifiably attack the international media,
which government barred from covering the polls. It aired him saying
he was "surprised to see on TV that CNN had a facility at
the Zimbabwe-South Africa border, commenting on the polls"
as they "could have been giving one side of the story, which
is not good journalism".
The national
broadcaster was complicit in protecting ZEC from any investigation
into its slow and late release of the election results and instead,
passively allowed ZEC to fib to the nation when it was quoted "appealing
to Zimbabweans to remain calm, patient and bear with it as the verification
process for senatorial results is still underway" (all stations
8pm). For example, ZTV quoted ZEC's deputy chief elections
officer attributing the delay to "logistical problems",
which included "the bringing of forms signed by electoral
officers to the various command centres and the inaccessibility
of some places due to poor rains".
In addition, ZBC stations (8pm) quoted the Pan Africa Council saying
the West had "no right to pressure Zimbabwe to release its
election results as the conduct of ZEC is within its electoral laws"
without elaboration.
This was reflected in the 19 stories ZBC carried on what is evidently
developing into a crisis.
Fig 1 shows
the sourcing patterns on ZBC
Fig 1: Voice Distribution on ZBC
| ZEC |
Foreign
diplomats |
ZRP |
Ordinary
People |
Business |
| 3 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
The private electronic
media's 24 reports on the topic were sceptical of ZEC's
delay, arguing that it confirmed their fears that the body lacked
the independence to manage elections and rendered it difficult for
the results to be accepted when they eventually emerge.
In addition, they highlighted growing speculation, rumour and anxiety
caused by the delay. Studio 7, for example, quoted journalist, Peta
Thornycroft, observing that "Rumour and speculation continue
to muddy the political waters as people wait for results, in particular
the presidential poll".
The station complained that the pace at which ZEC was releasing results
"left the presidential decision a seemingly distant prospect".
The private electronic media declared the MDC (Tsvangirai) faction
the winner of Saturday's parliamentary elections, noting that
for the first time since independence ZANU PF had lost control of
Parliament.
However, Studio 7 quoted Deputy Information Minister, Bright Matonga,
downplaying his party's defeat, saying he was "confident"
that President Mugabe would win the second round of voting.
The Zimbabwe
Times quoted an unnamed ruling party official saying that President
Mugabe had met military and intelligence officials who urged him
to stand for a run-off, as the party "would employ tactics
of intimidation and bloodshed, especially in rural areas"
where the opposition had broken the ruling party's stranglehold.
However, an analyst, Gorden Moyo told Studio 7 that Mugabe was not
interested in a run-off because he was afraid of being "humiliated".
Moyo argued that Mugabe "wanted a soft landing" and
was "calling for a government of national unity with the MDC
(Tsvangirai)" that would "lead to a smooth transition"
and "immunity from prosecution".
The private electronic media also highlighted growing international
pressure against Mugabe over the late release of the results.
Studio 7 reported Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) calling
on Mugabe to accept the poll outcome.
Similarly, SW Radio Africa reported South Africa's Democratic
Alliance calling on Thabo Mbeki to "play an active role to
ensure that Zimbabwe does not descend into chaos in post-election
period".
The private
electronic media reported a number of human rights violations committed
by security agencies and ruling party supporters against their perceived
enemies. For example, The Zimbabwe Times and New Zimbabwe reported
a police raid of the rooms used by the MDC at Meikles Hotel in Harare,
which an MDC official, Tendai Biti, described as part of Mugabe's
"crackdown on the opposition".
SW Radio Africa reported that the home of an MDC official in Chimanimani
had been "torched" by suspected ruling party supporters,
while SW Radio Africa reported the assault of civilians by police
in Dzivarasekwa.
However, SW Radio Africa did not seek police confirmation.
New Zimbabwe reported the arrest of two foreign journalists at a
hotel in the capital for "practising journalism without accreditation".
Fig 2 shows
the sourcing patterns of the private electronic media
Fig
2: Voice distribution in the private electronic media
| Govt |
ZEC |
ZANU PF |
MDC |
Alternative |
Media |
Foreign
diplomats |
| 2 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
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fact
sheet
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