The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ): Weekly Media Update 2009-46

1. Comment: Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s complaint about ZBC’s unprofessional conduct in his address at the launch of a report on Zimbabwe’s public broadcast media in Harare, during which he also raised fundamental points on media reforms, was vindicated by the broadcaster’s censorship of this newsworthy event.

Tsvangirai expressed concern over ZBC’s biased coverage of his party’s activities, saying it appeared to be “serving two different governments”. He said he supported the idea of ZBC’s transformation into a “true public broadcaster,” adding that although his party had approved the composition of the Zimbabwe Media Commission, he preferred media self-regulation. “Government has no place in regulating the media,” he told the audience. 

 

He reiterated his party’s position that ZANU PF Information Minister Webster Shamu’s unilateral appointment of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) was a nullity as it violated the political agreement, which compelled the parties to consult each other in making such appointments.

 

Said Tsvangirai: “The final composition has not yet been decided, despite the premature announcement to the contrary. And once it has, I trust that it (BAZ) too, will play a significant part in ensuring Zimbabwe’s broadcast environment becomes truly representative”.

 

This appeared in the Zimbabwe Independent (20/11).

 

Thus, those who only rely on the government media may have been bewildered over the reason for an emotional attack on the Open Society Institute of Southern Africa, which sponsored the event, on ZTV’s Media Watch (23/11, 6.30pm). It claimed the “not so open” regional institution had “released a fictitious report” accusing the public media of unprofessional conduct while “bestowing sainthood on the so-called independent media whose pen has been used to further third-hand forces”.

 

Without discussing the contents of the report, the station simply dismissed it as “another case study for students of politics on the underhand tactics by neo-imperialist organisations to institute complicit regimes in Africa under the pretext of opening up societies”.

 

However, MMPZ’s monitoring of ZBC’s coverage of the three coalition parties confirms Tsvangirai and OSISA’s observations on the public broadcaster.

 

For instance, of the 206 minutes ZTV allocated to the parties in its 8pm bulletins between November 9 and November 25, 163 minutes and 36 seconds (76%) was devoted to ZANU PF’s party and government activities while the remaining 52 minutes and 23 seconds were shared between the two MDC formations [MDC-T (36 minutes and 16 seconds) and MDC-M (16 minutes and seven seconds)].

 

During the week the government media also failed to do justice to court cases that reflected unfavourably on the State.

 

For example, while the official dailies carried updates on the trial of MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett on terrorism charges, it censored aspects that appeared to expose the weakness of the State’s case.

 

ZBC was even worse.

 

It only carried two piecemeal reports on the subject: the dismissal of an application by Bennett’s defence team seeking the recusal of presiding judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu (16/11, 8pm), and the State and defence’s disagreement over weapons exhibited as evidence in court (19/11, 8pm).

 

There was no coherent information on the proceedings, especially the cross-examination of state witnesses.

 

The private media also failed to comprehensively cover Bennett’s trial, although The Zimbabwean (19/11) and its Sunday sister paper did report the State’s violation of MDC-T official Pascal Gwezere’s right to bail, facing charges of breaking into Pomona Barracks armoury and stealing arms of war.

 

2. The Print Media

 

Summary

The rising spectre of failure by the coalition to beat a 30-day SADC target to resolve outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that have hamstrung the government’s reconstruction impetus and related political and socio-economic issues dominated this week‘s Press coverage.

 

They carried 181 stories on these issues, 92 of which appeared in the government papers and the remaining 89 in the private Press.

 

Thirty-five of the official papers’ reports were on problems affecting the smooth implementation of the GPA, while 37 promoted the coalition’s tentative achievements, which were mostly on the socio-economic front. The rest (20) were on party politics and human rights issues.

 

Although the private papers recorded the coalition’s provisional socio-economic progress in 11 reports, it was mainly in the way of exposing how this risked getting eroded by prolonged non-compliance of the power-sharing deal. They carried 48 stories emphasising this.

 

The remaining 30 stories were on human rights issues and party politics.

 

Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the print media

Publication	Political developments in government	Socio-economic issues	Party politics	Human rights issues
The Herald	11	30	5	5
Chronicle	8	13	4	1
The Manica Post	2	5	1	1
The Sunday Mail	1	5	0	0
The Financial Gazette	8	3	3	1
The Zimbabwean	5	3	7	6
Zimbabwe Independent	9	7	4	1
The Standard	5	4	1	1
Zimbabwean On Sunday	7	8	2	4
Total	56	78	27	20

 

 

Political Developments: Threats to the coalition

Highlight of the week was the coalition’s inability to “immediately” resume negotiations as recommended by SADC. However, the government papers neither assessed the plausibility of the coalition’s explanations for failing to do so, nor explored the implications.  

