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Reports on ongoing violence by the private media only
Extracted from Media Update 24/2008
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
August 24, 2008

Only the private papers continued to report on-going ruling party violence and other human rights violations against suspected opponents. They carried 20 stories and recorded 11 new incidents. For example, The Zimbabwean (21/8) and the Zimbabwe Independent (22/8) cited a 19-page report by the Human Rights Watch observing that thousands of MDC activists who fled violence before the June 27 presidential run-off were still in hiding while armed ZANU PF supporters and government-backed war veterans continued to terrorise villagers in rural areas.

In addition, The Zimbabwe Times (18/8) and the Independent recorded MDC MP for Buhera South Naison Nemadziwa accusing ZANU PF youths of abducting and beating the wife of MDC activist Killion Chirawo, after failing to find him at home. The Independent reported police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena saying he wanted to "verify" reports of violence.

The Standard (24/8) showed that journalists were not spared from this persecution either. It reported that police detained its Midlands-based reporter Rutendo Mawere last Thursday after she took pictures of a huge crowd — including police and soldiers in uniform — "jostling to buy basic commodities".

Said the paper's editor, Davison Maruziva, "The arrest just goes to show there is no let up in the police harassment of our journalists", adding: "It is ironic that this should be taking place against the backdrop of the talks by the major political parties in the country."

The government-controlled media censored these incidents, preferring to give the impression of tranquillity across the country. ZBC, for example, repeatedly played a ZANU PF political advert thanking Zimbabweans for "voting in peace" during the controversial June 27 presidential poll run-off.

Figs 1 and 2 show the sourcing patterns in the government and private media.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in the official papers

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Economic decline

While the official media were fixated with discussing the politics of the country, they turned a blind eye to the free falling economy, marked by a world record inflation of 11, 2 million. Even this earth-shattering inflationary evidence, did not appear to be as shocking an indicator of economic decay as it really is to The Herald (22/8), which downplayed it in its story: "Zim's inflation not that bad".

The Herald's cosmetic presentation of the matter reflected the government media's shoddy coverage of the country's economic ills as typified by their failure to critically report on the daily galloping cost of living, severe basic commodity shortages and collapse of service delivery in Zimbabwe.

Instead, they relied on officials narrowly blaming local industry and Western sanctions for the problems without questioning their culpability in the matter. Spot FM (18/8, 8pm), for example, simply accused the business community of "profiteering" by charging prices in foreign currency without seeking their comment. This story was part of the 63 reports the official media featured on the subject.

The private media gave critical coverage of the economic malaise, which they attributed to government's poor policies. For example, the Independent (22/8) observed in an opinion piece that the current economic crisis was a result of a government that had "no clue whatsoever" on how to take the economy forward and a "direct consequence of poor economic oversight on the part of the deficient political framework".

Earlier, The Financial Gazette (21/8) noted that much of the country's inflation stemmed from the excessive money supply growth and the funding mechanisms of the budget deficit. The paper reported critics as having accused Mugabe's government of printing money to finance an election campaign and prop up the economy, fuelling hyperinflation. The Zimbabwean (21/8) reported that Mugabe was desperate to convene Parliament so that he could table a supplementary budget running into quintillions. It quoted an unnamed economist contending: "The huge forthcoming supplementary budget marks a new low point in the decline of what was once one of the most robust and diverse economies in Africa".

The private papers highlighted other indicators of economic decay such low production, lack of investment and strikes, among others.

Figs 3 and 4 show the sourcing patterns in the official and private media.

Fig 3: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 4: Voice distribution in the private Press

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