Zim media favours Mugabe
2005-03-27 21:03
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabweans tuning in to watch the news on national television these days first get to see a band of boisterous youths dancing and raising their fists in a campaign ad for President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.
The young supporters urge Zimbabweans to vote for Zanu-PF "to put Blair and his local puppets to shame", seconds before the news anchor presents the top news stories.
Often, the news bulletins feature the all-too-familiar report of Mugabe donating computers to schools, slamming British Prime Minister Tony Blair and urging Zimbabweans to support his party in parliamentary elections on Thursday.
Footage shown night after night shows Mugabe at the podium, then the camera pans across a sea of heads draped in the ruling party signature green, yellow and red colours, before returning to the podium again where the 81-year-old leader delivers his message.
When the opposition MDC gets coverage, it is usually confined to brief footage of leader Morgan Tsvangirai whose pronouncements are rarely aired, and is immediately followed by a Zanu-PF ad, suggesting the MDC is sponsored by the British government.
As the campaign heads into its final stretch, Zimbabwe's state media are giving Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party flattering coverage while the main opposition party is struggling to have its voice heard.
In a country where the government controls all electronic media and the largest newspaper group while the independent press is emasculated by tough media laws, the state is providing the main sources of information to millions of Zimbabweans who are preparing to vote.
The polls are being closely watched to gauge whether Zimbabwe will adhere to guidelines for free and fair elections adopted by regional leaders last year that include equal access to the media.
But a local media watchdog concluded in a report this week that 90% of some 31 minutes allocated by Zimbabwe's national television to the campaign from Monday to Wednesday this week was devoted to Zanu-PF, against 10% for the MDC.
"The MDC receives brief and inadequate reports. Coverage of the ruling activities often includes disparaging attacks against the MDC which is not given the right of reply," the Media Monitoring Project said.
MDC secretary for foreign affairs Priscilla Misihairabi-Mushonga says the state media have failed to give fair access, despite regulations adopted last month by the government stating that all parties should be given equal time.
"There is no equal and fair media coverage," Misihairabi-Mushonga told AFP. "It's a fallacy."
Two weeks ago MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube lodged a complaint with Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), charging that the national broadcaster was offering "a facade of fair media coverage."
"The Zimbabwe television and radio news and programmes continue to function as part of the ZANU-PF campaign machinery," said Ncube in the letter to the national broadcaster.
He cited as examples of bias the launch of ZANU-PF's election campaign which was broadcast live on national television for four hours while the MDC's launch was allocated one minute 25 seconds.
The country's national television began on Tuesday to air a MDC advertisement featuring the party's slogan of "A New Zimbabwe, A New Beginning" but this was only after the opposition party managed to raise the equivalent of $612 (US dollars) per broadcast.
South African minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who heads the observer team from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), last week noted that "there is room to increase the coverage of other parties and independents" on national television.
- SAPA