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Weekly Media Update 2009-5
Monday February 2nd - Sunday February 8th 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
February 13, 2009

1. Comment

MMPZ welcomes the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee's call on the media to adhere to the provisions of the Global Political Agreement and the original Memorandum of Understanding signed by the country's main political parties and refrain from using hate speech and inflammatory language in the pages of their newspapers and the programmes of broadcast media. The reminder follows JOMIC's meeting with editors from Zimbabwe's main public and private media organizations.

The GPA and MoU state that: "The media should provide fair and balanced coverage to all parties and refrain from using language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred".

Until Morgan Tsvangirai's inauguration as the country's Prime Minister however, the government-controlled media have persistently violated this provision by regularly featuring abusive and offensive articles, mainly by commentators sympathetic to ZANU PF, inciting hostility against the MDC, a legitimate domestic political party.

The government media however, compounded their unprofessional practices by dishonestly presenting JOMIC's disapproval of such conduct as being targeted at all media organizations.

For example, The Herald (7/2) reported JOMIC as having called upon both the public and private media to "assist in promoting national healing as the country moves to form an inclusive government". It quoted JOMIC chairperson Welshman Ncube criticizing the media for failing to reduce "the political tension that gripped Zimbabwe over the past 10 years" and "adapt to the latest developments that would usher in a new political dispensation". ZTV carried a similar report the previous evening.

These media provided no background information about what prompted JOMIC's criticism.

However, The Zimbabwe Times (7/2) exposed the government media's attempts to universalize their disdain for professional journalistic practice by reporting that JOMIC had specifically "read the riot act to State media editors" by "demanding an immediate stop to biased and inflammatory reporting". The online agency reported that Ncube had accused the government media of "fuelling tension and polarizing the nation at a time when it must be promoting national healing . . . " while even ZANU PF JOMIC member Nicholas Goche reportedly "chided" public media editors for being "a bit over the top". Reportedly, JOMIC dismissed the official media editors' attempts to defend themselves by accusing the private media of committing the same offence.

MMPZ notes that although the government media have generally improved their coverage of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC, their tone has only changed marginally, and their coverage of the Prime Minister's inauguration and his selection of ministers remained biased and inept.

For example, The Herald (10/2) relegated news of the MDC's selection of ministers to a story below that about news of the arrival of African leaders for the inauguration. And the next day it relegated the new Prime Minister's important speech about economic recovery and the democratization of Zimbabwe's political landscape to thousands of enthusiastic citizens to its inside pages in preference to lengthy front-page coverage of President Mugabe's speech.
ZTV's coverage of the inauguration was even more appalling in so far as it was unable to bring its own live coverage of the inauguration, apparently depending on an SABC broadcast that was the victim of numerous radio link break-ups. The station also made no effort to prepare its audiences for this important event by carrying preview discussion programmes on the new government and its chances of addressing the country's problems, preferring instead to carry inane musical videos as part of its build-up to Tsvangirai's inauguration.

Only those with DSTV and access to international news channels were able to view professional coverage of the ceremony.

2. The Government and Private Press

The most prominent story of the week in nearly all the papers was news that most issues delaying the formation of a coalition government between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations had been finally resolved. This included the passage of Constitutional Amendment No.19 Bill through Parliament. (See Fig. 1)

Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the Press

The official Press again failed to clearly inform the public about the reasons why the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC formation eventually supported the passage of Constitutional Amendment No. 19 Bill in Parliament, paving the way for the formation of a coalition government.

The Herald (5/2), for example, simply reported the country's three major parties as having agreed to approve the Bill after they had "managed to resolve sticking issues". The paper did not mention the contentious issues that caused the postponement of the Bill's presentation last Wednesday, nor did they explain how they were resolved. The next day (6/2), The Herald and Chronicle simply celebrated the passing of the Bill and depicted it as being the solution to Zimbabwe's eight-year-old political impasse without any critical analysis.

The Herald (7/2) reinforced this superficial coverage by passively reporting the "world" as having "hailed" the agreement and calling for assistance to address Zimbabwe's severe economic and humanitarian crises, while locally politicians, farmers, bankers, traditional leaders, and trade unions reportedly said the passage of the Bill "marked an historic occasion that should set the tone for economic recovery".

Earlier, The Herald (3/2) and ZTV (8pm) even claimed that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "took a swipe at countries that had tried to use the world body to intervene militarily in Zimbabwe, saying regional initiatives . . . were better than preventive diplomacy launched from New York". However, Mr Ban was not directly quoted criticizing the West for planning to invade Zimbabwe.

Although the official papers' news reports were conciliatory, their usually abusive columnists Nathaniel Manheru and Tafataona Mahoso continued to portray the MDC as agents of Western imperialism. No proof of this was provided and Mahoso even dishonestly defended President Mugabe's role in the power-sharing deal by saying: "The people elected President Mugabe on June 27 2008. SADC has no quarrel with President Mugabe. The AU has no quarrel with him. NAM accepts the President. So whose agenda requires questioning the president leadership?" [The Sunday Mail (8/2)].

There was no improvement in the official papers' coverage of other topical stories during the week.

They depicted the government as having finally found solutions to Zimbabwe's devastating economic crises through RBZ governor Gideon Gono's monetary policy measures, which included the redenomination of Zimbabwe's battered currency by the removal of another 12 zeros; the broadening of the foreign currency framework; and the relaxing of exchange control regulations. The Herald (3/2), for example, reported "stakeholders across the economic spectrum" as having "commended" Gono for "crafting policies that could ignite rapid economic transformation" without explaining how. These included Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Kumbirai Katsande, who said the central bank had exceeded industry's expectations, and Barclays Bank managing director George Guvamatanga who claimed that Zimbabwe "was now moving in the right direction".