 

The Sunday Mail (22/11), for example, downplayed the matter by allowing one of ZANU PF’s negotiators in the inter-party dialogue, Nicholas Goche, to claim the SADC deadline as not being “cast in stone”. No verification of this was made with SADC and the other coalition partners.

 

The paper did not reconcile Goche’s justification for delaying the dialogue, which he attributed to the absence of MDC-M negotiators – reportedly on government business abroad – with the MDC-T’s complaint that they were allegedly prioritising “flying to world capitals” at the expense of resolving the impasse.

 

The government papers also failed to clearly explain the conditions under which the coalition had compromised on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill, resulting in ZANU MPs in the House of Assembly supporting it despite previous threats to vote against it, alleging it was targeted at bank chief Gideon Gono. Neither did they assess the implications of the Bill’s amendments.

 

The Herald and Chronicle (19/11) for example, simply reported the House of Assembly as having passed the Bill after the amendment of clauses ZANU PF “deemed to have been motivated by personal vendettas rather than improving the operations of the central bank”.  

 

In contrast, the private papers quoted the coalition partners counter-accusing each other over delays in reviving dialogue; interpreted the accusations as more evidence of tension in the coalition; and discussed the implications of this friction on government’s stability and economic renewal plans. They also quoted analysts commenting on the passage of the Reserve Bank Bill and its underlying intentions.

 

Political Developments: Successes by the coalition

Despite the ongoing political crisis, which analysts claimed was retarding socio-economic renewal and discouraging foreign direct investment, the government papers reported the government as making significant progress in reviving the economy.

They cited as proof:

• China’s alleged US$8 billion investment plans;
• Brazil’s pledge to support the economy;
• Investment in Chiadzwa by two private companies; and
• Increased revenue inflows. 

However, the papers neither provided useful detail for these projects nor clearly explained how they would benefit the country. The Herald (20/11), for instance, merely quoted economists describing the Chinese deal as “a positive move” for the economy and an indication of China’s growing “confidence” in Zimbabwe. It allowed ZANU PF acolyte Jonathan Moyo to claim the investment would “force hostile Western countries to rethink their position on Zimbabwe” without relating this to the West’s insistence on comprehensive political reforms.

 

Even though the private papers noted signs of socio-economic recovery, they quoted commentators and some sections of the international community urging the coalition parties to resolve their differences to ensure long-term stability.

 

 

Human rights issues

The official papers carried seven reports on rights issues, including the trials of the MDC’s treasurer Roy Bennett and its official, Pascal Gwezere.

However, they recorded no new abuses. 

 

The private papers published 13 reports on rights issues, four of them new incidents:

 

• The assault on Catholic priest Wolfgang Thamm in Darwendale by soldiers for allegedly disobeying orders (The Standard, 22/11);
• The denial of medical treatment to detained MDC-T activist Pascal Gwezere (The Zimbabwean, 19/11);
• The assault and arrest of several Great Zimbabwe University students for allegedly possessing a gun at campus (The Zimbabwean On Sunday, 22/11) and,
• The alleged assault on a Darwendale man by soldiers for wearing a T-shirt with messages campaigning against the adoption of the Kariba Draft constitution (The Zimbabwean, 19/11).

 

The private Press also reported the trials of Bennett and Gwezere in the context of malicious prosecutions.

 

Government corruption

The government papers attempted to conceal malpractice and corruption in some government departments by either ignoring them or discrediting those attempting to unearth the vice.

 

The Herald (19/11), for instance, diverted attention from the corruption in the civil service by inventing conspiracies to discredit efforts to clean up the sector as part of a sinister Western plot to access sensitive government documents. It claimed the Public Service Commission (PSC) had “foiled” an attempt by the World Bank to access personal details of government employees after MDC-T Public Service Minister Elphas Mukonoweshoro “ordered” the commission to “release” the details to the bank. The paper did not openly disclose that government had actually hired the institution as a private consultant to audit the civil service.

 

Instead, it reported “political analysts” as having “raised eyebrows” on the appointment of UZ political science lecturer John Makumbe, for which Jonathan Moyo was again selectively accessed to describe the decision as “scandalous” and “inappropriate” on the grounds that he was allegedly biased. No proof of this was provided.

