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Weekly Media Update 2009-11
Monday March 16th - Sunday March 22nd 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
March 27, 2009

1. General comment

The authorities' failure to establish the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to replace the old Media and Information Commission (MIC), whose legal existence was terminated by amendments to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) in January 2008, has become a source for concern. The inexplicable delay in constituting the new commission has caused confusion over media regulation, especially as MIC has apparently continued to exercise illegal control of media activity in the country.

Retired judge George Smith gave insight into MIC's illegitimacy in the Zimbabwe Independent (20/3). He noted that the invalidation of MIC and the transfer of its functions to the ZMC, which has yet to be appointed more than year after the amendment, meant that the "certificates of registration" MIC has issued to media houses were "null and void." As such, he observed, "the mass media services whose registration expired on or after January 11 2008 are no longer registered" and similarly journalists whose accreditation "lapsed" on the same date or afterwards are "no longer accredited".

Apart from highlighting MIC's illegal regulation of the media, Smith also exposed the unlawful arrogation of executive powers to the board chairman in violation of AIPPA, which only conferred such authority on a chief executive officer.

While such observations underline the negative ramifications of AIPPA and buttresses calls for self-regulation, it is not only the authorities' statutory media regulation that poses threats to the coalition government's pledge to nurture and protect Zimbabweans' constitutional rights to free expression under the Global Political Agreement.
There are several other obnoxious legal instruments and extra-judicial activities that should be repealed and controlled because of their severely restrictive effects on media activity if the coalition government's pledge is to be realised.

For example, during the week the Chronicle (18/3) reported that the police had arrested and charged its editor Brezhnev Malaba and reporter Nduduzo Tshuma with violating Section 96 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which criminalizes the publication of falsehoods, and Section 30 of the same Act that prohibits "bringing disaffection" to the police. This followed the Chronicle's story alleging the police's complicity in corruption at the Grain Marketing Board last month.

The next day (19/3) the paper reported that one of its photographers had his camera and vehicle confiscated by the police who accused him of "taking a picture in public without their permission". The photographer wanted to take a picture of a scuffle between police officers and a commuter omnibus crew in one of Bulawayo's suburbs.
In another incident, the Zimbabwe Times (21/3) reported that the police had briefly detained poet Julius Chingono for reciting a poem that was critical of the police during World Poetry Day commemorations in Harare.

It is to be hoped that the new government's undertaking to institute reforms promoting and protecting freedom of expression will be sufficiently extensive to deal with such blatant abuses of authority that so badly undermine the media's legitimate work of communicating news and information to the nation.

2. The public and private Press

The inclusive government's first firm economic reconstruction drive, represented by a revised budget and the launch of the Short Term Economic Recovery Programme (STERP), dominated Press coverage in the week. See Fig 1.

Fig 1: Topical issues in the Press

However, the state-controlled Press' extensive coverage barely translated into meaningful and informative analysis of the adequacy of these economic measures in tackling the country's battered economy.

There was no attempt, for example, to link the success of the revised budget - whose implementation depends on foreign financial support - to the international community's continuing demands for demonstrable political and socio-economic reforms first. Neither did the government papers query the international "friends of Zimbabwe" to whom President Mugabe had appealed for help during his launch of the new economic programme in view of his fierce, long-standing stand-off with the West (The Herald 20/3).

These papers merely presented the West's targeted sanctions against the ZANU PF leadership and their collaborators, which they misleadingly packaged as blanket sanctions against Zimbabwe, as the sole hindrance to the effective implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and operations of the coalition government. As a result, they continued to censor the circumstances that led to the imposition of the targeted sanctions and those developments that exposed government's continued failure to adhere to democratic principles as required under the GPA and demanded by the international community as preconditions for financial help.

For example, the official papers failed to investigate the reluctance by alleged ZANU PF hardliners to halt the chaotic disruption of white-owned farming activities in terms of the law. In addition, they reported on Danish, Japanese and Portuguese interests to help restore Zimbabwe's economy without spelling out the conditions under which they were prepared to do so.

The Herald (18 & 20/3), for example, only highlighted the desire expressed by the Danish Minister of Cooperation Development, Ulla Tornaes, to help the country, but suffocated her reservations on the continued violation of property rights through farm invasions. The Herald (20/3) even passively reported Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Herbert Murerwa denying there were "new invasions" (reported extensively in the private and international media) saying, " . . . there are people with offer letters . . . trying to get access to their pieces of land".

As a result, the government papers censored news of the farm raids by ZANU PF supporters and state security agents.

They also failed to report on the signing into law of the National Security Council, which The Financial Gazette (19/3) reported was established to hold security chiefs "accountable" and to reform "the country's military . . . against the backdrop of previous accusations that they were partisan".

The official papers' six stories on politically motivated violence and other human rights violations comprised mainly statements from government officials calling for an end to political violence and court reports on the appearance of 12 suspected MDC supporters accused of committing acts of violence in Buhera.

In contrast, the private Press presented the intransigence by alleged ZANU PF hardliners to embrace change as the greatest threat to Zimbabwe's economic and political renewal. Although they viewed the launch of STERP as heralding firm steps by the inclusive government to restore economic stability, they cited the ZANU PF-led lawlessness on white-owned farms, political persecution of opponents and the general breakdown in the rule of law as hampering efforts to win the international community's cooperation.

