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Weekly Media Update 2010-3
Monday January 25th - Sunday January 31th 2010
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
February 05, 2010

Comment

MMPZ views with grave concern the recent escalation of offensive and inflammatory language in the state-owned media against perceived ZANU PF opponents, particularly the MDC component of government led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, in flagrant violation of Article 19(e) of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

The provision forbids the media from "using abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred, or that unfairly undermines political parties and other organisations".

In the past two weeks, from January 18th to 31st 2010, MMPZ has observed a frenzied propaganda campaign to undermine the credibility of the MDC-T by government papers in the wake of British Foreign Minister David Milliband's controversial remarks that his country's decision to lift targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe would, in part, be guided by what the MDC says about the conditions under which it is working.

This trend was manifest in the papers' news reports and their editorial comments and opinion pieces. Rarely was the MDC-T given a chance to respond to the offensive statements, which were advanced to justify ZANU PF's renewed reluctance to comply with provisions of the GPA on the basis that Miliband's "confession" vindicated the party's claim that the MDC was colluding with the West to maintain sanctions and thus had the power to call them off. In their efforts to demonize the MDC-T, the official papers continued to dishonestly misrepresent the circumstances (violent and fraudulent elections) that first led the West to impose the targeted sanctions against the ZANU PF leadership and its acolytes in 2002.

For instance, of the 36 news reports these newspapers carried on problems affecting the smooth implementation of the GPA, 27 (75%) were used as platforms for ZANU PF officials and their apologists, sometimes disguised as analysts, to berate the MDC's alleged "treacherous" alliance with the West to cause national suffering through the 'illegal' imposition of sanctions.

A typical example was The Herald's passive reporting of ZANU PF spokesman Ephraim Masawi (28/1) to scandalise the MDC. It quoted him saying the British Foreign Minister's remarks had "exposed" MDC-T's "treacherous role" in the imposition of sanctions as "a tool" of Western imperialism.

Said Masawi: "The hypocrisy of the MDC-T's denial of its role in the evil saga of the imposition of illegal sanctions now stand exposed for all to see . . . The people of Zimbabwe, as the victims of the MDC-T and Western murderous collusion, now demand that Mr Tsvangirai and his Western allies remove their evil sanctions..."

The government papers' editorial columns were worse.

For example, 17 articles (five editorials and 11 opinion pieces) out of the 21 editorials they carried on the power-sharing deadlock vilified the MDC-T and the West for collaborating over sanctions to oust ZANU PF from government.

One example of this abuse by the dominant government press to amplify ZANU PF's dishonest efforts to discredit the country's most popular political party and its leader, appeared in The Herald's 'Eagle Eye' column (30/1) under the heading: "Tsvanctions": The name says it all. Such crudely inflammatory language threatens all efforts to restore some degree of sanity to what had become a totally dysfunctional state.

The week's most popular stories

For the second consecutive week, the comments of British Foreign Minister David Milliband on his country's conditions for reviewing targeted sanctions remained the most popular story in the government media. And the statistics reveal the intensity of this propaganda war: Forty-four of their 50 reports on the power-sharing stalemate (88%) focused on Milliband's comments and the sanctions issue and relegated news of the constitution-making process to second place with 31 stories.

Milliband and the issue of sanctions also dominated the private media for the first time this week (34 reports) closely followed by controversies surrounding constitutional reforms (26).

However, other pertinent national issues such as the looming civil service strike and controversies surrounding the mining of Chiadzwa diamonds were largely missing in the media. The Chiadzwa diamonds saga was only covered in three reports each by the government and private media while the civil servants' salary demands got slightly more publicity, receiving five reports apiece in these media. While the government media's coverage of civil servants' discontent was straightforward, they failed to view problems in Chiadzwa as a result of lack of transparency and government interference. The private media gave a more balanced perspective of the issues and their implications on Zimbabwe's fragile economy.

State media support ZANU PF disregard of GPA

The government media continued to exploit the comments of British Foreign Minister David Milliband as the main argument to justify ZANU PF's refusal to make any further concessions in the power-sharing talks until the embargo had been lifted.

They dishonestly portrayed the "illegal economic embargo" and the MDC-T's alleged reluctance to lobby for its removal as the main threat to the inclusive government.

This was reflected in 42 (84%) of their 50 stories on the subject [news stories (40), comments (three) and opinion pieces (seven)]. Of these, 32 appeared on ZBC and 18 in the official papers.

Seven of ZBC's news reports contained editorial intrusions.

For example, in one, ZTV reporter Tendai Munengwa commented: "The ball is now in Tsvangirai's court and SADC will judge him by how much noise he has made for the lifting of sanctions" (31/1, 8pm).

