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Weekly Media Update 2009-4
Monday January 26th - Sunday February 1st 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
February 06, 2009

1. Comment

In the few days since the MDC formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to join a government of national unity, MMPZ has noted a distinct change in the attitude of the government-controlled media towards ZANU PF's political opposition.

While news and analysis of Zimbabwe's most recent political developments in the Zimpapers' publications and on ZBC remains superficial and biased in favour of the politicians who control their output, the days following the MDC National Executive Council's decision to endorse Tsvangirai's recommendation for the party to form a coalition government with ZANU PF has witnessed an abrupt end to the government media's relentless propaganda campaign to malign and discredit the main MDC and its leader.

The Global Political Agreement signed by the country's three main parties on September 15th, urges all the media to "refrain from using abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred, or that unfairly undermines political parties and other organizations".

But instead of adhering to these conditions and facilitating an atmosphere of co-operation and tolerance to encourage constructive dialogue between Zimbabwe's rival parties, the official media pursued their election campaign propaganda to vilify Tsvangirai and his party by attempting to portray them as incompetent, cowardly puppets of the West's "illegal" regime-change agenda.

Up until Saturday, January 31st the news and analysis pages and programmes of these media were replete with false, malicious and distorted news of political developments, exclusively blaming the MDC-T party for the delays in the formation of a new government in addition to the economic and humanitarian crises afflicting the country.

The government Press even reinforced their disdain for professional journalistic practice by employing disparaging cartoons and even the letters columns of their papers to drive home their abusive messages.
For example, MMPZ's research reveals that the government papers have carried 73 news stories on Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks since the beginning of the year reinforcing this negative image of the MDC - up until last weekend. By far the majority of the 44 stories about the talks that MMPZ considered to be relatively fair and balanced have been published since the MDC agreed to be part of a coalition government on January 30th.

Similarly, out of the 40 editorials and opinion pieces the papers published on the subject, 26 (65%) denigrated Tsvangirai and the MDC, six (15%) were positive, and eight (20%) appeared to be without bias. Again, most of the articles in the neutral or positive categories appeared after January 30th.

Clearly, these media have continued to be used as propaganda tools of ZANU PF to discredit, weaken and undermine the negotiating position of the MDC. Now that the party has agreed to enter a coalition government, it appears that this phase of the campaign to damage and destroy the MDC may have been brought to an end. It remains to be seen whether these so-called news institutions are capable of performing their duties as fair, balanced and accurate messengers of the news in the service of the public.

Certainly, Zimbabweans will be watching their performance closely and any further violations of the Global Political Agreement, and indeed, of the earlier Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties, will be a subject for consideration by the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee established to ensure such abuse of these agreements do not recur.

2. The Government and Private Press

Last-ditch attempts by SADC to salvage the stalled political deal between Zimbabwe's feuding parties, culminating in the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC formation agreeing to join the proposed national unity government, was the most popular story of the week in all the papers. See Fig. 1.

Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the Press

Although there was a noticeable decline in the official papers' use of offensive, inflammatory language against the MDC (Tsvangirai) after it announced its decision to join the inclusive government, their coverage of the matter remained lopsided in favour of ZANU PF.

The Herald (31/1), for example, suffocated excerpts of Tsvangirai's Press statement last Friday highlighting the reasons why his party had decided to join the proposed government, including the fact that ZANU PF had reportedly made significant concessions at the most recent SADC summit. Instead of providing fair and balanced news of the agreement - and the huge public welcome that greeted the MDC-T leaders outside the party's headquarters to hear the MDC's decision - The Herald (31/1) and The Sunday Mail (1/2) focused on alleged "serious divisions" in the party ahead of its national council meeting, which endorsed Tsvangirai's participation in the coalition government.

The Herald (31/1) even recycled old conspiracy propaganda against some senior members of the MDC-T such as Roy Bennet, who returned to Zimbabwe from exile in South Africa to attend his party's meeting. It questioned Bennett's presence at the meeting and cited unnamed MDC-T "insiders" alleging that he had come to secure strategic ministries like the agriculture, defence, and security portfolios for white members of the party without providing evidence.

