Weekly Media Update 2008-38

The government-controlled media’s distorted reporting of the authorities’ decision to ban the visit by three members of the internationally respected Elders group once again exposed the extreme paranoia that exists among Zimbabwe’s ruling elite – and their evident state of denial about the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis.
These media initially attempted to ignore the Elders’ visit to assess the various catastrophes engulfing the country and to suggest ways of mobilizing international assistance. But when it appeared to be an imminent reality the government media portrayed the visit as a subversive Western “plot” to “rescue the MDC-T” and provide an excuse for international intervention through the UN.
Consumers of the government media first heard about the intended visit only in the context of the government’s decision to defer “the visit to a later date” because the authorities were too busy with the SADC-sponsored power-sharing talks with the MDC and with preparations for the present cropping season.
The Herald (20/11) then inserted its own unfounded editorial conspiracy theory by quoting an unnamed source describing the group, comprising former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter and former Mozambican First lady Graca Machel, as a “clique” whose mission was a “planned rescue package to MDC-T in its efforts to divert current SADC initiatives for a political resolution and make the issue a crisis that warrants the intervention of the United Nations Security Council”.
Such professional dishonesty found further expression in The Sunday Mail story (23/11) headlined, Annan aborts Zim visit.
Apart from brazenly distorting the fact that the Elders’ failure to visit Zimbabwe was due to government’s refusal to issue them with visas, the paper expanded on The Herald’s unsubstantiated conspiracy theory by quoting another unnamed “political commentator” describing the visit as a “political mission and not a humanitarian mission”.
ZBC stations (23/11) adopted a similar trend, thus depriving Zimbabweans relying on these media of any honest – or even accurate – coverage.
Only the private media provided contemporary and informative stories of the diplomatic incident whose coverage spilled into the week beyond this review.
 
But the private media weren’t so effective in their coverage of two other stories during the week that should have attracted greater attention than they did.
While the government media provided prominent coverage of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono’s decision to act against banks and individuals’ allegedly fraudulent trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZBC, 20/11 and the official dailies, 21/11), they provided no information beyond Gono’s pronouncements. As a result, there was no simple analysis to give the ordinary man-in-the-street a clear idea of what was going on and how it would affect them.
The private media also didn’t bother to explain what had apparently led to the greatest crash in the value of shares in the history of the stock market, or how it would affect ordinary investors seeking financial security against Zimbabwe’s frightening hyperinflation.
In this regard all the media failed to address the concerns of ordinary Zimbabweans, confining their reports to the language of the financial sector or to Gono’s statement. Not even the affected banks were accessed for comment.
Worse still, the private media all but ignored the extraordinary bombing of CID headquarters at Morris Depot and another mysterious blast at Harare Central police station. While The Herald (19 & 22/11) reported these attacks, it carried nothing more than terse official confirmations and the fact that a similar bombing at Harare Central in August still remained unsolved.
Of the private media, only New Zimbabwe.com (19/11) and the Zimbabwe Times (21/11) reported these bizarre assaults on the very heart of Zimbabwe’s law enforcement agencies but barely went beyond police statements.
Notably, the government media have so far desisted from propagating any false conspiracy theories blaming the MDC, as has been their habit in the past. But such total lack of information about a motive for these attacks has, no doubt, given rise to intense public speculation.
 
The government and private Press
The stalemate over the SADC-sponsored power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe’s main political parties and the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country continued to receive the lion’s share of the media coverage this week.
See Fig. 1.
Fig 1: Topical news distribution in the Press
Publication
Political deal
Health & cholera
Food security

Political violence

The Herald

12
7
3
0

Chronicle

12
10
2
0

The Manica Post
2
0
2
3

The Sunday Mail
0
1
1
0

Sunday News
0
4
3
0

The Financial Gazette
8
0
0
1

The Zimbabwean
18
7
6
4

Zimbabwe Independent
9
3
2
1

The Standard
2
4
3
2

Total
63
36
22
11
 
 
However, news of growing regional and international frustration and concern over these crises were distorted in the government media, which attempted to portray them as hypocritical and part of the West’s regime-change machinations.
For example, The Herald (17 & 19/11) portrayed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s visit to Europe in search of humanitarian assistance as a Western plot to prolong the deadlock in the power-sharing talks that would intensify the nation’s suffering and encourage the collapse of the Mugabe government. But there was no evidence to support this allegation.
Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru (22/11) also used the trip to buttress government’s rhetoric that Tsvangirai was the architect of Zimbabwe’s suffering by misleadingly interpreting reports of him telling the EU that Zimbabwe “no longer needs more sanctions; it needs humanitarian assistance” to mean that the MDC leader had finally seen the devastating effects of the sanctions he had allegedly campaigned for.
 
