A comparative analysis of ZBC and private radio stations’ coverage of issues: July 13th – August 2nd 2009

Although such obligations do not obviously apply to the private radio stations as it does to the national broadcaster, this report also analyses if these stations adhered to internationally accepted standards of ethical journalistic practice that demands fair, accurate and balanced reporting. This is particularly so given that the two private radio stations have become important alternative daily sources of information available to Zimbabweans long subjected to information starvation due to the country’s harsh media laws.

 

ZBC and the two private radio stations (SW Radio Africa and Studio 7) carried 888 news stories in the period under study. Of these, 763 were on ZBC while the remaining 125 were on the private stations.

ZBC’s extensive coverage did not reflect a robust reportage of issues affecting Zimbabweans’ livelihoods but only mirrored its dominance of the airwaves entrenched by the country’s repressive media laws that impose severe restrictions on the establishment of independent broadcasters.

While Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa provide daily platforms for alternative views, their effectiveness is limited due to their restricted broadcasts of about two or three hours a night every weekday, compared to the 24-hour service provided by ZBC. Further, whereas the two stations allocate a combined two hours and 30 minutes daily to their bulletins, translating to 15 hours a week, ZBC radio stations carry news bulletins almost every hour in their 24-hour programming.

ZTV alone broadcasts close to three hours of news per day, totalling 21 hours per week. In addition, issues, especially official events and pronouncements, are often repeated on ZBC bulletins thereby giving an inflated picture of the stories the national broadcaster carry.

 

Although ZBC coverage appeared diverse as shown in Fig. 1, most of their stories were premised on official pronouncements. As a result, there were hardly investigative reports on issues affecting Zimbabweans. For instance, while the national broadcaster gave more emphasis to the country’s socio-economic issues by dedicating 238 stories to the subject, these were piecemeal reports that merely highlighted symptoms of the country’s collapse in isolation of its root causes, its scale and impact on the public and the adequacy of government’s interventions. The broadcaster simply projected the new government’s policy pronouncements as the right tonic for economic growth. Its coverage of the mid-term fiscal policy and the monetary policy review statements exemplified this. ZBC (16&17/7, main bulletins), for example, largely rehashed Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s budget review statement without fully analyzing its relevance given government’s failure to raise adequate budgetary support for reconstruction. 

Topic	ZBC Stations			Private Radios
	Radio Zimbabwe	ZBC 3FM	ZTV	SW Radio Africa	VOA Studio 7
Community news and development	22	29	20	1	1
Conspiracies	9	0	5	0	0
Constitutional issues	14	19	28	7	13
Court cases and legal issues	4	2	0	1	2
Crime reports and criminal cases	10	15	0	6	1
Disasters and accidents	1	4	2	0	0
Socio-economic issues	51	100	87	13	8
Health	7	10	17	0	3
Human Rights	1	2	3	15	7
Inclusive government	22	39	76	22	8
International relations	28	12	19	0	1
Local government issues	13	11	20	4	2
Media issues	6	13	8	3	1
Party politics	4	10	12	3	3
Racism, regionalism and tribalism	3	0	1	0	0
War veterans	3	1	0	0	0

 

Such professional passivity was also apparent in ZBC’s coverage of the inclusive government, which was the second most topical subject on the national broadcaster in the period under review. None of its 137 stories on the matter openly exposed the tensions in the new government and their effects on its stability. Rather, they simply glossed over the cracks in the coalition by quoting government officials depicting it as united and focused on the source of the country’s problems and the requisite solutions. They projected the alleged western sanctions as the only threat to government’s durability. ZBC carried at least 15 stories citing sanctions as the only source of the problems facing government.

It is against this background that ZBC presented President Mugabe’s proclamation of July 24 to 26 as ‘Peace Days’, the staging of a National Vision workshop and the coalition leaders’ trip to Uganda for a ‘Global 2009 Dialogue’ as illustrating unquestionable cohesion in government and the coalition partners’ commitment to the success of the transitional authority.

The broadcaster’s 59 stories on international relations were used to project the government as gaining the confidence of the international community and ‘expose’ the West’s concerns over slow reforms as unfounded and driven by its relentless ‘illegal’ regime-change agenda.

However, it ignored threats to government unity posed by continued human rights abuses; the MDC’s frustrations over what it perceives as selective prosecution of its MPs; President Mugabe’s unilateralism and his reluctance to equitably share power. In fact, the national broadcaster tried to depict Mugabe’s executive authority as undiluted by addressing him as ‘Head of State and Government and Commander-in-chief of the Defence Forces’ in at least 27 stories that cited him while remaining mum on the powers of his MDC-T government counterpart Morgan Tsvangirai. 

ZBC’s coverage of community development, which was the third most topical subject, was mostly premised on official activities. These comprised official donations and launches of various community projects and the inauguration of chiefs. None of the reports gave a coherent audit of the impact of the country’s economic collapse on these communities and the effectiveness of the authorities’ interventions.