Although The Sunday Mail (8/2) glossed over the possibility of a fresh cholera outbreak in Budiriro and provided outdated cholera figures (300 deaths by December 23rd 2008), its coverage of other indicators of economic decline such as ZINWA's inefficiency; power shortages and corruption by ZESA workers; shortages of agricultural inputs; and the high cost of living, made a refreshing change from its usual diet of politically loyal "good news" stories.

By comparison, the private Press did subject Zimbabwe's socio-political and economic crises to better critical analysis.

They reported most African countries welcoming the imminent formation of the unity government, while Western countries were reportedly skeptical, citing the inequitable distribution of power. The private papers reported the US and the EU stating that they would only assist the new government once they were satisfied it was committed to the practice of democracy. The Zimbabwean (5/2) and Zimbabwe Independent (6/2) quoted the UN's Ban Ki-moon saying although the world body welcomed the agreement it was "an imperfect situation", while the EU and Britain said the new government "will be judged by its actions". The private papers also doubted the prospects of the new administration succeeding in rescuing Zimbabwe from its decade-long crises, citing deep-seated mistrust and rivalry between President Mugabe and Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai.
They also highlighted shortcomings in the fiscal and monetary policies. The Standard (8/2), for example, reported that acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa had used a UN exchange rate of Z$35 billion to the US dollar in preparing the 2009 national Budget, while Gono had worked on an exchange rate of Z$20 trillion to one US dollar. It quoted analysts contending that this discrepancy would "make the two policies unworkable".

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press

3. ZBC and Private Radio Stations

Most stations found the passage of Constitutional Amendment No. 19 that cleared the way for the formation of a coalition government, among the most important stories of the week. But it competed with news of government's interventions to arrest Zimbabwe's economic crash. See Fig 3.

Fig 3: Topical Stories distribution on ZBC and private stations

Rather than questioning how ZANU PF and the main MDC formation would effectively work together in the inclusive government considering their evidently divergent ideologies and policies, ZBC simply hailed the imminent formation of the new government without providing any critical analysis. It passively depicted the development as the solution to Zimbabwe's manifold crises by selectively quoting a variety of Zimbabweans and regional leaders welcoming the move while suffocating skepticism by some sections of the international community.

For example, ZTV (6/2, 8pm) quoted ZANU PF's Goodson Nguni welcoming the power-sharing agreement because it would "remove the interests of the Americans and the British", while Spot FM (5/2, 1pm) earlier recorded the PTUZ as having expressed optimism that the new administration would address their concerns.

ZTV (4/2, 8pm) even claimed that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had appealed to the West to lift alleged sanctions against Zimbabwe and quoted The Herald's former political editor, Caesar Zvayi, reinforcing this propaganda: "The whole world is now telling the West to remove the sanctions".

Such professional dishonesty was also evident in ZBC's coverage of the country's economic and humanitarian catastrophes.

ZTV (2/2, 8pm), for example, described RBZ governor Gideon Gono's monetary policy statement as "a landmark" restricting its comments to government apologists like former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, and Jonathan Kadzura. The next day, ZTV (8pm) passively reported the public "welcoming" Gono's measures, especially the removal of 12 zeros from the local currency, saying the move "will make transactions easier". Only Spot FM (4/2, 8am) attempted to subject these interventions to critical analysis, reporting small business entrepreneurs in Masvingo criticizing the payment of forex trading licences in foreign currency.

ZBC also failed to honestly report the prostrate nature of the health delivery system as highlighted by the nationwide cholera epidemic. It mostly reported the problem in the context of international efforts to alleviate the situation. For example, ZTV (5/2, 8pm) focused on a US$1 million donation by the African Development Bank and the WHO while Radio Zimbabwe (6/2, 1pm) broadcast Iran's donation of drugs to assist in the eradication of the epidemic. Instead of providing the latest cholera death toll, the stations preferred to report that the disease had infected more 60 000 people since its outbreak last August.

The private electronic media provided more balanced and informed coverage on Zimbabwe's calamities.

For example, they reported a cross-section of Zimbabweans and those in the international community expressing mixed feelings over the coalition government's ability to address the country's problems. SW Radio Africa (3/2) cited Britain's Africa Minister, Lord Malloch Brown, saying Britain would maintain pressure on Mugabe and his inner circle through targeted sanctions "to make sure they really share power in the new government", while Studio 7 (5/2) quoted US acting spokesman Robert Wood saying his country "remains cautious" about whether the new government "would adopt policies that reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people".

The private electronic media also highlighted the devastating effects of Zimbabwe's socio-economic problems, blaming them on failed government policies. SW Radio Africa (4/2) reported that cholera had so far killed 3 323 people, and that the country was facing a new malaria outbreak, citing the WHO.

They also carried updates on human rights violations, emanating mostly from the continued illegal detention of human rights activists and MDC officials.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private station

4. Online Publications
The private online agencies also prioritized the settlement of the power-sharing deal, particularly MPs rubber-stamping Constitutional Amendment No. 19 Bill. See Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical news distribution in the online news agencies

The private online agencies reported civil society and the international community as being divided over the political deal.

The Zimbabwe Times (8/2), for example, quoted ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo saying his organisation was against the idea of a unity government and would have preferred a transitional authority leading to free and fair elections, while The Zimbabwe Times (4/2) published church leaders "voicing their support for Tsvangirai".

These agencies also carried 19 stories on human rights violations. These included the arrest of 60 UZ students for demonstrating against exorbitant fees; the dropping of treason charges against MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti; and the continued illegal detention of human rights activists and MDC officials.

They also reported commentators questioning the sufficiency of government measures to rescue Zimbabwe from its economic and humanitarian abyss.

Fig 6: Online agencies - Voice distribution

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