The Media Monitoring Project (Zimbabwe) is an independent Trust that works to promote freedom of expression and responsible journalism in Zimbabwe. It aims to achieve this through monitoring and analysis of the news and current affairs output on domestic radio and television, and in the print media. Its findings are made public through the publication of weekly media updates.
Election 2008


New !!
Media Coverage of the 2008 Elections : ...more


Daily Media Update No.57
Enjoying a monopoly on the local news market again today, the government dailies, The Herald and Chronicle took the opportunity to distort the critical verdicts of all three African observer missions and downplay almost universal condemnation of Friday’s presidential run-off, particularly by regional leaders attending the African Union summit in Egypt. Instead, the papers continued to pervert any truthful interpretation by focusing on the few selective statements endorsing Robert Mugabe’s return to the presidency. They also continued to parrot the government’s regime-change mantra, publishing conspiracy analyses in defence of the controversial poll from which the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew citing a sustained, nationwide campaign of state-sponsored violence against his party’s supporters, and a corrupted electoral process. Since the election result, the papers have also adopted Mugabe’s suddenly conciliatory approach to the idea of inter-party dialogue without comparing this position with his belligerent pre-election statements. Between them, the papers carried 16 stories on Zimbabwe’s post-election crisis, although that is not how they interpreted developments. Of these, 14 were reports on issues arising from the election, while two were official statements claiming that the post-election period was peaceful. : ...more


Weekly Media Update


Weekly Media Update #2008-35
MMPZ is concerned that despite commitments to political tolerance advocated in the power-sharing agreement signed between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations in September, the ZANU PF authorities continue to persecute perceived critics. Ironically, the latest attack on Zimbabweans’ basic freedoms occurred at the venue of a SADC Troika meeting in Harare aimed at salvaging the agreement where police violently broke up peaceful protests by youths and women urging a speedy resolution to the impasse, citing deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions in the country. : ...more