The Media Monitoring Project
October 9th 2006 – October 15th 2006
1)General comment

Intimidation in Judicial System
This week the private media exposed suspected attempts by the authorities to purge the country’s justice delivery system of any remaining judicial officers attempting to exercise the independence of the judiciary by applying the law without favour.
New Zimbabwe.com (12/10), for example, revealed that Director of Public Prosecutions, Loice Matanda-Moyo, had been “moved from her job” and appointed president of the Administrative Court on suspicion that she was anti-establishment.
The agency quoted unnamed sources from the Attorney-General’s office claiming that this followed her approval of the prosecution of government officials such as Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Deputy Minister Bright Matonga and ruling party aligned clergyman Obadiah Msindo, whose rape case “the police and intelligence services” had “tried to cover-up”.
Reportedly, the prosecutions unnerved some ruling party officials who believed Matanda-Moyo was “out to fix them”.
In another related matter, the Zimbabwe Independent (13/10) revealed that Manicaland prosecutor Levison Chikafu had resigned after presiding over “numerous cases” involving senior officials from the ruling party and state security agents, which were “considered hot potatoes”.
The paper cited unnamed sources claiming that Chikafu now viewed prosecuting as a “high risk job” after being “put under pressure by some individuals” for handling trials of “people deemed ‘sacred cows’ in Zanu PF circles”.

In an effort to highlight the amount of pressure exerted on the prosecutor, the weekly catalogued incidents of harassment, intimidation – including death threats – by war veterans, government officials and CIO operatives that Chikafu has allegedly been subjected to.
The government media ignored these issues.

2. Economic decay

ALTHOUGH the government media reported on the country’s economic malaise, their stories were mainly restricted to just promoting government efforts to address the problem without questioning the effectiveness of its policies.
This was evident in the 97 stories they carried on the Reserve Bank’s mid-term monetary policy review and government efforts to revive the country’s ailing tourism sector. Of these, 26 appeared in the official Press while ZBH aired 71.
It was not surprising therefore that these media avoided linking their 40 stories on indicators of economic decline(government Press [35] and ZBH [5]) to government’s economic mismanagement. Instead, they papered over government’s culpability by simplistically celebrating the decline in the rate of inflation touting this as evidence of the success of its “turn-around” strategies.

Only the private media attempted to investigate the adequacy of the authorities’ policies in reviving the economy in the 73stories they carried on the matter (private Press [68] and private electronic media [5]).
a) Monetary policy review

Coverage Of Abrupt Closure Of MTA’s
THE official media passively covered the Reserve Bank’s mid-term monetary policy review. Almost all the 29 stories they carried on the matter (ZBH [16] and official Press [13]) endorsed the bank’s policies without question.
For example, there was no adequate debate on the reasons behind its measures, such as the abrupt cancellation ofoperating licences of 16 private Money Transfer Agencies, the hiking of interest rates and the introduction of stringent regulations for stock market trading.

Concerns expressed by various observers on the matter were drowned in glowing reports depicting the authorities’ interventionist economic policies as the right remedy for the ailing economy.

ZTV (9/10, 8pm), for example, unquestioningly announced that central bank governor Gideon Gono had cancelled theMTAs’ licences for “allegedly non-performance and defiant behaviour” without investigating what these offences wereexactly, or discussing how the move would impact on the country’s precarious foreign currency reserves.

Neither did it investigate Gono’s claims that the agencies were fuelling the foreign currency black market nor seek commentfrom the MTAs themselves.

Instead, Spot FM (10/10, 1pm) merely endorsed the review, presenting it as a positive development in government’s effortsto resolve the hemorrhaging economy.

That evening ZTV (6 & 8pm) reported “economists” as having “welcomed Gono’s measures” saying they would“address the microeconomic challenges in the short to medium term”.

However, almost all those quoted gave qualified endorsement of the review saying there was need for a “holistic approach” in “dealing with various challenges in the economy”.

Similarly, The Herald (11/10) misrepresented the economists’ views on the matter. While it reported “economic players” and Zimbabweans as having “roundly welcomed” the RBZ’s measures, those it quoted actually raised concerns over the closure of foreign currency agencies.

And instead of exploring their concerns, the paper tried to justify the central bank’s ad hoc policies on the basis that the country was facing “critical challenges that require drastic measures to instil discipline in the economy whose fundamentals are being determined outside the formal channels”.

To reinforce this editorial stance, the government Press carried several graphics depicting the monetary measures as already bearing fruit. One such cartoon by the Chronicle (11/10) showed a man bemoaning the cancellation of MTA licences saying he had “hoped to buy a HummerH2 with the next tranche of forex” thereby giving the impression that the foreign currency agencies were conduits of illegal foreign currency dealings and extravagant lifestyles.

Although the private papers featured 18 stories on Gono’s measures, their photos and graphs on the subject were hardly interesting. They mostly comprised ‘mug-shots’ of government officials covered in the stories.

But the stories themselves were more informative. They generally evaluated the economic sense of Gono’s
pronouncements against the situation on the ground. For instance, The Daily Mirror (11/10) viewed the Reserve Bank’sreversal of its low interest regime as “a policy shift that will definitely spark a wave of lending rate increases in then financial sector”.

The Standard (15/10) agreed, adding that the “Central Bank’s motives in hiking and lowering the rate willy-nilly whenever they issue a policy statement” would affect investment. The private Press also observed that the policy measures had failed to reduce inflation and boost exports and foreign currency reserves.

The private electronic media echoed similar views in the three stories they carried on the topic.

Studio 7(10/10), for example, noted that the closure of foreign currency agencies was illegal as it violated the Banking Act,which required the central bank to first issue notices before withdrawing the licences.

