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Weekly Media Update 2009-28
Monday July 13th 2009 - Sunday July 19th 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
July 24, 2009

General Comment
During the week The Sunday Mail (19/7) featured an extraordinary attempt to discredit the mid-term fiscal policy review statement by Finance Minister Tendai Biti as an act of political treachery on the basis that he had scrapped punitive duties on imported newspapers.

The article reflected all the xenophobic qualities of ZANU PF's old mantra of the dangers of unfettered media activity by accusing Biti of attempting to "open up floodgates for hostile foreign information into Zimbabwe" and to "specifically advantage the foreign printing and publication of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's American-sponsored glossy and controversial newsletter and the local distribution of a partisan newspaper based in Britain called The Zimbabwean . . . " to promote the cause of the MDC-T.

Apart from undermining all the basic principles of freedom of expression as expressed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such an argument suggests that Zimbabweans are not competent to decide for themselves what media they should access for their news.

But of course, the author is Independent MP Jonathan Moyo, the former Minister of Information and architect of Zimbabwe's repressive media laws that have suffocated the development of a diverse independent media community.

His attack on Biti on the basis that he is attempting to seek an "unfair" political advantage for his party while depriving the fiscus of important income is evidently an attempt to protect the status quo, which under the present laws, deny Zimbabweans their right to freely access diverse sources of information and condemns them to the propaganda produced by the dominant government-controlled media.

Democracies do not restrict newspaper activity in any way, far less through the device of punishing import duties that were introduced by the ZANU PF authorities last year specifically to discourage the importation of "hostile foreign" media ahead of the country's presidential election run-off.

Instead of allowing market forces to determine the popularity of The Zimbabwean and the Prime Minister's newsletter, it is apparent that Moyo remains intent on ensuring that Zimbabweans continue to be deprived of their ability to communicate and access information from sources of their choice.

Both publications are a response to Zimbabwe's continuing repressive media environment and provide clear evidence of the extent to which the government-controlled media have failed the nation - and the Global Political Agreement - as a result of their selective and partisan coverage of developments and events in the country.

A good example of this was ZTV's coverage of Biti's mid-term fiscal policy review.

While the national broadcaster has previously given excessive publicity to similar presentations by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, there was no such allocation accorded to Biti.

ZTV broke with tradition by restricting its coverage of Biti's review to its news bulletins. Previously, the station swamped its audiences with previews of Gono's statements; broadcast live his presentations, and then lined up pro-government "analysts" to endorse his measures. The whole presentation would then be rebroadcast after its main 8pm bulletin.

Only ZBC's radio stations covered the review live, while the government dailies did at least reproduce it in full.

The Public and Private Press

Increasing doubts over the unity government's commitment to democracy, underlined in the week by the disruption of a preliminary conference to lay the groundwork for rewriting the country's constitution, got substantial attention in the Press. See Fig. 1.

Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the print media

The government Press however, covered up ZANU PF's insincerity in embracing the reforms by blaming the party's disruption of the first day of an All-Stakeholders Constitutional Conference on others. Nearly all their 24 stories on constitutional reform blamed the MDC and civic groups for disrupting the meeting, alleging - without a shred of evidence - that they had been sponsored by the West to undermine the process.

The Herald's Eagle Eye columnist Caesar Zvayi captured (18/7) this thrust. He urged his readers not to "buy the Western media's attempt to blame (the chaos) all on (ZANU PF official and war veterans leader Joseph) Chinotimba and his war hardened friends" but "powerful forces" who had "lots of money at their disposal" and "using the so-called interest groups in a bid to achieve their goals and objectives".

In its initial news story of the incident, the paper (14/7) reported the three principals to the power sharing agreement denouncing the conference's disruption but avoided identifying those responsible by simply referring vaguely to "a section" of "rowdy delegates" who "burst into song and dance and pelted dignitaries . . . with an assortment of missiles . . . "

There was also no insight into the more constructive proceedings of the conference's second day. For example, the official media did not explain why the parliamentary constitutional reform committee had decided to increase the number of thematic committees from 12 to 16 and how it would affect the constitution-making process.

The official Press also passively presented President Mugabe's proclamation of July 24 to 26 as 'Peace Days' and the staging of a National Vision workshop only in the context of these developments being examples of the coalition partners' commitment to reconciliation and the success of the transitional authority. They censored criticism of the previous government by high profile delegates to the National Vision workshop, including Tsvangirai, focusing instead, on pleas by ZANU PF's prodigal founders, Edgar Tekere and Enos Nkala, to rejoin the party.

Most of the government papers' 61 reports on the country's socio-economic situation either rehashed official pronouncements or avoided linking symptoms of economic collapse to government's ineffective interventions. For example, 20 of the reports passively depicted Finance Minister Tendai Biti's mid-term fiscal policy review as the right stimulant for the ailing socio-economic sectors without examining the adequacy of his proposed measures. The only article on Biti's policy appearing under the "analysis" column of the papers was a propagandist piece by independent MP Jonathan Moyo, which dismissed Biti's budget statement as "treacherous" (The Sunday Mail 19/7).