In contrast, though the private radio stations carried far fewer stories than ZBC, they offered a critical perspective to the issues they covered.

For example, their 30 stories on the inclusive government cited analysts noting the problems plaguing the coalition since its inception, which they mainly traced to ZANU PF disdain for the global political agreement. They cited the party’s defence of Mugabe’s unilateral appointments of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and the Attorney General Johannes Tomana; its attempts to sabotage democratic constitutional reform; the seemingly selective prosecution of MDC MPs and persistent human rights violations against the party’s opponents.

In this light the analysts contended that unless these problems were fully addressed, the coalition’s attempts to mobilise much-needed budgetary support for its programmes would be futile as the donor community continued to insist on comprehensive democratic reforms as a precondition for aid.

The private radio stations carried 20 stories on human rights abuses as compared to six featured on ZBC. While ZBC unquestioningly reported on the court appearances of MDC MPs facing theft and public violence charges as normal, the private stations almost always presented these in the context of highlighting them as further evidence of the continued violations of the political agreement.

The private radio stations recorded six fresh incidents of rights abuses in their 20 stories on the issue. These included: 

·      The alleged intimidation of teachers by suspected ZANU PF supporters for threatening to boycott classes over poor pay

·      Alleged attacks on MDC-T activist Ebba Katiyo in Uzumba and the mother of another party official, Nqobizitha Mlilo, in Mvuma by suspected ZANU PF loyalists.    

·      The arrest of an unspecified number of members of the local human rights watchdog, Zimbabwe Restoration of Human Rights, for demonstrating against continued political violence;

·      The arrest of an MDC MP Stuart Garadhi for playing a song allegedly denigrating Mugabe, and

·      The sending of a bullet by unknown people to MDC-T Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

ZBC ignored these reports.

 

While ZBC presented indicators of the country’s socio-economic mess in isolation of the inclusive government’s interventions, the private stations reported these in the context of highlighting the mammoth task facing the coalition.

The stations’ 20 stories on constitutional reform provided a platform to the MDC and the civic society to express their objections to ZANU PF’s plans to impose the Kariba Draft – a compromise document negotiated by the three parties ahead of the 2008 elections – as the sole document of reference in rewriting a new constitution. In addition, they exposed (13/7) ZANU PF’s disruption of an All-Stakeholders Constitutional Conference convened to lay the groundwork for rewriting the country’s constitution.

Although ZBC (13&14/7, main bulletins) also reported on the same event, it deliberately avoided blaming ZANU PF for the chaos through false counter accusations of the MDC and civic society, which the broadcaster alleged were being used by the West to undermine the coalition government. 

Its stance simply conformed to its tendency to censor reports that reflected badly on the authorities, especially the ZANU PF component of government. These comprised:

·      The Progressive Teachers’ Association (PTUZ) demonstration over low salaries and the alleged harassment of its members by suspected ZANU PF militia (Studio 7 13/7).

·      Commercial farmer Ben Freeth’s criticism of government’s denial of continued farm invasions (SW Radio Africa 16/7).

·      Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s criticism of President Mugabe’s refusal to step down following last year’s elections (Studio 7, 17/7).

·      The refusal by Attorney General Johannes Tomana to release MDC-T official Roy Bennett’s passport to enable him to travel to South Africa (SW Radio Africa 20/7).

·      The murder of a white farmer Ran van Rensburg in Gweru by unknown assailants (SW Radio Africa 20/7).

·      Combined Harare Residents Association’s allegations of ‘rampant corruption’ within Harare City Council’s treasury (SW Radio Africa, 17/7).

·      PTUZ’s disapproval of the marginal salary increases for teachers (SW Radio Africa, 17/7).

·      High Court Judge Tedious Karwi’s ruling that the state should produce video evidence to support its allegations against several activists abducted last year over terrorism and banditry charges (20/7).

·      Amnesty International’s warning of alleged government plans for another round of mass evictions (Studio 7, 23/7).

·        The US based Foreign Policy Magazine’s ranking of Zimbabwe as the second most failed state after Somalia in its ‘Failed States Index’ of 2009 (SW Radio Africa 21/7).

·      The National Constitutional Assembly’s constitutional convention (Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa, 27/7)

·      The MDC-T’s parliamentary motion calling for an inquiry into the AG’s alleged abuse of the judicial system (Studio 7, 28/7)

·      The unbanning of The Daily News (SW Radio Africa, 31/7).

·      Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s meeting with SADC chairman and South African President during which he reportedly expressed his frustrations over ZANU PF’s violations of the political deal (SW Radio Africa, 31/7).

 

The difference between ZBC and private radios’ news coverage was mirrored by their sourcing patterns. As the graph below illustrates, while ZBC gave more space to government officials from the two main coalition partners, the MDC-T and ZANU PF, the private radios accommodated more alternative voices. These comprised civic organizations and independent individual analysts who were used to critically assess the state of the coalition and its policy pronouncements. While ZBC also had a significant number of alternative voices, these were mainly ZANU PF loyalists such as Chris Mustvangwa and Goodson Nguni masquerading as analysts.

