Weekly Media update 2005 - 11

ZBH censored news that the newly established Electoral Court had nullified the nomination of candidates for the constituency and ordered the Nomination Court to re-sit on April 4 to enable the incarcerated Bennett to submit his papers. The court ruled that Bennett was entitled to stand in the election because his case does not “constitute a criminal conviction”. This appeared in The Daily Mirror, The Herald (16/3) and Studio 7 (15/3). However, The Herald report did not give much detail of the ruling.

ZBH (16/3, 8pm) audiences only heard reference to the matter through President Mugabe’s response during his campaign rally in Chipinge. Even then, there was no attempt to properly inform ZBH’s audiences on the case. 

 

Instead, ZTV (16/3, 8pm) only reported President Mugabe as having told his supporters that the country could not be “held at ransom by an imprisoned man”, following ZANU PF activists’ concerns over the ruling. It censored his attack on the judgment, which he described as “madness”, and his calls to his supporters in Chimanimani to continue campaigning “as if nothing has happened” (the Chronicle, 17/3).

The broadcaster and the dailies failed to explore the effects of President Mugabe’s attack on the judgment, particularly its implications on the independence of the judiciary.

It was only the Zimbabwe Independent that sought comment from independent commentators, who viewed Mugabe’s statements as yet another example of the executive’s threat to the independence of the judiciary.

 

For instance, the Independent quoted MDC official Tendai Biti saying while “legitimate criticism of judgments is essential” President Mugabe’s statements were an “indecent assault on the judiciary” and contemptuous of the court.

But while the government media failed to carry any analysis of Mugabe’s statements, the private Press were equally guilty of ignoring the Supreme Court endorsement of repressive provisions in the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act that had been challenged by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the banned Daily News. Inexplicably, none of the papers analysed the judgment, which entrenches the seriously negative restrictions on their operations and undermines Press freedom in the country.

Meanwhile, SW Radio Africa’s original frequencies are still being deliberately jammed.

 

 

 

 

ALTHOUGH ZBH (ZTV, Spot FM, Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM) featured ZANU PF and opposition parties in its election programmes, its news coverage of the parties’ campaigns continued to favour ZANU PF.

For example, of 120 stories ZBH carried on campaigns, 99 (83%) were on ZANU PF, 19 (16%) were on the MDC and the remaining two (1%) on Zanu (Ndonga) as shown in Fig.1.

 

Notably, the two reports on Zanu (Ndonga) were used to reinforce government’s sanitisation of the electoral process. The party’s candidate for Mufakose was only quoted hailing the electoral environment and not discussing his party’s manifesto.

While reports on the MDC were largely neutral, there was no attempt to give estimates of attendances at the party’s rallies. For instance, ZTV mainly used close-up shots of the party leadership and their supporters and rarely gave a full view to indicate the size of the crowd in its footage. ZBH invariably used “thousands” and “hundreds” to describe the attendance at ZANU PF rallies and ZTV showed footage of the crowds.

 

ZBH’s partisan coverage of campaigns was also reflected in the time ZTV allocated to the contesting parties in its bulletins (7am, 6pm and 8pm). Of the two hours and 43 minutes the station devoted to campaigns in its bulletins, two hours and three minutes (86%) were allocated to ZANU PF, 18 minutes and 45 seconds (13%) to the MDC and just one minute and 15 seconds (1%) to Zanu (Ndonga).

Despite enjoying unparalleled access to the station’s news bulletins, the ruling party also used musical galas - broadcast live on ZTV from Saturday (19/3) 4pm to early Sunday (20/3) morning - disguised as national events to celebrate the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as vice-president and unity and patriotism among Zimbabwean youths.

The stage background was plastered with ZANU PF messages and the ruling party’s youth wing led by Savious Kasukuwere sloganeered on stage while dancing to the party’s campaign songs by ZANU PF political commissar Elliot Manyika.

The government-controlled Press was no different.

 

Out of the 64 campaign stories in these papers (The Herald, Chronicle, Sunday Mail, Sunday News and The Manica Post), 52 (81%) were on ZANU PF, 11 (17%) on the MDC and only one story (2%) on independent candidates. Smaller opposition parties were not covered.

Notably, eight of the 11 stories carried by these newspapers portrayed the opposition party in a negative light while the rest were neutral. Even then, their neutral reports on the MDC were mainly placed deep inside the papers as exemplified by The Manica Post article, “Live responsibly-Gonese”, which was an MDC campaign story buried in the paper’s business section.

 

In contrast, ZANU PF campaigns received glowing coverage in all the 52 stories the government Press carried on them. For example, 10 of the 52 stories echoed ZANU PF’s promises to distribute food to those facing food shortages without analysing the implications of such action in relation to the pending elections.

Neither did they reconcile this admission of food scarcity in the country by the authorities to last year’s stern denials of such shortages by President Mugabe.

 

A critical approach to the issue was only adopted by the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent (18/3), which interpreted ZANU PF’s promises of food to hungry Zimbabweans as a food-for-votes tactic. But while The Daily Mirror of the same day reported that ZANU PF candidate for Shamva, Nicholas Goche, had donated 10 tonnes of maize at a rally in his constituency, the paper, like the government Press, failed to explore the irregular nature of such a move in the context of the election.

