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Daily Media Update 49
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
June 23, 2008

Election focus
With the print media landscape almost to themselves the two government dailies maintained their role as the devoted propaganda tools of the ruling party, pursuing their unrelenting assault on the MDC while promoting the image of ZANU PF.

The level of this slavish devotion was well illustrated by The Herald's distorted coverage of the news that the MDC had decided to withdraw its candidate from Friday's presidential election run-off, and particularly the riotous behaviour of ZANU PF youths that prevented the MDC from staging a court-sanctioned rally in Harare on Sunday. In reporting the news that the rally had not taken place, The Herald passively reported ZANU PF's Patrick Chinamasa providing an explanation that approached the realm of deranged fantasy; that MDC "hooligans" had dressed up in stolen ZANU PF regalia in order to disturb their own event. The paper did not think to question the credibility of this absurd explanation. But it provided Zimbabweans familiar with such twisted logic with a moment of humor on a day of sad gravity.

Party campaigns
The Herald disfigured news of the MDC decision to withdraw its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from the presidential run-off against President Mugabe on Friday, citing, among other issues, state-sponsored violence against the party, by reporting it only in the context of ZANU PF's perspective.

The paper did not actually report the MDC decision in its own right.

Instead, it only reported ZANU PF media subcommittee chairman Patrick Chinamasa dismissing the MDC's decision, saying it was a mere "threat" and a "nullity" since it was the "11th time that Tsvangirai has threatened to withdraw from the presidential run-off" without putting it in "writing as required by the law". None of these claims were substantiated. Neither did The Herald present Tsvangirai's reasons for his withdrawal. Instead, the paper quoted Chinamasa falsely claiming that the decision was the result of the opposition party leader's fear of defeat. He said Tsvangirai had gone "globetrotting and gallivanting in Europe and left the MDC without leadership and ZANU PF exploited the situation and campaigned vigorously for victory and when he returned he realised that the tables had turned against him". He added that the MDC action was calculated to coincide with an EU meeting and the US' chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council without elaborating.

Only the Chronicle gave prominence to the MDC concerns. It quoted Tsvangirai saying it was useless taking part in an election that would not be "free and fair" and whose "outcome is determined by ... Mugabe himself".
He said: "We in the MDC cannot ask them (supporters) to cast their vote on 27 June, when that vote could cost them their lives. We have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process. We will not play the game of Mugabe."

Despite this however, neither paper made any attempt to seek independent analysis of the likely repercussions of the MDC action, especially on the legitimacy of President Mugabe in view of Tsvangirai's reasons for his withdrawal. They merely noted that if "Tsvangirai formally withdraws, President Mugabe continues as head of state". Neither did the official dailies question the ethics of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Constantine Chiwenga, following his prediction of a "resounding win" for Mugabe in the run-off.

They passively reported him telling a reception for his Namibian counterpart, Lieutenant-General Martin Shalli that he would have no "apologies" to make to any "house nigger" and "puppets of the British" after Mugabe's victory, in an apparent reference to Tsvangirai. No attempt was made to subject his crude remarks to critical analysis and how they affected Zimbabweans' democratic rights to elect a leader of their choice.

The Herald continued to use its editorial pages as conduits of hate language against the opposition, particularly a poisonous editorial by its political editor, Caesar Zvayi, describing Tsvangirai as a "shameless stooge" who has "potholed cheeks," which are filled with lavish make-up on his posters. In addition, the government papers passively reported the authorities' doling out farming equipment, opening "people's shops" and making deliveries of basic commodities to shops without viewing the moves as vote-buying gimmicks meant to entice the electorate into voting for ZANU PF. The reports formed part of 11 stories they carried on the subject.

The government papers also carried three ZANU PF adverts. There were none for the MDC.

The delayed issue of the private weekly, The Zimbabwean on Sunday, gave a more critical perspective of the parties' campaigns in 13 stories, 10 of which were on ZANU PF and three on the MDC. The reports basically focused on ZANU PF's use of brutal methods to win the election, including the intimidation of opponents, displacement of voters, elimination and harassment of polling agents and party campaigners, and the arbitrary arrest and incarceration of the opposition leadership. As a result, it contended that this had effectively paralysed the MDC's election campaign.

