(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release: ZIMBABWE STATE MEDIA FAILED VOTERS, SAYS MONITORING PROJECT Today, as pro-government forces increasingly target political opponents and independent and foreign media workers, the Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project (1) published a report sharply criticising the bias and inaccuracy of the state media during the recent […]
(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is an ARTICLE 19 press release:
ZIMBABWE STATE MEDIA FAILED VOTERS, SAYS MONITORING PROJECT
Today, as pro-government forces increasingly target political opponents and independent and foreign media workers, the Zimbabwe Media Monitoring Project (1) published a report sharply criticising the bias and inaccuracy of the state media during the recent constitutional referendum (2). A Question of Balance looks at trends in media coverage of the referendum and makes a number of recommendations for changes urgently needed to ensure that the public is provided with fair and impartial coverage during forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, one of three organisations involved in the joint initiative, said:
“The state media failed dismally in their most basic obligation – to inform voters what they were voting about, and to encourage debate on the issues. The state television and radio channels could have been mistaken for ‘Yes’ vote advertising stations.”
Four strong criticisms of the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) were that they:
a. broadcast direct access programming exclusively on behalf of the Constitutional Commission, which was campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote, and only ran ‘No’ material belatedly, still refusing to broadcast some of it even when High Court rulings ordered them to;
b. dangerously blurred the distinction between editorial and advertising content;
c. exhibited a complete reluctance to promote on-air debate;
d. continued to broadcast pro-‘Yes’ vote advertising and editorial during polling.
A sad indictment of the standard of coverage was that the public media even failed to convey the referendum results in a timely fashion. While the BBC and CNN were reporting the rejection of the draft to the rest of the world, Zimbabweans had to wait.
The report also identifies the constant politicisation in the state media of opposing viewpoints, without addressing wider issues around the pros and cons of constitutional reform. For example, the ‘land issue’ was largely ignored by the ‘No’ campaign in the media, while it took on a racial dimension in the ‘Yes’ campaign.
ENDS
1. The three organisations involved in the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) are ARTICLE 19, the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ).
2. The private media’s reporting was also biased, but while ARTICLE 19 recommends that they uphold the highest professional standards, the absolute obligation to be impartial applies to the publicly-owned media only.
3. View the report at www.article19.org/pubs/mpzjan00.htm
