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Daily Media Update #2008-17
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
April 05, 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 - Saturday 5th April 2008

Post-election focus
The Herald and Chronicle (5/4) continued to abdicate their duty to inform the public about the hold-up to last Saturday's poll results, particularly the presidential elections.

They did not question why all of a sudden the ruling party did not believe in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) as exemplified by its decision to challenge the results of 16 of the House of Assembly seats it lost to the opposition, when it has been on record endorsing the electoral authority.

They also failed to question the rationale of ZANU PF officials' declarations that their party was ready for the presidential poll re-run when the results of that election are yet to be publicized.

Notably, there was no attempt by these dailies to seek alternative opinion on the legality of ZEC's delay, or analysis of its implications.

Rather, The Herald merely reported the ruling party's Politburo meeting as having "unanimously endorsed" President Mugabe to "battle it out" with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai "amid reports that neither candidate attained the absolute majority required under the Electoral Act".

It clamed that the "massive show of unity" and "camaraderie" in the meeting "put paid to claims . . . that ZANU PF had been thrown into disarray after losing the parliamentary majority to the opposition".

The Herald and Chronicle cited the ZANU PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, confirming his party's decision and downplaying its defeat. He said: "Cde Mugabe, our dear old man, remains our candidate. We shall carry him along with us" adding: "Apa takangogumburwa, hatina kuputsika (We stumbled, we did not fall".)

The Herald's Nathaniel Manheru's column was cut from the same cloth. Apart from confessing that he was ZANU PF "to the bone and marrow . . . " he childishly trivialized the ruling party's loss to the opposition. Manheru claimed that the MDC (Tsvangirai) "managed a simple win, a slender margin, which is why its many seats could not translate to a majority by way of popular vote" and attributed ZANU PF's loss to voter apathy.

He claimed that the opposition win would be reversed in the presidential run-off, which "will bring back the majority to play its rightful role in deciding the fate of this . . . country". Such professional docility was manifest in the manner in which the government papers reported ZANU PF's decision to challenge results of 16 House of Assembly seats. The Herald, for example, passively recorded Mutasa alleging without any tangible proof that some ZEC officials "connived with the opposition to manipulate results in favour of the MDC". He claimed, "In some cases, voters were allegedly instructed to vote for the opposition" adding "this was the worst election I have ever seen".

Neither was there any reconciliation between the delays in the announcement of the presidential poll results with The Herald's claims that there were "glaring errors in some statistics (in Midlands Province) that severely affected Mugabe's grand total". The paper reported a provincial elections officer as having been arrested over the matter.
Ironically, while The Herald and Chronicle were weaving conspiracy theories against ZEC, an editorial in the Chronicle commended the electoral body for running last week's harmonized polls "smoothly". Further, it argued "no one can claim that the Commission is trying to rig the elections when they have their own officials in the thick of things".

The official papers also downplayed the fact that the ruling party was so far trailing the opposition in the senatorial elections by narrowing down the battle to ZANU PF and the MDC (Tsvangirai) faction. The Chronicle, for example, reported the ruling party and the MDC (Tsvangirai) as "running neck-and-neck" with ZANU PF having won 20 seats compared to MDC (Tsvangirai) [19] and MDC (Mutambara) [four].

In the wake of the ruling party's loss in last week's polls, the official dailies were complicit in churning out inflammatory language, which might provoke violence against ZANU PF's perceived detractors, in particular, former white commercial farmers.

For instance, both The Herald and Chronicle, alleged that "an increasing number of white former commercial farmers" were "threatening resettled black farmers throughout the country with eviction from their farms" in anticipation of an MDC victory. They identified Chiredzi, Marondera and Chegutu as some of the affected areas.

In one of the cases, they reported "a rifle-wielding Thomas Beattie" as having "gone to Bright Matonga's farm in Chegutu with a gang of five or six men" and told workers that he would soon be "reclaiming his land", while in another, MDC's newly elected Marondera Central MP, Ian Kay, was reported as having done the same.
No comment was sought from the farmers.

