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Weekly Media Update 2009-17
Monday 27th 2009 - Sunday May 3rd 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
May 08, 2009

General comment

As a monitor of the media MMPZ has become increasingly aware of some media organisations' unprofessional use of other media organizations' original material by either manipulating it to suit their editorial stance or simply presenting it as their own original work.

One recent example was the publication of SW Radio Africa's interview with Finance Minister Tendai Biti in The Herald (5/5). The paper gave the impression that it had reproduced the whole interview when in fact it selectively published excerpts in which Biti appeared optimistic about the government's efforts to mobilise budgetary support while criticising the US' Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act as an impediment to Zimbabwe's economic renewal. However, the paper censored Biti's unflattering comments about the government's failure to resolve, urgently, disputed power-sharing issues between the parties that were blocking the implementation of democratic reforms, which he noted were militating against the transitional authority's efforts to take the "country out of the doldrums that it is in".

While MMPZ has no problem with a media outlet republishing (or re-broadcasting) news originating from other news sources, ethical professional journalistic practice demands that the organization republishing the story acknowledge the source of its material and (in The Herald's case) should not pretend to have used it in full when it has significantly edited its content. Such selective alterations often misrepresent and distort the balance and sentiments of the original story, which in turn, misleads its readers. It is MMPZ's opinion that The Herald has become skilled at this unprofessional selective manipulation of the news.

In another matter, it has been brought to MMPZ's attention that the Zimbabwe Independent has been lifting blogs from the Kubatana website and dressing them up as "letters to the editor" in their letters page. Instead of identifying the source of the material, it is merely presented as a submission of one of their readers. And in at least one instance the name of the author of the blog has been substituted for "Concerned Citizen".

In this case, the weekly (30/4) published in its entirety Amanda Atwood's blog article, which appeared on Kubatana on April 23rd entitled Govt marginalizing media reform, as a reader's letter. Other "letters" have identified the author but never the source of the material published.

This represents a clear case of gross professional malpractice by the paper's editorial staff and is tantamount to plagiarism since it purports to be a letter written to the editor when it is nothing of the sort. It is, in fact, a case of purloining another organization's intellectual property and misrepresenting it as a "concerned citizen", or reader, corresponding with the newspaper.

With the growth of the Internet intellectual property theft has become an increasingly worrisome problem that needs to be discouraged whenever it is discovered.

MMPZ contacted Iden Wetherell, the Independent newspaper group's Projects Editor, about the complaint, and he told us: "We are aware of the complaint and agree there was a professional lapse. Kubatana previously offered us material for publication, which was duly credited to them. We fully appreciate this is no longer the case. Steps have been taken to avoid a repetition. Our apologies to all those concerned."

It is to be hoped that this example of unprofessional journalistic conduct is a lesson well learnt by all of Zimbabwe's media community.

The public and private Press

Growing instability in the unity government, underpinned by intense power struggles, violations of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and failure to win crucial Western support for economic reconstruction, continued to generate great interest in the print media. See Fig. 1.

Fig 1: Topical issues in the print media

The government papers selectively reported on these problems, which they either downplayed or censored, thus masking their disastrous implications on the already shaky coalition government.

For example, there was no attempt to relate the drawn-out stalemate between the coalition partners, mainly caused by ZANU PF's reluctance to reform and honour provisions of the GPA, to the government's increasing failure to deliver. Neither did the official Press link ZANU PF's intransigence to the West's reluctance to give direct budgetary support to the country.

They merely diverted public attention from these pressing problems by dishonestly portraying a successful government that had begun registering considerable progress nearly three months after its formation. They narrowly cited the restoration of basic health and education services, the lifting of travel warnings on Zimbabwe by Britain and the Commonwealth and the IMF's alleged promise to support the country's economic recovery programmes as proof of this.

The Herald (28/4), for example, selectively published excerpts of the IMF's statement commending government's modest successes while censoring its criticism of central bank governor Gideon Gono's quasi-fiscal policies, reported in the private media. Similarly, it concealed the reasons behind Finance Minister Tendai Biti's failure to convince global financial institutions to provide budgetary support to Zimbabwe during a visit to the US, due to these institutions' distrust of President Mugabe's ZANU PF. Only the Chronicle of the same day provided some insight on the matter.

The official papers' coverage of the planned government-led constitutional reform programme was equally prejudiced. It was characterised by the stifling of civic society's disapproval of the process while propagating official justification of the exercise.

The government Press published four stories on human rights violations, none of which were new incidents. These were updates on civic and political activists facing terrorism and banditry charges.

The private Press openly debated the problems facing the inclusive government.

They criticised the damaging effects of the impasse between the coalition partners and viewed foreign donors' reluctance to finance Zimbabwe's economic restoration as justified considering government's failure to stop farm invasions and restore the rule of law and other civil liberties.