The Standard (22/3), for example, quoted analysts saying it would be difficult for the international community to heed Mugabe's plea for aid because the farm invasions, delays in the release of political prisoners and the country's failure to settle outstanding IMF debts would "weigh heavily" against Zimbabwe's search for financial assistance and cast doubt on the success of the inclusive government.

The private Press carried five stories relating to human rights violations, three of which stemmed from farm invasions and two on the persecution of MDC and civic activists by state security agents.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press

3. ZBC and private radio stations

Activities of the coalition government, particularly its efforts to resuscitate the country's ailing economy, continued to attract significant attention in the broadcast media as illustrated in Fig 3.

Fig 3: Topical stories on ZBC and private stations

But while the private media continued to highlight the frailty of the transitional government as mainly reflected by the continued detention of political prisoners, the arrest of critical voices and the new wave of farm invasions, ZBC simply presented the new government as united and unanimous on the source of the country's problems and the required solutions.

For example, ZBC simply nationalised ZANU PF's unsubstantiated claims that Western sanctions were the root of the country's ills and a hindrance to its economic revival by presenting this view as the new government's common standpoint. Consequently, it prominently reported statements by some MDC leaders and foreign dignitaries that gave credence to the propaganda without any critical examination.

ZTV (18/3, 8pm), for example, reported MDC-M official and Industry Minister Welshman Ncube calling for the lifting of sanctions saying this was essential in rejuvenating the traditionally underperforming parastatals like Ziscosteel without addressing the reasons why the government-run companies had been targeted in the first place.
ZBC also reported the government's efforts to re-engage the international community as already paying dividends with Denmark's pledge (ZTV (17/3, 8pm) to assist Zimbabwe being used to buttress this notion. No attempt was made to disclose the conditions under which Denmark would release the aid or the reasons why it had severed ties with the previous ZANU PF government.

As a result, almost all 95 stories ZBC carried on the economy were positive public relations pieces intended to reinforce the impression that the first five weeks of the coalition government were a resounding success. For example, the broadcaster unquestioningly endorsed the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan and the revised budget announced by Finance Minister Tendai Biti as the right incentive for economic renewal already witnessed in the drop in prices and the alleged return of Zimbabweans working abroad.

No attempt was made to reconcile the new government's economic policies, and especially its revised budget, with ZANU PF's earlier position that its fiscal policy presented in January was legally binding and not subject to review. Neither did ZBC link its rosy economic reports to simmering labour discontent over low wages.

These attempts to gloss over the problems threatening the stability of the new government also saw the broadcaster reporting as normal the arrest of three MDC-T activists in Buhera accused of attacking ZANU PF supporters and the acquittal of Mutare magistrate Livingstone Chipadze, who was arrested for the alleged criminal abuse of office after granting MDC official Roy Bennett bail.

Similarly, ZBC's reports on the cholera epidemic were inadequate as they omitted reporting news of a decline in the rate of infection, reported in the private media.

In contrast, the private stations belied the sanitized picture of a focused and united government presented by ZBC.
Their reports continued to cast doubt on the likely success of the new government in reviving the economy, citing alleged attempts by ZANU PF hardliners to sabotage its activities and the West's reluctance to bail out Zimbabwe without signs of genuine political and socio-economic reforms.

SW Radio Africa (20/3), for example, reported Denmark as having reiterated that the inclusive government had to "restore the rule of law" and "stop the fresh wave of farm invasions" before the international community considers re-engaging Zimbabwe.

Moreover, the private stations revealed that despite the coalition government's interventions, the scale of the country's problems remained daunting as reflected by labour unrest caused by low salaries and the authorities' failure to pay civil servants on time, among other issues.

The private stations interpreted the five incidents of rights violations they carried as symptoms of the new government's instability. The incidents included alleged attacks on white commercial farmers in Masvingo, Karoi and Chegutu by suspected ZANU PF loyalists and the arrest of 17 MDC activists in Buhera on violence-related charges.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private stations

4. Online Publications

The online news agencies also attached more significance to the coalition government's efforts to address the country's economic crisis. See. Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical issues in the online news agencies

For example, they also reported on the transitional administration's uphill task to convince the international community to support its recovery plans due to ongoing rights violations; exposed the scale of the country's economic problems and updated their audiences on the cholera outbreak.

Except for the brief arrest of poet Julius Chingono for reciting a poem critical of the police, the online agencies' other two new incidents of rights violations were on farm invasions also reported by the private radio stations, while the rest were follow-up reports on previous incidents.

Fig 6: Online agencies - Voice distribution

What they said . . .

"Next time you will learn to ask for permission when taking a picture involving police officers. In fact, you should get that permission from (police spokesman) Wayne Bvidzijena." - (Warning by an unnamed police officer to a Chronicle photographer after the police seized his camera. (The Chronicle 19/3).

"It is naïve and myopic to assume that speeches at rallies and burials condemning violence and preaching peace will cascade down to the grassroots to avert hatred . . . between erstwhile political rivals." - Zimbabwe Youth Forum (SW Radio Africa 16/3).

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