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Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Media and Society Studies FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND SOCIETY STUDIES Selection, Salience and political identities. A constructionist approach to the political representation of ZANU-PF succession disputes in The Herald and Daily News from May 2014 to December 2014. Compiled by: Kurauone Masungo Reg number: R145280G Supervisor: Dr. W Chuma This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science in Media and Society Studies Degree November2015 1 DECLARATION BY STUDENT I Kurauone Masungo, (R145280G) hereby declare that this dissertation is my original work, that has not been submitted to any academic institution in pursuit of any academic qualification. Sources used have been acknowledged and in conducting research, and complied with ethical issues in the compilation of the project. Dissertation Title: Selection, Salience and Political identities. A constructionist approach to the political representation of Zanu-PF political disputes in The Herald and Daily News, from May 2014 to December 2014. Name: Kurauone Masungo Signed: …………………………………… Date: …………………………………… i DECLARATION BY SUPERVISOR I hereby certify that I personally supervised this dissertation in accordance with the Department regulation and the University general academic regulations. On that basis I confirm that this dissertation is examinable. Student’s Name: Kurauone Masungo Dissertation Topic: Selection, Salience and Political identities. A constructionist approach to the political representation of Zanu-PF political disputes in The Herald and Daily News, from May 2014 to December 2014. Name of Supervisor: Dr. Wallace Chuma Supervisor’s Signature: …………………………………… Date: ……………………………………. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank Dr Wallace Chuma for his constructive comments, the Daily News and The Herald, editors who granted me the permission to interview them. Not also forgetting the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, which availed its library for use by the researcher. Dr. Lyton Ncube many thanks for guiding me throughout the course of the journey. Many thanks also go to my parents for their unwavering support. The Midlands State University, Media and Society Department team deserve due respect for their guidance during the course of the research. I also would like to the Lord for his watching eye. iii DEDICATION To my parents, siblings and everyone who has been part of the journey. Thanks for the richness of your love iv ABSTRACT The study critically explores the representation of Zanu-PF political disputes in The Herald and Daily News. The mentioned newspapers selectively employ the discourse of ‘weevils’ and ‘Gamatox’ in ascribing political identities to those who were regarded as locking horns in the battle to succeed the president. The study also looks at how ownership, funding and control patterns of The Herald and Daily News influenced their framing of the disputes. Data for this research was obtained through critical discourse analysis of newspaper articles published from the period May 2014 to December 2014. In-depth unstructured interviews were also conducted with editors from both The Herald and Daily News. Findings established that frames adopted by both newspapers reflect on different versions of reality advanced by both newspapers. The Herald, adopted a frame that is pro-revolutionary, that is it viewed the disputes as weeding out counter revolutionary elements. For the Daily News, the disputes were a symbol that reflects on Zanu-PF’s failure to embrace democratic values and a regime gone mad. In Chuma’s, (2008) terms The Herald and Daily News, adopted the ‘patriotic’ and ‘oppositional’ journalism models respectively. v ACRONYMS AMI African Media Investment ANZ Associated Newspaper Zimbabwe BSAC British South Africa Company CCZ Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe GNU Government of National Unity GPA Global Political Agreement MDC-M Movement for Democratic Change Ncube MDC-T Movement for Democratic Change Tsvangirai MIC Media Information Commission MISA Media Institute of Southern Africa RPPC Rhodesia Printing and Publishing Company VMCZ Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe ZANU PF Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front ZARF Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation ZIMPAPERS Zimbabwe Newspapers ZMC Zimbabwe Media Commission ZMMT Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust ZUJ Zimbabwe Union of Journalist vi LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1 Interview Guide for the research Appendix 2 The Herald’s Organogram Appendix 3 Daily News Organogram Appendix 4 Selected Herald, articles Appendix 5 Selected Daily News articles Appendix 6 Interview transcription vii Contents Page ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. i ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ iii Contents Page......................................................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background ................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research Question ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Objectives..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 5 1.7 Assumptions................................................................................................................................. 7 1.8 Delimitations ................................................................................................................................ 7 1.9 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.10 Definition of Terms ................................................................................................................... 8 1.11 Structure of the study ............................................................................................................... 8 1.12 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework ................................................................... 10 2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Selection and Salience: Setting the parameters in political representation ...................... 10 2.1.2 Representation of Zanu-PF disputes through an organised language system .................. 17 2.1.3 Stereotypes and othering: A basis upon which representation construct political identities .......................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................ 29 2.2.1 Discourse, Power and Framing ......................................................................................... 30 2.2.2 Patriotic versus Oppositional Journalism ........................................................................ 36 2.2.3 Pragmatism of the Political Economy Approach ............................................................ 39 CHAPTER 3: Research Methods and Methodology ............................................................................ 42 3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 42 3.1 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................. 42 3.2 Research Paradigm ................................................................................................................... 42 3.3 Unit of Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 44 viii 3.4 Sample Size ................................................................................................................................ 44 3.5 Sampling Methods .................................................................................................................... 45 3.5.1 Politically Important Cases ..................................................................................................
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