Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe:Weekly Media Update 2009-45

1. Comment: MMPZ condemns ZBC’s continued violation of Article XIX of the GPA and its public service charter, compelling it to give fair and balanced coverage to all political parties. Its coverage of the three coalition partners during the week illustrates this inequity. Of the 49 stories the national broadcaster allocated to the parties, 47 (96%) were on ZANU PF activities while the remaining two focused on the activities of breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

The programmes of the main MDC faction of Morgan Tsvangirai were completely ignored.

This bias also replicated itself in the amount of time ZTV devoted to the coalition partners. Of the 33 minutes it devoted to political parties’ activities in its 8pm bulletins, 31 minutes and 21 seconds (94%) were allocated to ZANU PF and the rest to the MDC-M. Again, MDC-T activities were ignored.

This deliberate censorship of the activities of the country’s most popular political party in government not only represents a flagrant breach of the GPA, regional and international protocols on public broadcasting, but also graphically illustrates the grossly unprofessional journalistic conduct of the national broadcaster that is depriving the nation of important news about the activities of the country’s Prime Minister and his party’s government ministers. Such extreme bias has not been witnessed since last year’s election campaigns and underlines demands for urgent and thorough reform at the so-called public broadcaster – and one that releases it from the total control of ZANU PF.

ZBC’s resultantly excessive coverage of ZANU PF became more pronounced at the weekend when the party’s provincial structures nominated candidates to its presidium ahead of its December congress. Almost all the main bulletins led with updates on the outcome of the structures’ voting.

While MMPZ acknowledges the news value of some of ZANU PF’s activities, especially the relevance of the party’s nomination of candidates, the prominent but passive manner in which ZBC handled this news only served to emphasize the broadcaster’s slavish bias.

For example, while ZBC flooded its audiences with stories on the nominations, these were mainly reduced to bland announcements devoid of their real news value.

There was no attempt, for instance, to examine and analyze the intrigues within the party that saw the historic nomination of possible challengers to the presidium, or link these to the protracted succession battles within ZANU PF, which President Mugabe has previously acknowledged and warned was threatening the party’s stability. As a result, the reports turned out to be shopping-list announcements of shortlisted individuals the party’s structures had drawn up, which lacked any meaningful contextualisation and an explanation of the criteria used.

It was against this background that ZTV (14/11, 8pm) failed to reconcile ZANU PF official David Karimanzira’s statements that the selection of candidates for the vice-presidency and chairmanship should not be restricted to individuals from Matabeleland and Midlands provinces with the remarks by Mashonaland East provincial chairman Ray Kaukonde that the candidates should only come from the provinces in line with the party’s 1987 unity accord.

Neither did it probe why Matabeleland North had come up with two lists of candidates for the vice-presidency or the implications of the nomination of Oppah Muchinguri by Masvingo to challenge sitting vice-president Joice Mujuru.

Notably, while ZBC was turning itself into an abject ZANU PF notice board, it completely ignored the Prime Minister’s activities and that of his party, including its recent rallies in Harare, Chitungwiza and Manicaland.

 

2. The Print Media

 

Summary

The coalition’s prolonged failure to make the transitional government work smoothly remained the main focus of Press coverage in the week, comprising 166 of their 224 reports on the government’s activities (official papers 130 and 94 in the private Press). This figure includes 17 reports of human rights issues during the week, most of them violations.

The inevitable knock-on effect of the crisis was reflected by the fewer positive Press reports (58) carried highlighting progress in socio-economic renewal or implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) – government papers (46) and private Press (12). Otherwise the remaining 24 reports, comprising 18 from the official papers and six in the private Press, focused on party politics.

 

Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the print media

Publication	Political developments in government	Socio-economic issues	Party politics	Human rights abuses
The Herald	20	54	8	4
Chronicle	9	15	7	0
The Manica Post	2	7	1	0
The Sunday Mail	3	6	1	0
Sunday News	1	7	1	0
The Financial Gazette	8	8	0	0
The Zimbabwean	9	14	1	8
Zimbabwe Independent	9	9	3	0
The Standard	7	2	2	0
Zimbabwean On Sunday	8	9	0	5
Total	76	131	24	17

 

Political Developments: Threats to the coalition

The government papers failed to provide their readers with informed follow-up analysis of the Maputo SADC Troika summit. Instead, they resorted to amplifying their previous week’s one-sided portrayal of the meeting’s calls for immediate dialogue among coalition partners to resolve outstanding issues of the GPA in 30 days as an obligation on the MDC alone to lobby for the removal of Western sanctions and an end to “illegal” broadcasts into the country by foreign-based radio stations (The Herald 12 & 13/11).

