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Weekly Media Update 2009-15
Monday April 13th - Sunday April 19th 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
April 24, 2009

General comment

As this report was being compiled The Herald (22/4) provided more evidence of its continued reluctance to change and reflect the spirit of tolerance embodied in the Global Political Agreement.

In an article written by its political and features editor Mabasa Sasa, the paper maliciously attacked outgoing US Ambassador James McGee for allegedly treating "Zimbabweans as a bunch of kindergarten kids" during his tenure, which it reported would end in June.

The report, which clearly bordered on racial bigotry and hate language, gleefully celebrated McGee's alleged imminent retirement from diplomatic service as good riddance to the "obscene" and "impudent brand of diplomacy" that the ambassador "specialises in". Notably, no coherent justification of this crude portrayal of McGee was made, nor were the real reasons behind his disapproval of the old ZANU PF government policies discussed in a fair and balanced context.

Instead, Sasa abandoned basic journalistic standards to personal insults, likening McGee to "the functionally illiterate cowboy (former US President George) Bush" in complete disregard for his "slave ancestry," which it was hoped would "awaken (in McGee) the stirrings of a consciousness that has been repressed by a politico-social system that up until the 1960s did not allow blacks to vote and even lynched them for daring to ask for that right".
Oblivious to the irony of this statement, especially given the fact that McGee's strained relations with the old government mainly emanated from his open denunciation of its tyrannical policies and his campaign for the democratisation of Zimbabwe, the author continued with his tirade:

"This is a black man who after bombing innocent villagers - probably with napalm or some other such demonic chemical - can turn around today and talk self-righteously about political violence in Zimbabwe without any sense of shame".

MMPZ notes that this abusive piece of writing masquerading as "news analysis" disabuses attempts by Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) co-chairman Welshman Ncube to give the impression that private media columnists such as the Zimbabwe Independent's Muckraker and the Financial Gazette's Cabinet Files as being the only residual pockets of "hate speak and abusive language" in the media during a recent interview with SW Radio Africa.

It is instructive for the media to investigate if JOMIC has instituted its promised media monitoring sub-committee to assess the media's conduct and ensure that they do not violate the terms of the GPA and what measures it has taken to deal with continued blatant violations of basic journalistic standards mainly by the official media.

The public and private Press

Escalating power struggles in the fragile inclusive government, including fierce disagreements between the government and civil society over the constitutional review process, dominated newspaper pages in the week. See Fig. 1.

Fig 1: Topical issues in the print media

The government papers inadequately dealt with these issues, which they censored, glossed over or subordinated to news about the coalition's purported successes.

Consequently, there was little acknowledgement of the litany of disagreements threatening the progress of the new government caused by continued violations of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). These included lack of consensus in decision-making between the president and the prime minister's offices and continuing disregard for the rule of law and human rights. In fact, the official papers censored news of meetings held between the coalition partners aimed at resolving these and other outstanding issues.

They also failed to provide an unbiased context for the continued disruptions on white-owned commercial farms by ZANU PF loyalists; state persecution of civic and MDC activists, and the contentious arbitrary decisions by President Mugabe and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono. For example, they did not query under what authority Gono had disbursed cars to MPs, setting him on a collision course with the MDC T-headed Finance Ministry, or investigate why Mugabe had still not sworn in MDC Senator Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.

Instead, the government media simplistically presented the coalition government as cohesive and already making significant strides towards economic renewal and normalisation of relations with the international community. They cited the presence of all coalition partners at the country's independence celebrations, the new government's modest economic reforms, Botswana's promise to help bail out Zimbabwe and the lifting of travel restrictions by America as proof of this.

The Sunday News (19/4), for example, narrowly presented a congratulatory message by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the country's 29th independence anniversary and her country's decision to lift travel restrictions against Zimbabwe as "signalling . . . a major policy shift" by America. But there was no reconciliation of this purported policy change with America's reiteration that the Zimbabwe government implement genuine reforms as a precondition for the resumption of full cooperation.

Similarly, although The Sunday Mail (9/4) interpreted the participation of ZANU PF and MDC officials at the country's independence celebrations as signifying "the true spirit of inclusivity and oneness", it did not question the MDC's reduced role as mere spectators after they were not given any platforms to address the gatherings.

The government papers also failed to give a balanced coverage of the hotly disputed Parliament-driven constitutional review process. Their reports on the matter were biased against some sections of civil society, particularly the National Constitutional Assembly, which The Herald (16/4) narrowly projected as a "perennial campaigner against government-led constitutional reforms" without discussing the merits of its arguments.

The official Press published one fresh incident of rights violations emanating from the arrest of tertiary students in Bulawayo protesting against high fees. Three other rights-related reports were court updates on civic and political activists facing banditry and terrorism charges.

Only the private press reported on the extent and serious nature of the divisions rocking the new government, which they viewed as severely hampering the coalition's effectiveness.

It was in this light that they reported on a meeting by the coalition's principals to resolve these differences but which ended up creating even more divisions (especially on how much power President Mugabe wielded under the GPA). They also reported the appointment by Tsvangirai of a government committee headed by his deputy, Arthur Mutambara, to probe cases of farm invasions.