The official papers' unprofessional conduct was also evident in their reportage of the MDC's reaction to the outcome of the SADC summit.

For example, although The Herald (28 & 29/1) reported conflicting statements by MDC-T officials about whether the party would join the coalition following the SADC summit, which portrayed the party as being confused, the papers presented this as suggesting that the MDC was still bent on derailing the formation of an inclusive government to appease their Western masters. The Herald (28/1) reported the MDC-T as having dismissed SADC's announcement that it had agreed to join the coalition, citing party spokesmen Nelson Chamisa and Nqobizitha Mlilo. This was fair enough, but the story then claimed they had arrived at this position "after consultation with suspected British and American intelligence officers" without providing any substantiation. This sharply contrasted with the favourable publicity the paper gave Tsvangirai and his lieutenant, Eddie Cross, the next day when they announced that the party would join the coalition in line with SADC's resolution.

The official Press' coverage of Zimbabwe's economic and humanitarian crises was equally dishonest.
They simply presented the government as having finally found solutions to the problems as exemplified by the liberalization and dollarizing the economy, confirmed by the 2009 national budget.

For instance, The Herald and Chronicle (30/1) welcomed the US$1,9 billion budget, which formalized the use of multiple currencies; discouraged the RBZ from printing money; and returned water management back to municipalities, without subjecting it to critical analysis. Rather than interrogating how and where the government would get the money to finance the budget, the government papers (31/1 & 1/2) selectively quoted business representatives and analysts passively endorsing the budget as a panacea to the economic calamities afflicting the country.

Earlier, The Herald (30/1) glossed over problems in the health sector by reporting health workers as having called off their strike and returned to work, citing government officials and the Zimbabwe Doctors Association. However, it suffocated comments by the Zimbabwe Nurses Association that its members had not returned to work.

The official papers also failed to publish contemporary cholera figures and gave no meaningful updates on the problems bedeviling the education sector, including the failure by most government schools to open for the first term due to the ongoing teachers' strike.

The private papers' coverage of these issues was more balanced.

The Financial Gazette (29/1), for instance, reported that MDC-T had eventually agreed to enter the unity government after ZANU PF had made significant concessions, including an agreement to share provincial governorship posts and to review the unilateral appointment of the RBZ governor and the new Attorney-General.

In fact, The Zimbabwean On Sunday (1/2) quoted Tsvangirai confirming that President Mugabe had conceded on "four out of the five outstanding issues".

In addition, the private Press reported the country's economic problems as far from over, despite government's efforts to address them.

They highlighted indicators of economic collapse, including the closure of schools, strikes, the total collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, deteriorating living standards, and the spreading cholera epidemic.

However, except the Zimbabwe Independent (30/1), these papers inadequately covered the budget.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press

3. ZBC and Private Radio Stations

The outcome of the recent SADC summit to resolve Zimbabwe's political impasse, and the MDC-T's decision to join ZANU PF in an inclusive government received the most widespread publicity during the week. See Fig. 3.

Fig 3: Topical Stories distribution on ZBC and private stations

Instead of providing informed updates of the proceedings and outcome of the regional meeting, ZBC gave a one-sided version, portraying the Tsvangirai-led MDC as a stumbling bloc to regional efforts to resolve the stalemate.

For example, its Tuesday bulletins reported the outcome of the SADC summit mostly from ZANU PF's perspective, giving President Mugabe significant airtime to explain what had transpired without seeking comment from the MDC-T.

Earlier, Radio Zimbabwe (26/1, 6am) recorded pro-government analyst Paradzai Magauze accusing Tsvangirai of sabotaging the proposed coalition by refusing to join it and urging him to "stop taking orders from Britain and America", while ZTV (28/1, 8pm) passively quoted another commentator, Goodson Nguni, depicting Mugabe as a magnanimous leader for "inviting the MDC-T into government".