The Herald (13/11), for example, unquestioningly promoted ZANU PF’s allegations that it had “implemented virtually all GPA requirements…” despite the summit’s findings, while allowing it to trivialise the MDC-T’s concerns as “non-GPA matters” meant to “divert attention from such strategic issues as the removal of sanctions” without examining their validity.

The papers’ 16 editorials, comprising three editorial comments and 13 opinion pieces echoed this, in addition to maligning the MDC-T as bent on sabotaging the inclusive government to placate its alleged Western masters.

The papers’ coverage of power struggles in the coalition, mirrored by sharp disagreements over proposed amendments to some of the country’s laws, also favoured the ZANU PF arm of government. For example, they simply dismissed as “vindictive” planned amendments to the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the RBZ Act and indigenisation laws, spearheaded mostly by MDC-run ministries, without rationally analyzing their soundness and benefits to the nation.

The private Press performed better.

Not only did they provide a more accurate analysis of the outcome to the SADC Troika meeting and the recommendations of its ministerial team, they also publicised growing regional concern with ZANU PF’s intransigence, and viewed disagreements over proposed legislative amendments as a reflection of mutual distrust and the struggle between the coalition partners to impose conflicting policies. They also cited analysts reiterating the negative effects of these problems on ongoing socio-economic recovery programmes.

 

Political Developments: Successes by the coalition

The government papers carried three reports depicting the inclusive government as having registered some progress in implementing the GPA, citing official praise for its political achievements by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, outgoing Ethiopian Ambassador Ali Mokrani, and the Zimbabwe/South Africa Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security.

Otherwise, most (93%) of its reports were on indicators of recovery in the socio-economic sectors. 

The private papers largely remained sceptical of the success of the coalition’s  renewal progress in light of their continued differences. For example, although nearly all their reports on the subject identified the MDC-T’s return to government, following SADC’s advice, as positive, they singled out the relentless friction in the alliance as an obstacle to the country’s stability.

 

Party politics

While the official papers projected the MDC-T as rocked by divisions, they concealed evidence of greater fissures in ZANU PF, highlighted by intense competition for the post of vice-president following Joseph Msika’s death, and the selection of new central committee members ahead of the party’s congress in December.

In this light, their coverage of ZANU PF’s failure to unanimously agree on single candidates for the vice-president and the national chairman’s posts, and the controversy surrounding the election of new Harare provincial chairman Amos Midzi, was passively presented as normal.

It was left to the private papers to interpret the conflicts in the nomination of candidates and alleged fraud in the election of Midzi as part of ZANU PF’s long-running succession battle.

The government Press appeared most interested in publicizing alleged MDC-T infighting. This was summed up by The Herald’s lead story: MDC-T split over sanctions (12/11), although the story itself provided precious little information to support its allegations.

 

Human rights violations

The official papers continued to mask rights violations in the country in line with their attempts to defend the ZANU PF arm of government from widespread accusations that it was using its control of the judiciary and security ministries to persecute its perceived opponents.

They only carried two incidents, which they did not even consider as such. One of them involved the resignation of Harare magistrate Chioniso Mutongi in protest against alleged interference in her work by the Chief Magistrate’s Office, while the other emanated from the death of Godfrey Tonde as a result of violent raids on vendors in Mbare by Harare municipal police (The Herald, 9 & /11).

The private papers published 13 reports on rights abuses, four of which recorded new incidents. Two of these stemmed from Tonde’s death and the resignation of Mutongi.

The others were:

·         The alleged murder of Gibson Gumbo by the police in Murehwa (The Zimbabwean); and

·         The arrest and detention of ZCTU leader Lovemore Matombo for allegedly holding an “unsanctioned” meeting in Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe Independent & The Standard).

 

 

 

3. The Electronic Media

Summary

Efforts to resuscitate the country’s socio-political and economic sectors continued to receive most attention in the electronic media.

They carried 224 stories on these issues; 145 of them appeared on ZBC, while 79 featured in the private electronic media [radios (48) and online publications (31)].  

