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Weekly Media Update 2008/15
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
June 08, 2008

Comment
ZBC's dramatic transformation into President Mugabe's exclusive propaganda weapon ahead of his presidential run-off with Morgan Tsvangirai, reached unprecedented levels of devotion during the week following its decision to start its news bulletins with the campaign messages of the ruling party.

The changes in the editorial thrust at the national broadcaster coincide with the appointment of Happison Muchechetere, a staunch ZANU PF supporter, as ZBC's chief executive. Muchechetere's promotion followed the sacking of Henry Muradzikwa for allegedly defying ministerial orders to deny the MDC favorable coverage on ZBC's radio and TV stations in the run-up to the March elections.

Muchechetere's promotion has resulted in wholesale programming, which has seen a massive number of current affairs and music programmes on radio and TV being turned into campaign platforms for ZANU PF (MMPZ's prime-time monitoring reports refer).

The shake-up has also seen the suspension of eight senior journalists at the national public broadcaster allegedly for failing to campaign effectively for ZANU PF in the March 29 elections, which it lost to the opposition.

As a result, ZBC now uses extracts of ZANU PF philosophy as opening signatures to its news bulletins under the pretence of updating their audiences on the countdown to the presidential run-off. This is in addition to the overwhelmingly favourable coverage that it has been giving to ruling party campaigns in the news bulletins themselves while ignoring or vilifying the MDC.

These campaign messages, associated with the glorification of ZANU PF's exploits during the independence war, include:

"Sell-outs were individuals who worked tirelessly with the colonisers during the 1st and 2nd Chimurenga to derail the aspirations of the black majority. It is now 22 days before the historic presidential run-off" (Spot FM 5/6, 1pm and ZTV 5/6, 8pm); and "During the second Chimurenga, freedom fighters would go for days without food and water, but such people did not dampen their spirits and determination to free their people. It is now . . . ." (Spot FM 5/6, 1pm).

MPPZ condemns this blatant hijacking of the national broadcaster to perpetuate the nationalist ideology of ZANU PF while shutting out that of the MDC and depriving the electorate of the chance to make informed choices ahead of the June 27 election. Such blatant bias makes a mockery of domestic laws and regional guidelines demanding equitable coverage of contestants during an election.

In this light, MMPZ is appalled by the silence from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's media committee, which under the Electoral Act, is empowered to ensure strict compliance with these regulations.

The Herald (6/6) simply reported the commission as saying it was in the "process of re-activating the media monitoring committee to ensure fair coverage by the media of the contesting parties" without explaining how this would be done.

Neither did the paper ask why the committee had been allowed to lie dormant if the run-off was a continuation of the last election, as ZEC itself has been on record as saying.

Although it is obviously too late, MMPZ urges ZEC to resolutely exercise its authority to stop the intolerable bias at ZBC and guarantee equitable, fair and balanced coverage of the election contestants.

ZEC is obliged by law to take decisive action against such flagrant abuse of the country's sole public broadcaster, but becomes even more urgent in view of government's decision to further decimate the few remaining alternative sources of information trickling into the country by imposing punitive import duties on newspapers produced outside Zimbabwe's borders.

Pre-election focus
With barely two weeks to go before the June 27 presidential run-off vote, the government media continued to discriminate against the MDC thereby ignoring domestic and regional election reporting laws and guidelines that insist on equitable coverage of all contestants.

They also provided false coverage of politically motivated violence by ignoring their own reports of the police admitting that the violence was "about 50-50" in some areas and exclusively blamed the MDC instead for the bloodshed.

The official media also made no effort to test the adequacy of the authorities' electoral preparations.

These were the main shortcomings in their 215 reports on the topic. Of these, 57 were on political violence, parties' campaigns (140) and electoral administration (18).

Although the private media were also guilty, mostly of reporting exclusively on ZANU PF violence against the MDC in 95 stories, they gave critical updates of the parties' campaigns (34) and the management of the election (19).

Political violence
The official media selectively covered politically motivated violence in the country, fingering and amplifying only cases of alleged MDC violence against ZANU PF whilst turning a blind eye to accusations of the ruling party's systematic terror against perceived opponents.

