Media & freedom of expression

MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWE

MEDIA UPDATE # 2001/19 Monday 7 May to Sunday 14 May 2001

2001-05-21, Issue 22

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/1075

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Media inadequately covered the Masvingo mayoral elections. The Zimbabwe Independent and The Zimbabwe Mirror (11/5) had no story on the event while The Daily News and The Financial Gazette failed to inform its readers about important electoral issues. However, the Daily News provided the most comprehensive and impartial coverage of the pre-election violence. The state media put on a partisan performance, preferring to urge the public to vote Zanu PF. This message was supported by the prominent coverage given to alleged defections from the MDC to Zanu PF.


1. MASVINGO MAYORAL ELECTION

In an election, media coverage would have information that would
enable voters to make informed decisions about who to vote for.
The public broadcaster, ZBC, should provide opportunities for
candidates to publicly express their policies and to interact with
the public and/ or journalists, where possible. However, this was
glaringly missing.
Of the paltry 13 articles on the elections in the mainstream public
and private press, coverage concentrated on the pre-poll violence at
the expense of the other critical electoral issues such a monitoring.


MMPZ statistics on coverage in the two dailies show that in The
Herald of the six stories covered and the 13 voices quoted on
campaigns, five voices (38%) favoured Zanu PF, three voices (23%)
were from the police, two voices (15%) were from government. The
single voice from the MDC was denying allegations from Zanu PF
that an MDC rally had flopped.
In The Daily News, of the four stories reported and the fifteen voices
quoted eight (53%) were MDC, three voices each (20%) were
accorded to Zanu PF and the police, while the remaining one voice
belonged to a professional.
Of all media, only The Financial Gazette quoted an independent
candidate in a week where it predominantly quoted the MDC (five
voices (50%). Zanu PF, the police and residents were quoted once.
On radio 1, 19 stories were about the mayoral election campaign.
9 voices were Zanu PF, three were of MDC and 11 of the voices
were unidentified. On radio 2 there were only four stories on
mayoral elections. Three favoured Zanu PF.
On ZBCTV, out of the 34 voices given to election campaign, 17 or
50% were of Zanu PF, and the remaining 50% were equally divided
between the MDC, Masvingo residents and polling agents. As in
The Herald, the voice of the MDC was quoted only denying
allegations made by Zanu PF’s supporters that MDC was
perpertrating political violence. Only once did ZBCTV refer to an
MDC rally, in a 15 sec piece which stated that the rally flopped.
All state media were guilty of political advertising for the ruling party
to which they gave pre-rally publicity. The Herald (10/5), ZBC (radio-
10/5 and 11/5 morning bulletins), carried updates on the progress
of the ruling party campaigns.
Details on the MDC rallies only emerged in the private press. The
Financial Gazette (10/5), for instance, reported that “… the ZANU
PF dominated Masvingo town council … denied the MDC
permission at the last minute to use Mucheke stadium for a
campaign meeting on the pretext that a soccer match was to be
played there later that afternoon.”

VOTING
Only on voting day did the ZBC audience meet one of the
opposition candidates where on ZBCTV’s 8pm (8/5), MDC Chaimiti
was quoted expressing confidence that he would win.
All weekend media reported that the voter turnout was low. MDC
was again quoted in a negative context when MP Silas Mangono
refuted Zanu PF supporter allegations that MDC had fiddled with
the voters roll to ensure that Zanu PF did not vote (13/5, ZBCTV,
8pm).


2. POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Reports of political violence were minimal and partial in the state-
owned media. Predictably, the weeklies carried few articles on
political violence.
It is important to compare the two stories on this rally that
appeared in the privately and state owned media.
The Herald (11/5) and – in an attempt to highlight ZANU PF’s
“unbridled support” (Herald Editorial.) carried a front-page article
which stated that thousands of people attended ZANU PF rallies
and that the town had closed down. ZBC (ZBCTV, 11/5, 8pm) in a
lengthy six minute report in which it quoted all six Zanu PF officials
reported that none of the people could fit into the hall.
The Daily News (10/5) took a different angle. It reported that
“Business came to a virtual standstill … after ZANU PF
supporters ordered the closure of the town to force residents to
attend mayoral campaign rallies addressed by Vice Presidents
Muzenda and Joseph Msika.”

There were only two reports on political violence on ZBC. All of
these implicated the MDC.
Both The Daily News and The Financial Gazette provided
substantial evidence on the violence perpetrated by war veterans.
The state-owned media did not subject the role of war veterans in
the political violence to any scrutiny. In fact, war veterans were
presented as victims of MDC perpetrated violence (The Herald 9/5) -
a point reinforced in an editorial comment MDC: Violence doesn’t
pay.
In addition, The Herald carried only four reports of violence in the
week compared to 13 in The Daily News. Only one company
invasion by war vets was reported (The Herald 7/5) in which an
Affirmative Action Group official was quoted justifying the action. Of
the other three political violence reports, two blamed the MDC, a
point reinforced in an editorial comment (The Herald 11/5), and the
other was on ZANU PF intra-party political violence. In contrast,
The Daily News carried 13 political violence articles, including five
on company invasions. Both ZANU PF and MDC were accused of
the pre-poll violence in Masvingo, with The Daily News highlighting
the partiality of the police. The private press subjected the partiality
of the police to scrutiny, quoting both MDC and police officials who
confirmed selective prosecution.
Both MDC and ZANU PF were accorded space to comment on the
political violence although in the Daily News the MDC voice
outnumbered that of the police and Zanu PF (10 voices to three
each). The Herald quoted four Zanu PF voices versus none of the
MDC and three of the police.