However, ZBC improved its coverage of the MDC (Tsvangirai) after the party announced its intention to enter the inclusive government last Friday. Its main evening bulletin on Saturday reported a variety of Zimbabweans welcoming the party's decision.

ZBC's coverage of other topical issues remained inadequate.

For example, it did not highlight the extent of Zimbabwe's socio-economic decline or interrogate the sufficiency of government interventions to arrest it.

Instead, the broadcaster simply depicted the 2009 national budget that formally dollarized Zimbabwe's economy as a solution to the country's many crises without subjecting it to critical analysis. Spot FM (31/1, 8am), for instance, quoted analyst Blessing Sakupwanya arguing that the budget would "stimulate production and address economic challenges", while another commentator said the use of hard currencies in Zimbabwe "will restore the value of the local currency" without explaining how this would happen.

The broadcaster also distorted the truth about the problems afflicting the health and education sectors.

For example, Radio Zimbabwe (27/1, 8pm) claimed that its survey had revealed that more than 95% of teachers in Harare had reported for duty, while ZTV (31/1, 8pm) reported that learning had commenced "at many schools in Norton". However, these reports lacked teachers' comment.

Despite reporting that 18 people had died of cholera in Kadoma in January alone, and that 400 others were being treated daily in the same town (ZTV, 26/1, 1pm), ZBC's stations failed to provide holistic and coherent updates of the prevalence of the disease, including the latest national death toll.

The private electronic media gave more informed coverage on the matter.

Unlike ZBC, they recorded analysts, civic groups, and regional and international leaders expressing mixed feelings over the MDC-T's decision to join a government of national unity. SW Radio Africa (27 & 29/1), for example, quoted analysts criticizing the MDC (Tsvangirai) for agreeing to enter an inclusive government before all their demands were met. They cited ZANU PF's refusal to relinquish the Home Affairs ministry and its failure to release abducted civil and political activists.

Studio 7 (29/1) broadcast Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani saying "fresh elections" were a better alternative to a unity government.

They also audited Zimbabwe's socio-economic problems.

SW Radio Africa (30/1) viewed government's decision to dollarize the economy as an admission that the local dollar had become worthless, and that its drafting of the budget without consulting the two MDC formations was evidence of "the hollow nature of the unity deal". The same day (30/1), SW Radio Africa reported that the WFP would reduce food aid to Zimbabwe by half due to lack of funding.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private radio stations

4. Online Publications

The importance of the recent SADC meeting on Zimbabwe, and the MDC-T's eventual decision to join the inclusive government, was reflected by the number of stories the online news agencies published on the matter. See Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical news distribution in the online news agencies

The private online agencies viewed the MDC-T decision to join ZANU PF in a national unity government as a result of sustained pressure from various quarters, mostly SADC.

These agencies recorded mixed reactions to the MDC-T's decision. They reported most African countries and the UN welcoming the move while the West was said to be skeptical. The Zimbabwe Times (1/2), for example, reported the AU as having endorsed the move, and urged Western countries to "lift sanctions".

The online agencies reported the country's socio-economic crises as deepening, blaming years of ZANU PF misrule for the problems. The Zimbabwe Times (29/1) quoting the WHO put the latest cholera death toll at over 3 000 while New Zimbabwe.com (27/1) cited PTUZ reiterating that teachers would not return to work until their demands were met.

Fig 6: Online agencies - Voice distribution

What they said . . .

"We will take a wait-and-see attitude when dealing with the government of national unity. What we want to see is action and not words" - US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee. ZimOnline, 30/1.

"It is catastrophic. In so doing, Tsvangirai undermined the intention of the MDC to have a complete change. How can a government of two different sectors work together and produce a positive outcome?" - analyst Lovemore Madhuku criticizing Tsvangirai for agreeing to join ZANU PF in a coalition government. The Standard, (1/2).

"I think that everybody should help Zimbabwe to rebuild its economy because an agreement has been reached" - AU Commission chairperson Jean Ping. The Zimbabwe Times, 1/2.

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