 

The official papers also avoided probing the selection and identity of two private investors to partner government in mining Chiadzwa’s diamonds.

 

Neither did The Herald (10/11) provide useful details on the Auditor-General’s report exposing the looting and abuse of government assets in some ministries.

 

An informative perspective on these issues only appeared in the private papers. For example, they revealed that government had sanctioned the civil service audit; exposed some details of the Auditor-General’s report; and the militarily-connected identity of the diamond mining investors (Zimbabwe Independent, 20/11).

 

3. The Electronic Media

 

Summary

The national broadcaster paid far greater attention to the coalition’s measured socio-economic successes than to the week’s political developments.

 

Of the 140 stories ZBC carried on political developments and related matters, 112 of them depicted the coalition as succeeding in reviving the country, while the remaining 28 reported problems hampering its smooth operation.

 

The private electronic media was not so positive about government’s progress. Twenty-four of their 38 stories regarded delays in settling the power-sharing dispute as a major obstacle to the coalition’s success. Fourteen recorded government’s achievements, which were mostly on the socio-economic front. The other 17 were on human rights issues.  

 

  

Fig 2: Topical news distribution in the electronic media

Station	Political developments	Socio-economic issues	Human rights issues
ZTV	10	83	0
Spot FM	3	26	0
Radio Zimbabwe	4	14	0
Studio 7	3	6	1
SW Radio Africa	8	0	9
New Zimbabwe.com	5	3	3
ZimOnline	6	7	4
Zimdaily	0	0	0
Total	39	133	17

 

Threats to the coalition

ZBC failed to assess the coalition’s commitment to addressing unresolved issues under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in light of the parties’ delayed meeting.

 

ZTV (18/11, 8pm), for instance, simply reported the parties’ first meeting on November 16 as having been “very brief” and achieved nothing owing to the absence of MDC negotiators, Elton Mangoma, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Welshman Ncube, who were “out of the country on official business”.  

 

Rather than question the coalition’s priorities, the station quoted pro-ZANU PF analysts such as Chris Mutsvangwa and Maxwell Hove downplaying the crisis. Mutsvangwa described the outstanding issues as “hygienic and not fundamental”, while Hove urged the parties to “speedily iron out” their differences so that the country could “focus on critical issues like economic recovery and farming”.

 

ZTV’s failure (19/11, 8pm) to challenge Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s expectation that the parties would have resolved their dispute by the time he returned from government business in Morocco further demonstrated ZBC’s totally passive attitude.

 

Only the private electronic media tried to subject the matter to analysis.

 

They quoted analysts expressing concern over delays in resolving the deadlock and its ramifications on the country’s economic revival.

 

However, they dented their approach by largely presenting the dispute through an MDC-T perspective almost to the exclusion of other parties’ positions.

 

 

Successes of the inclusive government

Despite the paralysing effect of the tension plaguing the coalition, ZBC continued to give the impression that the new government was succeeding in rehabilitating the country’s socio-economic sectors:

·         The ongoing national reconciliation programme;

·         China’s alleged US$8 billion investment plans;

·         Brazil’s promise of economic support;

·         Alleged increases in foreign investment;

·         Government’s alleged compliance with the recommendations of the Kimberley Process Certification in mining Chiadzwa’s diamonds; and  

·         Improvements in the tourism, manufacturing and financial sectors.

 

However, there was no informative detail on the Brazilian and Chinese investments; or the proceedings of the national reconciliation outreach programmes. There was also no holistic measure of the country’s economic performance since the coalition’s inauguration.

 

Save for Brazil’s support, the private electronic media also identified these and the passing of the Reserve Bank Amendment Bill as part of the coalition’s achievements.

 

However, they questioned their sustainability.

 

SW Radio Africa (19/11), for instance, quoted analysts questioning how the amendments to the RBZ Act would restore confidence in the central bank’s operations considering that the Bill, which was a compromise meant to starve off ZANU PF’s earlier threats to block it, allegedly left the central bank governor with “too much power.”

 

Human rights issues

Like the government print media, ZBC also censored human rights issues, evidently to disguise problems affecting the smooth implementation of the GPA.

These only appeared in the private media, which recorded 17 stories on the topic. Fifteen of the reports were either follow-ups to previous cases or general discussions of the country’s poor human rights record, while two reported new abuses that were also covered by the private papers.

 

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 27, 2009 by MMPZ Monday November 16^th – Sunday November 22^nd 2009

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Source: www.mmpz.org (received via email 27.11.2009)