While the private media agreed that Milliband's comments had handed ZANU PF "a smoking gun", they pointed out that European sanctions targeted at Mugabe and his ZANU PF allies would likely remain until issues contained in the GPA, such as the restoration of the rule of law, an end to political violence, and a free media environment, had been effectively addressed.

Constitutional reforms - The good, the bad and the ugly

All media reported on the fortunes of the constitutional reform exercise. The public concentrated more on the good than the bad, while the private Press gave a more balanced view.

The good . . .

Twenty-one (61%) of the public media's 31 reports on the stalled constitution-making process depicted the project as back on track. They cited reassurances by one of the donors, the UNDP, that it would continue funding the process (ZTV, 27/1, 8pm & The Herald, 29/1) and the agreement between the Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) and the management committee on the composition of teams of rapporteurs (The Herald, 29/1).

The private media's eight stories also viewed these developments as indicators of progress in the exercise.

The bad . . .

The remaining 10 stories in the public media highlighted problems affecting the constitutional reform process.

These included inadequate funding (The Herald, 26/1); complaints by women's organisations that the exercise was gender biased (ZTV, 25/1, 8pm & The Herald, 30/1); and the alleged lack of transparency by MDC-T Constitutional Minister Eric Matinenga in negotiating for funding with donors (ZTV, 27/1, 8pm). Private media also highlighted these issues in 11 of their reports.

The ugly . . .

Only the private media exposed the ugly side of the reforms. These included:

• Alleged embezzlement of Copac funds by MPs (The Standard, 31/1);
• ZANU PF's launch of its own "national outreach programme", spearheaded by 2,500 party youths to intimidate people to support ZANU PF's views on the new constitution (The Zimbabwean, 28/1); and
• Coercion of villagers in Mashonaland East, Manicaland and Masvingo provinces by ZANU PF activists to support the Kariba draft constitution (The Zimbabwean & The Standard, 28 & 31/1).

Who was the most quoted?

Polarization of the media continued with ZANU PF voices dominating the official media and those of the MDC-T getting greater expression in the private media.

ZANU PF Copac co-chairman Paul Mangwana remained the most quoted in the official media (11 times). ZANU PF spokesman Ephraim Masawi made a close second (nine times) while another ZANU PF official, Oppah Muchinguri, was cited eight times. War veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda was quoted seven times.

In the private media, MDC-T Copac co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora was again the most heard (12 times), followed by his secretary-general, Tendai Biti, (five).

Notably, the government media was guilty of attempting to disguise ZANU PF returnees Jonathan Moyo and former MDC-M MP Gabriel Chaibva as alternative voices. The two were the most quoted in this category: Chaibva nine times and Moyo (six).

UZ political science lecturer John Makumbe (five) and NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku (five) were the most used analysts in the private media.

Fig 1. Voices in the media on topical issues

Human rights abuses continue

The government media published two incidents of rights abuses.
One identified the MDC-T as the perpetrator and the other identified state security agents. The private media recorded six, all blaming ZANU PF, war veterans and state security agents.

These included:

• Arson attacks by suspected MDC-T supporters on seven homesteads belonging to ZANU PF supporters in Buhera (The Herald, 28/1);
• The death of suspected criminal Wilson Sabun in Mutare from injuries sustained during an assault by the police (The Manica Post, 29/1)
• The alleged assault of 11 WOZA protestors by the police in Bulawayo (The Zimbabwean, 28/1); and
• The eviction of four white farmers in Chipinge (SW Radio Africa & The Financial Gazette, 28/1).

Did you know?

That:

• The police have invoiced the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (Copac) for US$3 million to provide security for its constitutional outreach programme (The Zimbabwe Times, 31/1);
• None of the media reported on the proceedings of several parliamentary portfolio committee meetings during the week, among them Public Service Labour & Social Welfare, Justice, Legal & Parliamentary Affairs, Education, and the Media, Information and Communications Technology committee. (MMPZ)
• The National Security Council (NSC) failed to meet last month despite a statutory requirement that it should do so monthly, according to the parliamentary and government watchdog Veritas; and
• Forthcoming parliamentary sittings are likely to be brief because apart from the first reading of the Private Member's Bill amending the Public Order & Security Act (sponsored by the MDC-T's Innocent Gonese) and a review of the controversial Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill in Senate, no other Bills are ready for presentation. And when the constitutional outreach programme finally gets underway it will be difficult to have Parliament sitting as most MPs will be involved. [Veritas' Bill-Watch (26th January 2010)].

What they said . . .

"We know it's everyone's democratic right to act in any way (mobilising people to vote against the outcome of the constitutional reform process), but Zimbabweans should shield themselves from being used by organisations that have nothing to offer them except to use them as fronts to get money." - MDC-T Copac co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora.

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