They recorded 20 incidents.

Most of the cases were old but were made topical through the arrest of the alleged perpetrators or their court appearances. These included the arrest and court appearance of MDC MP-elect for Buhera South, Eric Matinenga, on allegations of inciting violence in his constituency.

No attempt was made to interpret the arrests as being part of the state's crackdown on its opponents. For example, although ZBC was quick to report Matinenga's arrest, it censored his release from custody following the state's failure to provide evidence linking him to the alleged crime.Neither did the government media view the MDC attacks as retaliatory.

The Herald (6/6), for example, passively quoted one of the victims of alleged opposition violence in Chipinge, Ferguson Madeya, saying his MDC attackers had accused him of being part of a group of ruling party supporters that "attacked and injured their fellow party member".

The official media's complicity in the matter also manifested itself in the way Spot FM (5/6, 1pm) and The Herald and Chronicle (6/6) passively allowed the police to distort facts surrounding the arrests and subsequent nine-hour detention of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his lieutenants by police in Lupane on their way to campaign.
For example, while Spot FM reported the police denying the MDC leadership was ever "arrested", saying that they only "held an interview" with them, The Herald quoted the same police claiming that Tsvangirai was stopped at a "routine" roadblock where it was found that one of the vehicles in his convoy was not properly registered. It was then, added the police, that the driver was "asked" to accompany the police officers to the nearest police station whereupon Tsvangirai's entire convoy, which had allegedly been cleared to proceed, decided to follow.

However, there was no explanation as to why all this had to take nine hours. The Chronicle account of the incident was significantly more crude. It claimed that Tsvangirai had been "stung" by Western diplomats' alleged criticism of his "inept political game plan" and as a result "threw caution to the wind" and "resorted to the predictable tactic of courting the attention of the police". No comment was sought from the opposition party.

The government media also gave biased accounts of the state's crackdown on other perceived opponents, such as Western diplomats and NGOs. This was illustrated by the way they misreported the circumstances surrounding the harassment of US and British diplomats by the police at a roadblock in Mazowe while on their way back from probing reports of violence in Mashonaland Central. For example, Spot FM (5/6, 8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (6/6, 6am) and The Herald (6/6) failed to test police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena's claims that the police in Mazowe had intercepted British and American diplomats after they "refused to cooperate with the law enforcement agents" who were "left with no option but to deflate the tyres of their vehicles".

No comment was sought from the diplomats nor was their mission to Mashonaland Central coherently explained.
The Chronicle again took the matter to ludicrous levels under its grossly misleading headline: Western diplomats losing patience with Tsvangirai. It claimed that the diplomats "have now assumed full control of the MDC-T faction's campaign" by "staging cheap publicity stunts" in Mazowe in an alleged "last-gasp effort at ratcheting international hostility" against Mugabe and ZANU PF.

Similarly, the official media failed to put into perspective government's clampdown on civil society, which was this week demonstrated by its suspension of the operating licences of all NGOs providing humanitarian aid for allegedly meddling in the country's affairs ahead of the run-off.

The Herald (7/6) and Spot FM (7/6, 1pm) simply reported Deputy Information minister Bright Matonga accusing NGOs of "behaving like opposition political parties" and "using food to buy votes for the MDC-T". No credible evidence was provided to substantiate the allegations. Neither did the paper seek comment from NGOs, nor assess the implications of this measure on communities that were benefiting from humanitarian aid.

The private media gave greater expression to the politically motivated violence. They recorded 45 incidents, including 12 murders, which they attributed to ZANU PF. One of the incidents involved the murder of two MDC activists at Jerera Growth Point in Zaka where armed thugs attacked the MDC office there at night, firing on those inside the building before setting it alight.

The reports, which were often accompanied by harrowing testimonies of the victims and gruesome pictures of their wounds, carried little police confirmation because of the reported reluctance by the police to comment on the incidents. For example, The Standard (8/6) quoted a provincial police spokesman, Phibeon Nyambo, as being reluctant to speak about the Jerera incident saying: "I can't comment on that one. You can call Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena. Maybe he can comment".