Furthermore, the private Press remained sceptical of government's commitment to the crafting of a democratic constitution, citing its alleged attempts to impose the secret "Kariba draft constitution" on the people, including its decision to give Parliament the mandate to lead the process.

The private papers noted that the country's economy remained in the doldrums despite the formation of the inclusive government as reflected by the chaos in the education sector, poor wages, persistent power and water cuts and other service delivery failures.

They published 13 reports on human rights violations, four of which were fresh incidents. These included the suspension of two student leaders at Midlands State University for leading a student demonstration against high tuition fees, and attacks on farm workers in Chegutu.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press

ZBC and private radio stations

Zimbabwe's persistent socio-economic problems and bitter power struggles afflicting the transitional authority remained dominant in the electronic media. See Fig. 3.

Fig 3: Topical issues on ZBC and private stations

As in previous weeks, ZBC suffocated widening cracks in government while depicting the West's targeted sanctions as the only impediment to its smooth running. Consequently, those who rely on the broadcaster would have been completely unaware of more than five crisis meetings by coalition partners to resolve outstanding issues and other problems emanating from President Mugabe and ZANU PF's violations of the political deal.

Otherwise, ZBC narrowly projected the government's reconstruction programmes as a resounding success that continued to gain the confidence of the international community despite unwarranted restrictive Western sanctions. It carried nine stories that gave this perception.

For example, ZTV (30/4, 8pm) presented Zambian President Rupiah Banda's visit to the country to open the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) and his call for the lifting of Western sanctions against Zimbabwe as more evidence of the international community's growing confidence in the transitional authority. There was no attempt to discuss the reasons behind the true nature or imposition of the sanctions or assess government's implementation of democratic reforms as stipulated under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and demanded by the West as a precondition for their support. It was in this context that the same bulletin passively reported Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai calling for an end to "blatant violations of (the) laws of this country by some elements" without giving a coherent background to the statement or investigating who he was referring to. In fact, it used unsubstantiated reports projecting ZITF - the country's annual trade showcase - as a success to gloss over problems hampering the inclusive government's economic revival plans. As a result, nearly all their stories on indicators of economic distress were piecemeal and presented in isolation of government's reconstruction programmes.

Similarly, ZBC ignored continuing rights violations that also threaten government's effectiveness.

In contrast, the private radio stations exposed escalating tensions that have dogged the shaky coalition since its formation, categorically noting that these stemmed from ZANU PF's disdain for the unity deal. They quoted commentators contending that the haggling in government mainly over ZANU PF's unilateral decisions and reluctance to equitably share senior government posts and uphold the rule of law as prescribed by the GPA would hinder the new authority's efforts to resuscitate Zimbabwe's ailing economy.

Commentators on these stations also lambasted Tsvangirai for trying to mask the divisions in government by giving a sanitized picture of a united and stable authority when evidence on the ground showed otherwise.

In fact, their eight reports on continuing human rights violations were presented in the context of highlighting symptoms of instability in the coalition government. Of these, one was a new incident emanating from the arrest of a farm worker in Chegutu by police guarding a farm allegedly seized by ZANU PF official Edna Madzongwe, while the rest were mainly follow-ups to the detention of MDC and civic activists.

The stations also continued to give space to civil society's concern over the government's proposed constitutional reform process.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private radios

Online Publications

The private online agencies also gave prominence to the deepening conflict in the coalition government and its failure to address the country's persistent socio-economic problems. See Fig 5.

Fig 5: Topical stories on online news agencies

Apart from updating their audiences on the fierce power struggles in government, which were blamed on ZANU PF's intransigence, they also exposed growing public discontent over the authorities' failure to improve the country's economy.

ZimOnline (2/5), for example, quoted the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions as having threatened to call a strike to push for better pay despite Tsvangirai's revelations that government was broke.

And contrary to the impression created by the official media, ZimOnline (28/4) revealed that Finance Minister Tendai Biti's trip to the US was a measured success as the IMF had only promised to provide "technical support" to the inclusive government rather than budgetary support.

The agencies carried eight stories on rights violations that included updates on the hospital detention of two MDC activists and a freelance journalist.

Fig 6: Online agencies - Voice distribution

What they said . . .

"Do not repeat yesterday's mistakes: fighting a futile war and appointing a self-styled loose-canon geriatric central bank governor should be avoided at all times", President of the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe on Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono's tenure under the old government, The Standard (3/5).

"Arthur Mutambara (MDC-M leader) has shown himself to be more of an unstable political clown given to childish posturing and the display of other forms of political madness", Independent MP Jonathan Moyo, The Financial Gazette (30/5).

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