The government Press carried 13 stories on human rights abuses eight of which were updates on court cases involving MDC-T and human rights activists facing terrorism, rape and kidnapping charges, while the rest were continued denials of alleged human rights violations in the Chiadzwa diamond fields by state security agents.

The private papers provided better insight into these issues.

For example, they blamed ZANU PF for the chaos at the stakeholders' constitutional conference. They viewed the former ruling party's action as a symptom of its fear for democratic reforms and discussed this in the context of the coalition's reform agenda.

The private Press also reported on the coalition principals' behind-the-scenes efforts to save the constitutional reform process from collapse and continued to accommodate alternative views on the matter.

The Standard (19/7) carried a pull-out section featuring the NCA's draft constitution, although the paper itself did not discuss the document.

The private Press carried four fresh incidents of human rights violations stemming from the murder of another white farmer in Gweru; the assault of 11 villagers in Beitbridge by Home Affairs' Minister Kembo Mohadi's farm security; the arrest of a civic leader in Bulawayo for organizing an 'unsanctioned' meeting; and the Attorney-General's refusal to release the passport of the MDC-T's Roy Bennett to enable him to travel to South Africa for an important meeting. Fifteen other stories were updates on court cases involving MDC-T officials facing terrorism and political violence charges.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the print media

ZBC and private radio stations

ZANU PF's rowdy disruption of the first day of an All-Stakeholders Constitutional Conference also proved to be one of the major debates in the broadcast media. Fig 3 illustrates this.

Fig 3: Topical issues on ZBC and private stations

However, 12 of the 39 stories ZBC carried on the subject deliberately shielded those responsible from being identified by falsely attributing the disturbances to the MDC and some civic organisations, which they claimed were being used by the West to sabotage the inclusive government.

No evidence for this was provided and the accused were not given the right of reply.

For example, ZBC stations (13/7, 8pm) claimed the chaos was sparked by MDC-T's "provocation" of ZANU PF supporters. It then expanded on this lie using ZANU PF loyalists masquerading as political analysts. One such 'analyst' was Mashonaland Governor Martin Dinha who defended his party's actions on the grounds that it was agitating for a "home-grown constitution amid revelations that there was an external hand in the process".

He did not substantiate his claims. Neither was he asked to.

The stations compounded this bias by quoting war veterans demanding the postponement of the exercise "by at least three months" without asking why they thought this was necessary or investigating how such a delay would affect the process of developing a new constitution in 18 months as stipulated under the GPA.

The remaining 27 stories ZBC aired on constitutional issues passively reported on the coalition principals' condemnation of the disturbances; the success of the conference's second day; and promoted the Kariba Draft and the Parliament-driven constitutional reform without qualification.

ZBC reported President Mugabe's proclamation of peace days and plans to craft a National Vision document as a reflection of the coalition's unity.

Its coverage of the country's socio-economic malaise was also superficial.
For example, 17 of its 76 stories on the topic hailed Finance Minister Tendai Biti's fiscal policy review as the right ingredient for the country's economic renewal without any critical analysis. The remainder reported symptoms of economic decay or on efforts to restore dilapidated infrastructure.

The broadcaster carried three stories on human rights violations, all of which were on the alleged assault of ZANU PF official Patrick Zhuwao by a suspected university student at the constitutional conference.

In contrast, the private radio stations interpreted the disruption of the constitutional meeting as evidence of friction in government and ZANU PF's reluctance to reform; and viewed the conviction of several MDC-T MPs on criminal charges as a ploy to diminish the party's parliamentary dominance.

They also examined Biti's budget review statement, noting that ongoing power-struggles in the inclusive government limited the effectiveness of his proposals.

The private radios presented their seven stories on continuing human rights violations in the context of the coalition's failure to institute democratic reforms enshrined in the GPA.

Of these, one was an incident arising from the alleged intimidation of teachers by suspected ZANU PF supporters for threatening to boycott classes over poor pay. The rest were follow-ups on previous human rights cases.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private stations

Online news agencies
The private online publications also gave prominence to the disruption of the constitutional conference by ZANU PF supporters. See Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical stories in the online agencies

Although the agencies, like other private media, blamed ZANU PF for the disturbances, they also attributed the chaos to poor organization and the police's failure to restrain the rowdy mob.

They also gave significant space to civil society groups led by the National Constitutional Assembly, which noted that the chaotic constitutional conference had vindicated its position on the shortcomings of a parliament-led constitutional reform.

The agencies highlighted other problems plaguing the coalition such as the failure to resolve outstanding issues; the crackdown on MDC-T legislators and inadequate funding for government's economic recovery programmes, which they argued all hindered government's reconstruction plans.

Their 13 reports on rights abuses were similar to those carried by other private media.

Fig 6: Voice distribution on online agencies

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