The government Press also confined itself to official explanations why ZANU PF had unilaterally submitted its own version of Constitutional Amendment Number 19 without consulting the other parties, in apparent violation of the spirit of the agreement.
There was little change in the way these papers presented other important issues, such as the devastating cholera epidemic and worsening food shortages.
They masked the real causes of these calamities, downplayed their impact on Zimbabweans and exaggerated the authorities’ efforts to resolve them.
The official Press also carried three stories on political violence and human rights violations, including one incident reported in The Manica Post (21/11) that involved the alleged fatal shooting by police of an undisclosed number of illegal diamond miners in Chiadzwa over an unspecified period.
However, the paper did not view the case as a rights violation. Instead, it justified the police shootings on the basis that they were meant to “return normalcy” to Chiadzwa and that most of the victims had “violently” resisted arrest, an argument echoed by Manheru in The Herald the next day.   
 
In contrast the private Press provided more credible and informative coverage of these issues, particularly government’s refusal to allow the group of Elders into the country to assess the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
The papers also reported Zimbabwe’s political and socio-economic crises as threatening regional stability by citing the spread of the cholera epidemic into South Africa as an example.
The Standard (23/11) captured the gravity of the cholera outbreak when it quoted Health Minister David Parirenyatwa admitting that the disease could not be brought under control without reliable supplies of clean water and that more people had died from the disease (281) than had been officially admitted.
The private Press carried eight reports on political violence and other rights violations, among them two new incidents, including the alleged killing by the police of more than 50 illegal diamond prospectors in Chiadzwa since August. Only the private Press reported the violent dispersal by the police of peaceful medical workers in Harare protesting the collapse of the health delivery system.
 
 
Fig 2: Voice distribution in the Press
Publication
Govt
ZANU PF
MDC
Alternative
Foreign diplomats
Ordinary people

The Herald
12
1
6
5
2
3

Chronicle
9
0
9
6
2
3

The Sunday Mail
5
0
0
0
1
0

The Manica Post
7
1
0
0
0
2

Sunday News
5
0
0
2
2
0

The Financial Gazette
5
0
5
3
1
0

The Zimbabwean
0
0
5
10
6
9

Zimbabwe Independent
1
0
1
5
3
1

The Standard
3
1
1
8
5
3
 
 
ZBC and the private radio stations
The country’s worsening political and socio-economic crises was reflected in the number of stories ZBC and the private radio stations allocated to them in their bulletins. See Fig 1.
 
Fig 1: Topical stories on ZBC and private stations
Station
Political deal
Health & cholera
Food security
Political violence
ZTV
4
9
15
0
Spot FM
4
7
12
0
Radio Zimbabwe
5
3
5
0
SW Radio Africa
4
1
4
7
Studio 7
6
5
6
1
Total
23
25
42
8
 
