MMPZ WEEKLY MEDIA UPDATE No3
JANUARY 21ST – January 27th 2002

1. ANNOUNCEMENT

Beginning this week, MMPZ will only provide a summary of the
issues covered. We hope this change will overcome some of
the problems some of you have had in receiving large emails.
The detailed report can be accessed at our website-
http://www.icon.co.zw/mmpz { HYPERLINK "http://www.icon.co.zw/mmpz" }We
welcome your feedback.

2. GENERAL COMMENT

The government-owned media’s overwhelming bias in favour of
the ruling party, including the flagrant omission of a crucially
important High Court ruling that overturned a government
decree by ordering the Registrar-General’s office to prepare a
common voters’ roll that would allow the electorate to cast their
vote anywhere in the country in the upcoming presidential
election. ZBC and the state-owned Zimpapers group continued
to exclude the activities of the opposition MDC from their
bulletins and news pages except for reports implicating the
MDC and its supporters in allegedly illegal or unpatriotic
activities.

3. POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Despite concerted efforts by the public media to give the
impression that there had been a marked decrease in the
incidences of politically motivated violence, five new murders
were reported during the week, although the state media only
reported two of them.
The private Press reported three, all of them said to be MDC
supporters, allegedly the victims of groups belonging to the
ruling party. The Herald (22/1) reported two murders following
clashes between rival political party supporters in Bikita
district, neither of them the same as those reported in the
private Press. One of the victims was said to be a ZANU PF
supporter and the other from the MDC, a detail that was
omitted from ZBC’s report of the incident (21/1 8pm TV).
The Press reported 53 incidents of political violence of which
six were recorded in both the public and private press.

4. THE ELECTORAL PROCESS: ESC exposes its partiality

Details of the Electoral Supervisory Commission’s election
preparations also began to emerge in the public media during
the week, mainly as uninformative generalizations designed to
give the impression that its operations are going according to
plan. There are however, a number of indications that this is
not the case, and none of the media have subjected the
activities of the organization to critical analysis yet.
One important example of the ESC’s doubtful neutrality has
emerged in the form of its advertisements on television. They
borrow a similar message and images from ZANU PF’s own
anti-colonialist campaign strategy by using film clips of colonial
repression and the liberation war in its chronicle of how
Zimbabweans won their right to universal suffrage. It then urges
audiences to vote with the warning: “…You are lucky to have
survived or to have inherited that dream. Don’t ignore or abuse
your right to vote. Our country Zimbabwe holds the presidential
election in March. Let’s go and Vote…”
Beyond noting that Zimbabweans have a right to vote, there is
no educational value in the advertisement and actually
reinforces the ruling party’s campaign slogan that “we shall
never be a colony again”.
MMPZ urges the ESC to desist from this subliminal message
of support for ZANU PF and to concentrate instead, on
providing voters with impartial and informative information, such
as reassuring the electorate that their vote is secret and that
voters will now be allowed to cast their ballot at any polling
station around the country, among other important electoral
procedures that still need to be clarified.

5. THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN: ZBC flouting own rules!

ZBC continued to provide unstinting coverage of ZANU PF’s
election campaign activities at the expense of other political
parties. ZTV carried 37 campaign stories, 33 of them (89%) were
favourable reports of ZANU PF’s activities, while other parties; the
MDC, ZAPU, ZANU and NAGG, were each quoted once.
ZBC is also violating its own so-called “golden rules” on a daily
basis by allowing surrogate ZANU PF advertising between
newsbreaks and performing the function of a ruling party bulletin
board announcing ZANU PF meetings and other party information
that come as news items when they are not.

6. NEW LEGISLATION

Coverage of the enactment of The Public Order and Security Act
was polarised. The public media celebrated the passage of the
Draconian law by hailing it as legislation that would give the police
enough power to control political violence. Headlines in The Herald
such as Act will aid fight against terrorism (25/01), Combating
terrorism, crime: Security Bill passed to protect all Zimbabweans
(22/01), among others, populated the pages of the public press for
much of the week.
In contrast, the private press sombrely interpreted the dangers of
such repressive legislation to its readers.
The reporting pattern remained unbroken in the press’ coverage on
the tabling, in Parliament, of the controversial and repressive
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill.
This was aptly captured in the use of sharp, contrasting headlines
by the two dailies. The Herald (25/1) led with Parliamentary legal
committee rapped over delays, while The Daily News of the same
day countered with Zvogbo blasts Moyo.
However, it was The Herald’s attempts to rubbish Zvobgo’s
parliamentary contribution that smacked of unprofessional conduct.
Ends

The MEDIA UPDATE is produced and circulated by the Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park,
Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 703702, E-mail: [email protected]

We appreciate comments on coverage of local issues in the local
and international media. Please keep these brief.

The detailed report and previous issues of MMPZ’s reports can be
accessed at http://www.icon.co.zw/mmpz