Political violence
The government dailies only reported on alleged MDC violence against ZANU PF and none of the violence against the opposition. They carried three stories and recorded one incident. In the case, the Chronicle reported that 60 ZANU PF supporters had been ambushed by "MDC-T mobsters" while coming from a rally at Gomoza in Lupane on Saturday. It reported the police saying two suspects had been arrested in connection with the attacks while 18 others were still at large. The paper also reported the arrest of two more new MDC-MPs, Abednico Bhebhe, and Robert Rabson Makhula for using an imported vehicle without proper documentation. The paper did not interpret this as evidence of state persecution of the MDC. Instead, both dailies passively reported the authorities dismissing all reports of ZANU PF violence against the opposition as false.

In a classic case, The Herald and Chronicle reported ZANU PF media subcommittee chairman Patrick Chinamasa dismissing accusations of ZANU PF violence against the MDC, saying that opposition supporters "had stolen ZANU PF regalia, which they put on and go around attacking ruling party supporters".
The papers quoted him: "The MDC-T has stolen our campaign material to disturb their own rally for the purposes of propaganda as they seek to have the international community intervene in our domestic affairs."
Not a shred of evidence was provided to support Chinamasa's outrageous allegations.
Commenting on claims that ZANU PF supporters had disrupted a planned MDC rally at Harare's Glamis Stadium, the papers again passively reported Chinamasa playing the victim. They cited him claiming that the ruling party was aware that Harare was an opposition stronghold and would therefore "not expose its supporters to the MDC-T hooligans attending the rally".
Similarly, The Herald and Chronicle reported outgoing Information Minister Sikanyiso Ndlovu accusing the Americans of sponsoring the violence in the country without substantiation. Dismissing concerns raised by the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, in South Africa over the legitimacy of President Mugabe's government, the papers simply cited Ndlovu dodging the issue and accusing McGee of having "totally failed in his duties as a diplomat and has turned himself into an MDC-T spokesperson". Ndlovu alleged that America was providing "millions of dollars to fuel violence and part of this money will be to provide transport costs and paramilitary training for millions of Zimbabweans outside the country when the British stooge, Tsvangirai, loses the presidential run-off as he surely will." Again, no evidence for any of this was furnished.

The papers also failed to question how Ndlovu could dismiss "claims" that 70 MDC supporters had been murdered by ZANU PF simply on the basis that there has been no police confirmation of the deaths. Notably, no reference was made to the police's blatant bias, especially police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, who has always blamed the MDC for the violence while saying nothing about ZANU PF's involvement.

The Zimbabwean on Sunday however, gave an informed view of the political violence in 13 reports. It recorded six incidents against the opposition by ZANU PF and state security agents, and published gruesome pictures of some of the victims' injuries. The paper also reported growing international outrage over the state-sponsored terror campaign, which they argued, made a free and fair election impossible. For example, it quoted Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urging the international community to ask President Mugabe to step down and send peacekeepers to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections. It reported him describing Zimbabwe as "an eyesore on the African continent . . . an example of how not to do it".

Poll administration
The government papers did not pay adequate attention to the administration of the election and failed to examine the implications of the MDC withdrawal from the presidential run-off citing the oppressive electoral environment. For example, there was no intelligent attempt to explain what the law actually says on the issue, what options existed, and how the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would deal with the crisis. The Herald and Chronicle just reported ZEC chairman George Chiweshe saying they had not received any correspondence from the MDC on its decision.

He said "We have just heard about the withdrawal from the press. We expect them (MDC) to write to the commission as the authority responsible for elections in the country. Maybe that letter will come and we will cross the bridge when we get there." Instead, they gave extensive space to Chinamasa dismissing the MDC's decision as a "nullity" without demonstrating how this was so.

The Zimbabwean on Sunday portrayed the electoral preparations as chaotic in six stories. For example, it observed that Zimbabwe had fallen short on all of SADC's 10-point guidelines on the conduct of holding democratic elections, among them freedom of association, political tolerance, independence of the judiciary, voter education, and equitable access to the media. It also reported the MDC as having mounted a court challenge against "rigged postal votes" following claims that the police had been coerced into voting for President Mugabe in the postal balloting.
However, the private weekly reported ZEC contending that there was "nothing sinister about the process" since all political parties were aware of the postal system.

Also highlighted by the paper was government's slashing of the number of locally accredited election observers for the election watchdog, ZESN, from 8,800 at the last poll to just 500, despite ZEC's indications that there would be more than 9 000 polling stations for the run-off. It quoted ZESN chairman Noel Kututwa, saying the move was aimed at preventing the collation of information posted outside polling stations. "The idea is to make it impossible to do what we did (in the first round). It will be very difficult but not impossible", he said.

Figs 1 and 2 show the sourcing pattern in the government and private press.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in the government dailies

Fig 2: Voice distribution in The Zimbabwean on Sunday

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