There were contradictory statements in the private and state-owned
media.
The Herald (8/5) and the ZBC reported that seven MDC youths had
been arrested for political violence, and quoted police
spokesperson Bothwell Mugariri who confirmed the arrests. The
Daily News (7/5) reported that both MDC and ZANU PF youths had
been arrested for violence, corroborating its reports with quotes
from both MDC and ZANU PF officials.

The Financial Gazette (10/5) reported of a blitz on Masvingo MDC
leaders, also highlighted the role of the war veterans in the pre-poll
violence.

The police in Masvingo was reported to have refused to talk to the
Daily News. MMPZ notes with concern the increasing number of
incidents in which the police have refused to avail information to
The Daily News. The police refusal to divulge information to some
sections of the press is antithetical to the principles of freedom of
information.

The Financial Gazette (10/5) story quoting Minister Jonathan
Moyo as saying that President Mugabe would not stop company
raids formed the basis of Minister Moyo’s attack on the private
press in The Herald (11/5) in which he said
“There now appears to be a pattern that has developed within the
oppositional press to deliberately twist, distort, misrepresent and
falsify news and information for political purposes at the expense of
the public’s right to know, and at the expense of the interests of
professional and ethical journalism”.
The denial was also quoted in the electronic media on 10/5 8pm
bulletins.

Politically motivated attacks on company were ignored in the
electronic media. The assault on a Danish envoy only came to light
in the form of a government response in parliament to MDC queries
(9/5 8pm television)

The Standard (13/5) reported that suspected Chief Chiweshe
attackers had been beaten, relying solely on the victim for
comment. The paper also reported that SOS offices had been
closed after war veterans had invaded offices.
The Sunday Mail (13/5) did not have a single article on political
violence.


3. JUDICIAL MATTERS

(a) MDC COURT CHALLENGES

The MDC court challenges received substantial media coverage.
However selective reporting and bias was reflected in both the state
media and The Daily News. The state media reported that the MP
Chiyangwa had retained his Chinhoyi seat but ignored that Zvobgo
had lost his application (ZBC, 9/5).
The Daily News (10/5) underplayed Philip Chiyangwa’s court
victory in an article headlined High Court dismisses Zvobgo’s
application as Chiyangwa wins in which Chiyangwa’s victory was
only reported in the 15th paragraph.
Only The Daily News (12/5) reported that a deal had been struck
between MDC’s Zachariah Rioga and ZANU PF’s Eddison Zvobgo
to drop the election petition for Masvingo South, and instead join
hands to work against political violence in the constituency. The
article however begged for more comment from the MDC
leadership.

The state-owned media, reported that MDC Zaka West candidate
had withdrawn his petition after defecting to Zanu PF (The Herald
9/5). ZBC however highlighted the defection where Musimuki was
quoted at length on ZBCTV (3 mins 30sec) attacking the MDC (8/5,
8pm) at the expense of the real story; the electoral petition
withdrawal.
The Daily News ignored the development altogether while The
Herald (9/5) quoted ZANU PF secretary for administration
Emmerson Mnangagwa who attacked the MDC, but did not quote
MDC. The Financial Gazette (10/5) and belatedly in The Daily
News (12/5) quoted MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe as saying
Musimuki had tried to extort money from the MDC. The Financial
Gazette (9/5) added that Musimuki had been offered a job as a
headmaster and Z$ 800 000 by ZANU PF.

If, initially the defections to Zanu PF were newsworthy, they now no
longer are. However, the ZBC continues to give prominence to
uncorroborated reports about defections. On the 10th, MDC youths
from Bindura were reported to have defected to Zanu PF. On the
11th the MDC youths who attacked and stoned President Mugabe’s
Highfields home during the June elections as well as Dr Hunzvi’s
surgery and Bikita and Mutoko also defected. There was no
information on the state of individuals who were arrested in
connection with the cases. Neither was there a comment from the
police on whether they would be charged or not.


(b) RESIGNATION OF JUSTICE DEVITTE

Reporting in the state media were at variance with each other.
While the ZBC merely announced that resignation of Devitte (8/5
ZBC, am bulletins); The Herald (8/5) speculated at length on the
resignation quoting unnamed legal analysts but not Justice Devitte
himself.
The report linked the resignation to the nullification of June Election
results in three constituencies and speculated that the Judge had
been “… offered a job and permanent residence status “possibly”
in Australia”. The article also quoted another unnamed legal
analyst who dismissed the resignation:
It does not make sense to sentence someone to the
gallows and then leave the country the next day.
Some of these judges are making political
judgements as part of building their CVs and not
for the promotion of justice.

Ends

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