In fact, though ZBC’s sourcing pattern appeared diverse, there was barely divergent debate on various issues as most of the sources were used to reinforce the broadcaster’s editorial slant.

For instance, while it appeared to have cited more MDC-T voices compared to other parties, they were used in light of reinforcing the broadcaster’s stance that the coalition was solid and working smoothly. The party’s concerns over the prolonged failure to resolve outstanding issues under the political agreement were only mentioned in the context of dismissing them.

Conversely, ZANU PF and President Mugabe’s voices were not only used to bolster the notion of unity, but were also allowed to express the party’s position on various government issues.

The MDC-T and its leader got favourable coverage in the private stations, which gave the party more space almost to the exclusion of other coalition partners.  

 

 

ZBC also aired more current affairs programmes as compared to the private radios. Most of these appeared on ZTV, and unlike the blatant partisan news content of the broadcaster, these generally offered a diversified and more measured assessment of the country’s political and socio-economic evolution.

 These comprised:

Murimi Wanhasi (Wednesday 6.30mpm – 7pm)

Melting Pot (Tuesday 7 – 7.30pm)

Face the Nation (Tuesday 9.30 – 10.30pm)

Media Watch (Monday 6.30pm – 7pm)

Nation Builders (Wednesday 5pm – 7.30pm)

The Legislator (Thursday 7pm -7.30pm)

Talking business with Supa (Thursday 9pm – 9.30m)

Behind The Camera (Wednesday 10.30m pm – 11pm)

Talking Farming (Saturday 6.30pm – 7.30pm)

Madzindza (Saturday 9pm -9.30 pm)

 

The diversified nature of ZTV’s current affairs programmes is exemplified in Fig 3.

 

 Fig. 3 ZTV Current Affairs Programme

Programme	Date and Time	Topic	Panelists	Analysis
Melting Pot	14/7 19:00-19:30	US President Barack Obama`s speech to the Ghanaian parliament.	Christopher Mutsvangwa and Obadiah Mazombwe	The programme, which discusses political issues, masqueraded the two pro-ZANU PF panelists to rubbish Obama’s statements calling for the democratization of Africa and amplify   ZANU PF’s anti-West position.
Face the Nation	14/7 21:30-22:00	Follow up to the investment indaba	Oswell Binha (vice president of Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce)	It critically assessed the country’s economic crisis and discussed ways of improving investor confidence.
Madzinza	15/7 19:00-19:30	The First Chimurenga	Aeneas Chigwedere (ZANU PF Mashonaland East governor presented as a historian)	The programme, which normally discusses genealogies of Zimbabweans, was used to whip up nationalism emotions and reinforce ZANU PF’s mantra on its role in the liberation struggle.
The Legislator	23/7 19.00-19.30	The role of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals	Chairperson of Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals MDC-T MP Lawrence Mavhima and committee member MDC-T MP Takalani Matibe a committee member	It provided useful insights into the workings of the committee in question.
Media Watch	27/7 19:00-19:30	Critique of media coverage of issues.	Dr Maxwell Hove presented as political and media analyst.	Although the programme is supposed to examine the media’s coverage of topical issues has often been used to attack ZANU PF critics. In this episode Hove was allowed to endorse ZANU PF’s plans to impose the Kariba Draft.
Talking Farming	12/7 19:00-19:30	Discussion on the types of organic fertilizers.	Tinashe Chimedza and Mathias Ndlovu from Latkin Agro suppliers.	The programme, which was launched to promote government’s land reforms, basically equips newly resettled farmers with farming techniques.

 

ZBC’s Spot FM devoted 45 minutes every working day (Monday to Friday) between 9.15am and 10am to STERP, to assess the new government activities. However, almost all the programmes turned out to be bland public relations platforms for the coalition that lacked critical examination of its programmes.

And as has become the norm ahead of the country’s annual Heroes Day commemorations, the station punctuated its programming with Heroes/National Events slots every Monday to Friday between 10 am and 2pm and in the evening between 6pm and 10pm. The programmes profiled the lives and contributions of the late nationalists to the country’s struggle for independence. 

In contrast, SW Radio Africa’s current affairs programmes provided an analytical perspective to topical subjects throughout the week. The programmes were in the form of interviews with public figures, articles by its analysts on the situation in Zimbabwe and an analysis of topical subjects.

Below is the station’s current affairs programmes schedule:

Rules for the Rulers and Letter from America (Monday 6.30pm – 7pm)

Diaspora Diaries and Different Points (Tuesday 6.30 pm – 7pm)

Hidden Story (Wednesday 6.30pm – 7pm)

Heart of the matter and Behind the Headlines (Thursday 6.30 – 7pm)

Hot Seat and Letter from Zimbabwe (Friday 6.30 pm – 7pm)

Health Beat and Rebuilding Zimbabwe (Saturday)

On the Pulse (Sunday)