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WiPSU Media Monitoring Report January-March 2007
Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU)
May 22, 2007

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Introduction

The media plays a significant role in determining how women in politics and decision- making are viewed and perceived by society in general. The media does not only play an important role in shaping the values of society but also reflects those values. The media is a chronicler of events, an informer, an educator, a transformative space and a tool to change society. It has the capacity to make a very positive contribution towards social change.

In order to conduct a systematic analysis of how women are covered in the media, Women in Politics Support Unit, WiPSU, initiated an internal data capturing process where a daily monitoring of newspapers would be conducted and any article on women Parliamentarians and councilors would be collected. The articles are analyzed to give an overview of how women are portrayed and the implications of that portrayal on women and women's issues in Zimbabwe.

There cannot be a real democracy if the voices and issues of 52% of the country's population are ignored or sidelined. This media analysis will assist in determining whether or not women's voices and issues are articulated to the public as matters of importance. It can also be used as a basis for assessing what could be done to ensure that woman's voices and women's issues are regarded as important.

Scope of the analysis

The media monitoring initiative covered the local daily and weekly newspapers from both the independent and state media. The newspapers are The Herald, The Daily News, The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mail, The Weekly Standard, The Independent and The Financial Gazette. The variety of papers would make it possible to analyze the coverage from a comprehensive perspective. Great care and effort were taken such that the margin of error is negligible. This analysis covered the period January to March 2007

In order for a report to qualify it has to have reference to a particular woman in elected public office. This means a woman Parliamentarian or Councilor. It would not be adequate for an article to merely refer to Parliamentarians or Councilors without linking it to a particular woman or women specifically. An article covering a woman in her capacity as Minister or Governor would qualify because in the current Constitutional framework, Ministers and Governors are members of Parliament. In some cases women Ministers are in fact elected parliamentarians. These articles would also assist in determining if women receive more coverage as Ministers or Governor as compared to their capacity as Members of Parliament, Senators or Councilors.

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