Rather, they quoted the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, describing the alleged incidents as "a second invasion of our country . . . " He added: "We order those involved in sanctions, supporting and funding the invasion of our land to know that we have the capacity . . . to defend our revolution and sovereignty".

Similarly, Mutasa told The Herald that the white farmers "would soon receive the shock of their lives". He said: "You do not go to other people's country and demand their land. That is childish . . . "

Fig 1 shows the sourcing patterns in the official dailies.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in The Herald and Chronicle

Daily electronic media report - Friday April 4th, 2008.

Post-election focus
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's inordinate hold-up of Saturday's historic presidential poll results remained a non-news item on ZBC.

Notably, at the time of compilation of this report ZEC had just finished announcing the results of the Senate poll, six days after the plebiscite.

However, all six stories that ZBC carried on the election results yesterday appeared unconcerned with the delayed vote count and were limited to passively announcing the electoral authorities' release of the 43 results in the 60-seat senate poll, trickled down to the public in the same manner as those of the House of Assembly.

The national broadcaster's stories on the elections were based on the ZANU PF politburo's endorsement of its presidential candidate, Robert Mugabe, for a possible run-off with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai if neither failed to win an outright majority in the presidential poll. They also included war vets' leader Jabulani Sibanda's threats of violence against white commercial farmers preparing to "re-invade farms" in the event of an MDC win "to move out forthwith" (ZTV [8pm]).

However, while the same story cited Sibanda also threatening the MDC and dismissing its claims that it had won 50.3% of the presidential poll as "provocative", "unconstitutional and (an) illegal claim", it did not reconcile this with another ZTV (8pm) report in which the ruling party Politburo had "resolved" that if the results of the presidential elections "do not meet the constitutional requirements the party is geared for a run off . . . "
The station did not question why the party was suddenly interested in strategizing about a poll whose outcome was yet to be announced.

Only the private electronic media were questioning, with Studio 7 quoting analyst Dhewa Mavhinga saying ZANU PF's move to endorse Mugabe for a run-off "looked suspicious" as the results were yet to be announced. The station also quoted US State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey expressing similar sentiments, saying it was "curious" that "Mugabe supporters on Friday were talking about preparations for a run-off election in the absence of any official results from Saturday's first round".

These reports formed part of the 20 the private electronic media carried on post-election developments. In addition, they continued to publicise local and international concerns on the negative impact of ZEC's withholding of the election results, arguing that this translated to failing Zimbabweans and left a strong presumption of fraud. The private electronic media reported commentators predicting intensified violence by ZANU PF in the run-up to the second presidential poll run-off.

The Zimbabwe Times, for example, reported analysts saying Mugabe was likely to resort to the strategy of intimidation since he had "literally exhausted all his less aggressive strategies" that ranged from distributing farm equipment to rural peasants, increasing salaries for civil servants and state security agents, to handing over new cars and houses to medical doctors.

Said the publication: "It appears that while they thanked him profusely, they voted for the opposition on March 29."
Studio 7 reported the Zimbabwe Peace Project and the Tsvangirai MDC formation accusing ZANU PF of launching a campaign of violence and intimidation around the country after the party's loss of its majority in the lower house of parliament.

Further, the private electronic media carried at least five incidents of harassment and intimidation of mostly the MDC and foreign journalists by state security agents. For example, they reported the police raid on several rooms that were being used by the MDC as information centres at the Meikles Hotel, although police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena denied reports of the invasion. They also reported the police as having arrested two foreign journalists and several other people after they raided York Lodge, a small Harare hotel where they were staying.
Reportedly, the two foreign journalists - one from the New York Times and the other from London's Sunday Telegraph - were arrested on charges of working in the country without accreditation.

In another incident, Studio 7 reported the re-arrest of two engineers working for a South African satellite company soon after they were acquitted of charges of violating Zimbabwe's media law by a magistrate's court.
ZBC censored these developments.

Fig 1 and 2 show the voice sourcing patterns of ZBC and the private electronic media.

Fig 1: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

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