The private stations reported clearly on the impact of the political and humanitarian crises affecting the country and generally ascribed them to incompetent governance or ZANU PF’s intransigence.
In contrast the national public broadcaster, ZBC, simply confined its reports to official rhetoric that either blamed the MDC and others outside of government, or projected the authorities as being in control.
For example, ZBC continued to narrowly amplify ZANU PF’s projection of the Tsvangirai-led MDC as the sole cause of the delays in the formation of the planned inclusive government without examining ZANU PF’s culpability.
ZTV (17 &18/11, 8pm), for example, simply reinforced ZANU PF’s position by selectively quoting members of the public and pro-government commentators to attackthe MDC-T for “inconsistency and delaying tactics, which are stalling the formation of an inclusive government.”
No comment was sought from the MDC-T. 
In this light ZBC (18/11, 8pm) presented ZANU PF’s unilateral drafting of Constitutional Amendment No.19 as a normal process of government rather than a violation of the political agreement that calls for consultation between the negotiating parties.
ZBC’s unquestioning coverage of official positions manifested itself in its failure (17&18/11, 8pm) to reconcile public health officials’ claims that “cases of cholera were declining” in Budiriroowing to an “improvement” in the supply of safe drinking water with Health Minister David Parirenyatwa’s admission that government was “battling to control the outbreak”.
Although the broadcaster allocated significant airtime to stories about the country’s agriculture and food security, these merely projected preparations for the current farming season as being on course.
Apart from interpreting ZANU PF’s unilateral drafting of the Constitutional Amendment No. 19 Bill as representing another hindrance to the implementation of the power-sharing deal, the private radio stations reported on international frustration over delays in the formation of an inclusive government. These included reports that South Africa had withheld its R300 million aid package for Zimbabwe until an inclusive government was in place (SW Radio Africa 20/11) and that Botswana had declared that it would not recognise the legitimacy of President Mugabe if the political deal collapsed (SW Radio Africa, 17/11).
The stations also reported on the extent of the cholera epidemic. Studio 7 (19/11) for example, quoted local and international relief agencies describing the health situation in Zimbabwe as “catastrophic” and calling on the international community to “provide urgent assistance” (Studio 7, 17/11).
And while ZBC largely ignored the occurrence of political violence and other rights violations, the private stations carried reports of three new incidents in eight stories.
These included the violent dispersal of protesting health workers in Harare, the arrest of a National Constitutional Assembly official in Mutare, and the assault of over 70 Dangamvura residents by soldiers.
Fig 2: Voice distribution on ZBC and private radio stations
Station
Govt
ZANU PF
MDC
Alternative
Foreign diplomats
Ordinary people
ZTV
6
0
0
0
0
24
Spot FM
13
1
0
9
1
0
Radio Zimbabwe
10
0
3
4
0
0
Studio 7
1
2
4
12
1
2
SW Radio Africa
1
0
5
4
4
0
 
Online news agencies
The online agencies also gave more publicity to the country’s political, health and food crises. See Fig. 3.
Fig 3: Topical stories in the Online news agencies
Agency
Political deal
Health & cholera
Food security
Political violence
ZimOnline
4
3
4
2
The Zimbabwe Times
4
5
7
2
New Zimbabwe.com
7
4
4
0
Zimdaily
4
1
3
1
Total
19
13
18
5
 
Like other private media, they blamed ZANU PF authorities for the country’s calamities and highlighted regional frustrations over the prolonged deal deadlock.
The Zimbabwe Times (21/11), for example, reported the South African government as having “lambasted” Zimbabwe’s political parties for failing to conclude the power sharing talks, arguing that the delay was worsening the humanitarian catastrophe in the country.
They also highlighted the ravages of the cholera outbreak, which they reported had spread into South Africa where it had killed three people and caused the hospitalisation of about 123, most of whom were Zimbabwean cross-border traders.
In addition, they recorded similar incidents of rights violations as those in the other private media.
Fig 4: Online agencies - Voice distribution
Agency
Govt
ZANU PF
MDC
Alternative
Foreign diplomats
ZRP
ZimOnline
 
2
7
2
0
1
The Zimbabwe Times
3
2
7
6
12
1
New Zimbabwe.com
0
1
5
1
7
0
Zimdaily
2
0
3
0
2
1
 
What they said…
“We are concerned about the unavailability of water and as the minister responsible for Health I am very scared, especially during this rainy season”– Health Minister David Parirenyatwa implicitly admitting that government was battling to control the cholera epidemic. The Standard (23/11).
 
“Any other draft existing anywhere on earth, in heaven or in hell can only be an opinion that can only find relevance at an appropriate stage. No one will hamstring government from discharging its constitutional role” – Information Secretary George Charamba justifying the ZANU PF government’s unilateral drafting of Constitutional Amendment No.19 Bill. The Herald (21/11).
 
“He (Kofi Annan) is trying to ride on the back of a well-meaning lady (Graca Machel) who is the first lady of two presidents of the region”, ZANU PF official Chris Mutsvangwa on the Elders’ aborted visit to Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Times (23/11) citing an Al Jazeera report.
 

Ends 

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