This contrasted sharply with official media reports accusing the MDC of violence where the police freely gave details of the violence and what measures they were taking to combat it. The private media also reported on the international community's outrage over the violence, which they argued undermined the possibility of a free and fair vote in the run-off.

The detention of US and British diplomats assessing political violence in Mashonaland Central, and government's ban on NGOs distributing food to the needy also attracted criticism in the private media. For example, Studio 7 (5/6) reported the US Secretary of State for African Affairs Condoleezza Rice describing the detention of the diplomats as "grave" saying the US would raise the matter with the UN Security Council. The private media also reported that the diplomats had notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of their intention to visit Bindura, contrary to the lies in the government media, and that a driver had been assaulted.

New Zimbabwe (5/6) quoted analysts dismissing Mugabe's claims that NGOs were campaigning for the opposition. Instead, they blamed his land reform policies for the country's economic collapse, which they said had left millions unable to afford food and other essentials.

Party campaigns
The official media gave extensive coverage to ZANU PF's electoral preparations but paid scant attention to those of the MDC. All 125 reports on the ruling party's campaign activities were positive, while all 15 stories on the MDC preparations were negative. The stories on the MDC were reported in the context of conspiracy theories, which portrayed the opposition as a Western puppet that would return the country to the whites if its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the run-off. However, the government media's generous coverage of ZANU PF campaigns did not translate into informed analysis of the party's programme of action if Mugabe retained power. Neither was there any evaluation of its campaign strategies. For example, although these media reported several incidents of the party's vote-buying gimmicks, they did not view them as such. These included the planned re-introduction of people's shops and land offers to Zimbabweans fleeing xenophobic violence in South Africa, among others. In contrast, the opposition was portrayed as hopeless and crumbling.

In this light, ZTV (4/6, 6pm) passively reported the alleged defections to ZANU PF of 63 MDC supporters, including two councillors, after "realising the MDC was taking us for a ride". The defections reportedly took place in Mt Darwin South where some of the worst violence has been reported. Meanwhile, government papers carried 24 political adverts, all campaigning for ZANU PF. None were on the MDC and no explanation was given why the opposition party adverts were not appearing in these media.

The private media gave equitable coverage to the parties' campaigns. The reports basically criticised the ruling party's use of intimidation, violence and vote-buying to garner votes while highlighting the difficulties the MDC was having in campaigning due to the repressive environment. Studio 7 (3/6) and SW Radio Africa (6/6), for example, reported that Tsvangirai was forced to abandon a rally in Gwanda after heavily armed soldiers camped inside the venue, sealing it off from his campaign team.

The Independent (6/6) reported the MDC as having changed its campaign strategy and had adopted "walkabouts" to drum up support, which saw Tsvangirai taking his campaign to the streets of Bulawayo and Matabeleland South.
The paper revealed that last weekend police banned the party's rallies in Victoria Falls and Hwange, in an attempt to "paralyze" Tsvangirai's campaign. It also criticized the arrest and detention of the MDC leader for allegedly "attracting a large crowd".

The Standard (8/6) carried a similar report, reporting Harare police as having banned MDC rallies despite a High Court ruling giving them the go-ahead. The government media censored these developments. The private papers published nine campaign adverts. Four of these were from ZANU PF, MDC (one) while the remaining four were not attributed to anyone but countered ZANU PF's campaign messages.

Administration
The official media gave precious little information on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's readiness for the presidential run-off. Their reports merely fed on official assurances that that the poll would be run smoothly without explaining how this would be achieved. For example, ZTV (2/6, 8pm), Spot FM (3/6, 8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (4/6, 6am) passively quoted ZEC chairman George Chiweshe vaguely claiming that most of the required logistics were now in place without any clarification. Moreover, there was no questioning the late arrival of the election observers, whose contribution towards a free and fair election is now being doubted by commentators, or the criteria that would be used for the postal ballot.

In contrast, the private media continued to question the possibility of a credible election in view of ZEC's lack of administrative and financial resources and the prevailing hostile political environment. They also criticized the commission's failure to ensure the government media afforded equitable coverage to all contestants.

Figs 1-3 show the sourcing patterns in the public and private media.

Fig 1: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig 3: Voice distribution in the private papers

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