Nevertheless, the paper, and indeed other private papers, was more balanced in their handling of campaign activities. These papers carried 49 stories on the issue. Twenty-six were on ZANU PF campaigns, 15 on the MDC and two on independents. Smaller opposition parties were ignored while the rest of the stories (6) were general campaign stories.

 

Notably, 42 of the 49 stories the private media carried on the political parties’ campaigns were published in the Daily Mirror whose Election Watch column continues to provide a useful and non-partisan daily round-up of the election campaigns events around the country. The rest of the stories, though mostly critical of some of the ZANU PF policies, were fairly presented.

Similarly, Studio 7 tried to balance its coverage by carrying profiles of five ZANU PF candidates and the same number from the MDC. It also carried two profiles of independent candidates for St Mary’s and Mutare Central. All candidates were given a platform to express the policies of their parties and themselves.

Studio 7 also reported on one ZANU PF rally and one campaign event for Zanu (Ndonga).

 

The professional manner in which the private media handled the campaigns was also illustrated by the sourcing pattern in the private Press. See Fig 2.

 

 

 

While the private papers tried to balance the opinions of the main political parties in their stories, the government Press flagrantly disregarded this professional principle in their stories as illustrated in Fig 3.

 

 

 

 

THE government media’s uncritical coverage of the electoral process continued during the week. This manifested itself in 48 reports ZBH carried on the issue and 27 stories the government Press featured on the matter.

These media simplistically tried to legitimise the electoral process by celebrating the progress that Zimbabwe has allegedly made in complying with the SADC guidelines on democratic elections.

 

As a result, they failed to go beyond official pronouncements by openly discussing problems besetting the country’s electoral framework. For instance, ZTV (16/3, 8pm) merely reported that among 147 local and regional observers that had been accredited were representatives of the Zimbabwe Dairy Processing Association and the Zimbabwe National Drivers Union without discussing the background of such organisations, or indeed, why these organisations were being accredited.

Neither did the station follow-up government’s announcement that it would accredit between 8,000 and 9,000 observers by discussing whether the number would be sufficient.

 

Similarly, ZBH failed to question the authorities’ reasons for excluding the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in the observation of the election. Instead, ZTV (15/3) passively quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as having said the country’s largest labour body would not be accredited because it has “already shown bias and preconceived ideas about the outcome of the elections.”

The government Press unquestioningly reported on the matter too.In addition, The Herald and Chronicle (15/3) passively gave prominence to the South African government observer team’s “satisfaction” with the election preparations after what the head of the team, Membathisi Mdladlana, declared was a “very encouraging and informative briefing” from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

The two papers did not specify the nature of the briefing or reconcile it with the views of other stakeholders in the poll.

 

Neither did they analyse the effects of the Supreme Court ruling barring those in the diaspora from voting, nor discuss the distribution of polling stations.

The continuing discontent from the opposition, civic society and other observers with the electoral process was only recorded in the private Press, which devoted 19 stories to the administrative issues of the polls. For example, only readers of The Financial Gazette (17/3) and the Zimbabwe Independent (18/3) learnt about political and civic organisations’ displeasure with President Mugabe’s criticism of the ruling in the case involving MDC MP Roy Bennett and the MDC’s outrage at Mdladlana’s prediction that the elections would be “smooth” soon after meeting President Mugabe.

 

Studio 7 also raised similar issues in its 13 stories on the electoral process.

However, just like the government media, the station failed to analyze issues pertaining to the number of polling stations and their location. 

 

 

ZBH’S attempts to present a peaceful electoral environment ahead of the elections remained unbroken during the week. The government-controlled broadcaster carried 15 stories relating to political violence all of which claimed the country’s electoral environment was peaceful and conducive to a free and fair election.

 

But while ZBH continued to give the impression that the campaign period was peaceful, the Press carried 11 incidents of political violence, seven of which were in the government papers while the remaining four appeared in the private Press.

MDC activists were named as the perpetrators of the violence while ZANU PF supporters were identified as the victims in six of the cases the government Press carried.

Only in one incident did the government Press identify the MDC as the victim and ZANU PF as the aggressor. The police were the sources of information in all the incidents of politically motivated violence the papers published.

 

On the other hand, the private Press identified the MDC as the victim of violent ZANU PF activists and police harassment in three cases. The remaining story blamed the MDC of perpetrating violence against ZANU PF. Three of the incidents of politically motivated violence (two committed by ZANU PF and the other by the MDC) published in the private papers were sourced from the police. The remainder, a case of rights abuse stemming from the police barring MDC meetings, was based on a letter from the police informing the party about the decision.

 

Studio 7 also carried four incidents of violence, harassment and intimidation of opposition supporters and members of civic society. Two of its stories however, had appeared earlier in The Standard. These were on the assault of 50 MDC supporters by war veterans in the Manyame constituency and the razing of a church suspected to be linked to an MDC candidate for Marondera.  

The remaining two reports were on the questioning of NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku by the police over his organisation’s report on political violence and the declaration by ZANU PF activists that Bindura and Marondera were ‘no-go areas’ for the opposition.

The station balanced the MDC’s allegations with comments from ZANU PF and the police.

Ends.