Nearly half (71) of ZBC’s stories portrayed the coalition as succeeding in restoring socio-economic and political stability in the country, while 61 highlighted the obstacles it faced. The remaining 13 were general reports on the coalition’s operations.  

The private electronic media remained sceptical of the coalition’s efforts to rejuvenate the country, including resolving all outstanding issues of the GPA in 30 days as recommended by SADC’s Troika.

Sixty-seven of their stories emphasised this. The remaining 12 acknowledged some progress, especially on the socio-economic front.

 

Fig 2: Topical news distribution in the electronic media

Station	Political developments	Socio-economic issues	Human rights abuses
ZTV	15	80	1
Spot FM	2	26	2
Radio Zimbabwe	9	9	1
Studio 7	7	4	5
SW Radio Africa	18	0	14
New Zimbabwe.com	2	2	2
ZimOnline	7	5	5
The Zimbabwe Times	4	1	1
Zimdaily	1	1	0
Total	65	128	32

 

Threats to the coalition

ZBC failed to usefully report on the coalition parties’ efforts to comply with the SADC Troika resolutions on the country’s political crisis.

It reported inadequately on the parties’ meetings to try and resolve their dispute and failed to analyze the feasibility of resolving the problems within the SADC deadline.

For example, while Radio Zimbabwe (12/11, 1pm) announced a planned meeting between the parties, it did not update its audiences on what eventually transpired. Otherwise, ZBC continued to advance ZANU PF’s claims that Western sanctions were the single greatest threat to government stability, a position it dishonestly claimed the SADC Troika had affirmed.

ZBC also presented as normal the continued interference by ZANU PF Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo in the management of MDC-T led councils.

For example, ZTV (11/11, 8pm) passively reported Chombo “reversing” Harare City Council’s decisions to clamp down on illegal vending in the city following the alleged killing of a vendor by municipal police, while Spot FM (13/11, 8pm) also passively reported him rescinding the demotion of Mutare deputy mayor Admire Makorera by the MDC council.

No attempt was made to interpret these developments as reflecting the power struggles between the coalition partners. 

In contrast, the private electronic media analyzed the SADC resolutions; questioned the parties’ ability to address the problems within the deadline; publicised regional pressure on Mugabe, and presented ZANU PF’s nomination of candidates for the party’s presidium in the context of ZANU PF factionalism.

However, none of them reported on the outcome of the coalition principals’ meeting on Friday November 13 to resolve their differences.     

 

Human rights issues

ZBC carried four stories on rights violations, although it did not view them as such.

They included two incidents:

• The death of vendor George Tonde from injuries sustained following a raid by Harare municipal police in Mbare (ZBC, 9/11, 8pm); and
•  The arrest of ZCTU leader Lovemore Matombo and four others for holding an “unsanctioned” meeting in Victoria Falls (Radio Zimbabwe, 11/11, 8pm).

The private electronic media aired 27 stories on rights abuses, four of which were new incidents.

Two of them were the same as those reported by ZBC, while the other two reported the arrest of four Bindura University students for unspecified reasons (SW Radio Africa, 10/11) and the alleged death of four soldiers as a result of torture in connection with the theft of arms from Pomona Barracks in Harare (SW Radio Africa, 12/11).    

 

Special mention

Although ZBC reported on the proceedings of the trial of MDC official Roy Bennett over terrorism charges, it censored other high profile court cases, especially the acquittal of some MDC and civic society leaders, which reflected badly on the State. For example, it blacked out news of the acquittal of MDC-T Kwekwe MP Blessing Chebundo on rape charges (Zimdaily & New Zimbabwe.com, 11 & 12/11), in stark contrast to the prominent publicity it gave to his arrest.

Similarly, ZBC censored the release from detention of ZCTU leaders after a Victoria Falls magistrate ruled that labour unions were not obliged to seek police clearance to hold their meetings as argued by the State (SW Radio Africa, 12/11).

 

Ends//

The MEDIA UPDATE was produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 9 Knight Bruce Road, Milton Park, Harare, Tel: 263 4 741816 / 778115, E-mail: monitors@mmpz.org.zw

 

Feel free to write to MMPZ. We may not able to respond to everything but we will look at each message.  For previous MMPZ reports, and more information about the Project, please visit our website at www.mmpz.org

 

 

-November 23, 2009 by MMPZ Monday November 9^th 2009 – Sunday November 15^th 2009

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Source: www.mmpz.org (received via email 23.11.2009)