However, none of the private media coherently summarized the highlights of Gono’s statement for the benefit of their audiences.

b. Travel expo
Tourists Coming To Zimbabwe????
THE official media also swamped their audiences with numerous stories on the Zimbabwe International Travel Expo, whichgave the impression that the country’s depressed tourism sector was recovering.

The government Press carried 13 stories on the matter while ZBH aired 42. In addition, ZTV (13/10, 8.30pm) broadcast live an all-night musical concert that had been organized to celebrate the tourism showcase.

None of the stories openly discussed the economic benefits the country was expected to gain from hosting the exhibition.

Rather, ZBH merely rehashed official statements celebrating the participation of more than 300 travel promoters saying it was testimony of the alleged success of government’s efforts to revive tourism, especially through its much publicized ‘Look East’ policy.

For example, ZTV (11/10, 8pm) passively quoted Zimbabwe Tourism Authority boss Karikoga Kaseke claiming that the“increase in buyers showed there was a significant change in perception about the country as a prime tourist destination.”

The next day, the station (12/10, 8pm) claimed that the tourism industry was on the road to recovery as illustrated by its own “survey” that showed an “upward trend” in tourists from Europe, which resulted in the country recording an “increase of 200” visitors last month.

The actual number of tourists that visited the country before the alleged increase was not given. The official Press was equally supine on the subject.

Like ZBH, it celebrated the number of delegates from both Asia and the West as a reflection of a recovering tourism industry, saying that several local business people had clinched deals mainly with Asian countries as a result (The Herald 14/10 and The Sunday Mail 15/10).

However, the papers did not quantify the exact amount of potential business secured.

Instead, they carried four pictures projecting the tourism sector in a positive light. For instance, The Herald (9/10) carried two pictures on the arrival of European exhibitors and their visit to one of Zimbabwe’s tourist resorts, creating the notion that Western tourists had regained confidence in Zimbabwe.

While the private electronic media did not find the tourism exhibition newsworthy, their print counterparts carried 10 stories on the matter. Of these, seven were published in the Mirror stable alone while the other papers carried the rest.

But like the government Press, the Mirror papers were generally upbeat about the expo, which The Sunday Mirror (15/10)predicted had the “potential to turn around the fortunes of the tourism sector”. It quoted Zimbabwe Council for Tourism head Paul Matamisa hailing the high turnout of international buyers saying it showed that the country’s tourism was“poised for greater heights”.

The stories avoided relating the dwindling number of foreign tourists to the country’s deteriorating political and economic crises.

Only the other private papers tackled this.

The Financial Gazette (12/10), for example, cited Kaseke noting that while 2006 looked promising in light of the 33%increase in domestic tourism, the economic environment was not conducive for further growth as tourism could not thrive without basic amenities, a development he said had contributed to the reduction of tourists in the country.

The Standard (15/10) concurred, arguing that the current fuel and commodity shortages, including daily power cuts, “were not the best form to advertise the country”.

3. Inflation and indicators of decline
Besides projecting the monetary policy review and the travel expo as evidence of government’s commitment to resuscitate the ailing economy, the official media also used the drop in the rate of inflation from about 1 200% in August to 1 023% in September as indicative of such efforts.

Instead of testing the truth of the new figures against the galloping cost of living, Spot FM and ZTV (10/10, 8pm), for instance, simply cheered the decrease saying it was due to the effectiveness of government’s economic policies launched early this year to stem the economic decline.

The fact that despite the fall, the country’s inflation rate remained the highest in the world was ignored.

The government media’s reluctance to frankly discuss the country’s economic despair and its root causes manifested itself in the 16 stories they carried (ZBH [4] and official Press [12]) on indicators of economic decline. These included the continued increases in the price of goods and services, commodity shortages and the collapse of the country’s health delivery system.

Typically, these media either allowed the authorities to blame everyone else outside the official circle for their problems, or depicted government as taking measures to arrest the decline.

Their professional hypocrisy was also evident in the seven graphics that the government Press carried on symptoms of economic decay.

The two pictures that the Chronicle (10&12/10) carried on fuel shortages and rising commuter fares are cases in point.

For instance, although one of the photos showed several workers cycling home because they could no longer afford public transport due to spiraling fares, the caption avoided explaining why this was so.

In fact, while the official papers carried pictures that did reflect the extent of economic deterioration, some of their captions either misled or downplayed the seriousness of the problem.

For example, The Herald (11/10) carried a picture of a dejected man standing next to empty bread shelves, but still carried a caption reassuring the nation that “bread shelves are set to be filled as the supply of wheat is projected to improve next month”. This was apparently in reference to the yet-to-be-harvested wheat crop.

The official papers’ attempts to project the authorities as working hard to alleviate people’s suffering resulted in them blindly celebrating government’s promise to increase civil servants’ allowances without discussing whether they would be adequate.

The Sunday Mail (15/10), for example, carried a cartoon giving the impression that the perks were so substantial that some women were contemplating re-uniting with their former boyfriends in the civil service.

The private Press carried 29 critical stories and four images on indicators of economic decline.

One of the cartoons carried by The Daily Mirror (11/10) blamed the economic deterioration on the West. It showed a car without wheels with the inscription “African Economies” and a caption accusing the West of “taking the wheels away”.

In contrast, The Zimbabwe Independent (13/10) carried a cartoon demonstrating the poor extent of public service delivery in the country by depicting Zimbabweans scoffing at assurances by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority that electricity supply would improve “in next few days”.

The private electronic media captured the country’s economic distress in the four reports they carried on symptoms ofeconomic meltdown, which they categorically ascribed to government’s policies.

The difference in the way the government and private media tackled the country’s economy is reflected in their voice distribution.

Notably, the Mirror stable recorded 27 of the government voices quoted in the private media.
Edited