The private papers gave reasonable space to analysts and civic organizations to articulate their views on government's constitutional reform exercise, which was criticized for not being "people-driven".

They carried eight stories related to human rights violations, which included two new cases involving faction fighting between ZANU PF youths in Bulawayo and attacks on four policemen by suspected ZANU PF supporters in Karoi.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press

ZBC and private radio stations

Mounting tensions in the coalition government overshadowed the new authority's efforts to address the country's political and socio-economic crises. See Fig. 3.

Fig 3: Topical issues on ZBC and private stations

While the private radio stations openly reported on threats to the new government's effectiveness as reflected by power struggles, policy contradictions, human rights violations and conflicts over the constitutional reform process, ZBC either downplayed or censored these issues in line with its ongoing public relations campaign for the transitional authority. It narrowly presented the MDC's attendance of Independence Day celebrations, which ZANU PF has, over the years, hijacked as its own exclusive event, as further proof of unity in government.

It was in this context that the broadcaster censored in its news bulletins news of a crisis meeting between President Mugabe and the MDC leaders to resolve outstanding issues under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and to tackle farm invasions and Mugabe's unilateral seizure of the telecommunications sector from the MDC's control.

In fact, it was only through ZTV's live broadcast (18/4) of the Independence Day celebrations that ZBC audiences got a hint on the tensions in the new government. It quoted MDC's Finance Minister Tendai Biti noting that the government had to first deal with "toxic issues" such as fresh farm invasions, political detentions and repressive media laws to meet the democratic requirements crucial for effective implementation of its reconstruction plans.

Earlier, the broadcaster (17/4, 8pm) merely reported Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara promising that government would "decisively deal" with "some irregularities" regarding land reforms during his tour of white-owned farms in Chegutu without giving a coherent background to the matter or details of his findings as reported in the private media.

Otherwise, 22 (65%) of the 34 reports ZBC carried on the topic merely buttressed the notion that Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe were the sole threat to the coalition government's effectiveness while giving the impression that the authorities' campaign to have them lifted was bearing fruit. It cited as examples SADC and the ACP/EU's decision to lobby against sanctions; the lifting of travel warnings on Zimbabwe by the US and its congratulatory message to Zimbabwe on its 29th independence anniversary.

And except for Spot FM (20/4), which commendably gave a platform to the new government and civil society to express their standpoints on constitutional reform, the rest of ZBC stations merely regurgitated official statements on the matter without fully capturing the source of the dispute between the two and its implications on the whole process.

ZBC's 20 stories on Zimbabwe's socio-economic problems were equally uninformative. They merely depicted government's turnaround initiatives as having jolted the ailing socio-economic sectors without linking them to indicators of persisting economic distress underlined by infrastructural disrepair and poor service delivery. It was against this background that ZBC announced (18/4, 1pm) the death of three people in Chinhoyi due to cholera in isolation. No effort was made to provide a national update on the continuing epidemic.

Similarly, its single story on violent clashes between ZANU PF youths and farm workers in Chegutu (ZTV, 17/4, 8pm) was detached from a catalogue of problems threatening the government's reconstruction plans.

It was only the private stations that provided insight into tensions threatening the new authority's effectiveness. They reported widely on the power struggles, policy conflicts, and failure to address outstanding issues, interpreting these as further evidence of ZANU PF's disregard for the GPA that would undermine the coalition's efforts to mobilize financial support to kick-start the economy.

They also highlighted the dispute between civil society and government over the constitutional reform process, although they failed to seek alternative views to the positions taken by government and CSOs.

Their stories on the country's socio-economic problems also failed to give coherent updates on the country's economic and humanitarian situation.

For example, Studio 7(17/4) reported that a fresh cholera outbreak had claimed 34 lives in Kadoma "over a four-day period" while 16 more people had died across the country over the same period without disclosing the source of its information.

The private stations carried seven stories on rights abuses, which included the arrest of 30 university students in Bulawayo following a demonstration against high tuition fees. The other reports were follow-ups to previous cases of rights violations.

Online Publications

The private online agencies also highlighted problems threatening the inclusive government. See Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical stories on online news agencies

They reported observers attributing the tension in the new government to alleged ZANU PF hardliners and the country's security chiefs who were allegedly trying to provoke the MDC-T into withdrawing from the transitional authority.

They also reported on the bickering between civil society and the MDC-T over the constitutional reform exercise. Zimdaily and ZimOnline (16/4), for instance, recorded the National Constitutional Assembly criticizing the MDC-T for supporting a "defective" process and warning that it would mobilize Zimbabweans against the exercise.

The agencies featured 12 reports on rights violations, which included two new incidents. One was similar to that reported by the private radio stations and the other was an assault of police officers by suspected ZANU PF supporters in Karoi.

Fig 6: Voice distribution on online agencies

What they said . . .

"What matters is that the next time (President) Mugabe denies there have been fresh land invasions I can say that is not true, I saw it for myself" - Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara (The Standard, 19/4).

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