Alternative Media and the .Public Sphere in Zil11babvve

Alternative Media and the .Public Sphere in Zil11babvve Nkosi Martin N dlela countries or communication spaces offered by .T...............he advent ofdemocratic transitions in Africa « in the early 1990s saw some countries the Internet. experiencing a boom in media pluralism, Some theorists have argued that there can be an introduction of multi-channel broadcasting no meaningful definition of the term alternative systems, independent media, and even experi media (Abel, 1997). Alternative media is used here mentation with community media. However, to denote any media which fall outside the formal there are many exceptions to this trend, and corporate mainstream media, and for media to be Zimbabwe is one of those unfortunate cases considered "alternative," they must embody the where there has been a dramatic reversal to the Gramscian notion of the counterhegemonic. democratization process. Since 2000, the coun Alternative media can be expressed in different try has been engulfed in a multifaceted sociopo forms, both printed and electronic, creative writ litical crisis. Since the existing media are ing, art, music, and video. Alternative media can strongly influenced by the ruling party elites, also be expressed in terms of perspectives that they are heavily tilted toward the mainstream hardly appear in dominant media. Access to alter voices and official interpretations of the events native media is open to ordinary actors. In recent unfolding in the country. The relentlessly criti years, the term alternative media has taken on a cal civil society, opposition parties, and other new dimension as a result of dynamism in the prodemocracy movements, not happy with the information and communication technologies. suppression of their voices and the restricted In this chapter, alternative media are analyzed access to the public sphere, are increasingly in terms of their contribution to the political turning to the alternative communicative public sphere in Zimbabwe. The public sphere is Spaces. They have emerged as active contribu defined by Keane (1995) as an extensive physical tors of news and information disseminated via and symbolic space for the formation of public alternative media-be it "illegal" radio stations opinion and is composed of a society's commu 1l1'oadcasting into Zimbabwe from foreign nication structure. In a situation where a society's 87 88 PART 11 III CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE communication structures are heavily tilted interests. Individuals and institutions vying for toward mainstream discourses, oppositional power also contend to influence the media in forces and reformists often resort to alternative terms of representation, access, and participa media, hence creating an alternative public tion. Political entities compete for media space sphere. As Woo-Young (2005) has argued, an and strategically mobilize forms of communica alternative public sphere is a space in which tive power. The media in a democracy constitute counterdiscourse is produced and consumed by prime areas for contending interests, values, and counterpublics, who had their expression or viewpoints-in pursuits of public recognition, voices suppressed by the existing social order. legitimacy, and strategic aims. As McNair (2000) Since the alternative media are not controlled by argues, any study of democracy in contemporary government, they arguably revitalize the political conditions is a study of how the media report public sphere by giving access to oppositional and interpret political events and issues (p. x). and social movements that could not easily While modern politics in Western countries access the formal public sphere. has been largely mediated through the main stream media and more recently through the Internet, in the sub-Saharan countries, the situa The Media and tion is different. Many critics would dispute the Democratization existence in Africa of a Habermasian public sphere-that communicative space in which The wave of democratization that swept across private people come together as a public. sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1980s and early Nonetheless, African media are central to politi 1990s is one of the consequences of globaliza cal processes in Africa even though they are not tion. The end ofthe Cold War marked the begin as widespread as in Western countries. The ning of a new global political order and open media in Africa provide mediating mechanisms demands for democracy-fundamental human for political representation, despite their being rights, multipartism, and greater representation. limited to urban areas. In countries still in demo The confluence ofinternal and external pressures cratic transition, given greater political freedom led to unprecedented political transformations in and a responsive public, the role of the media is Africa, and these have been described by crucial in educating the people about the differ Huntington (1991) as a "third wave of democra ent political parties and candidates available for tisation." The basic tenets ofthis liberal dispensa choice (Randall, 1999). tion emphasize an introduction of extensive The role ofthe media has to be assessed in rela competition among individuals and organized tion to freedom of expression, that is, the ability groups (especially political parties) for political for citizens to participate in political discussions power. The media have been identified as crucial and safely express their political convictions by elements in the process of building, consolidat voting for a party of their choice without fear of ing, and nurturing a democratic society. reprisals. Ideally, the media should provide com Democratization thus envisages an expansion of municative spaces where people can openly par communicative democratic spaces. ticipate in discussion and debates. The metaphor A study of democratization processes is of space defines the social, political, and physical inevitable a study of access to communicative configurations in which positions ofpower, dom spaces. The media's role in the democratization ination, and marginality are negotiated and repro process resolves around their relation to wider duced (Barnett, 2003). However, in authoritarian structures and systems of power contestation. societies, or during periods of conflict, there is an The linkage invites a reconsideration of the rela inclination by the powerful sectors toward con tive power of media in relation to organized trolling the communicative spaces. Therefore, Chapter 7 III Alternative Media and the Public Sphere in Zimbabwe 89 a Gramscian perspective, the media have to political crisis unfolding in the country. The cri interr'reted as instruments for disseminating sis affected the communicative spaces in several reinforcing the hegemonic perspective. ways. Firstly, the increasingly authoritarian gov ernment responded to domestic and interna tional pressure by protecting its own information ontested spaces and, secondly, by also attempting to influ ommunicative Spaces ence the media impact outside its own borders. The response can also be interpreted in light of The political landscape in Zimbabwe has, since government's efforts to reinforce sovereignty in independence in 1980, been dominated by one the face ofwhat has been defined as unwarranted political party, ZANU-PF, led by President interference in the national affairs by the former obert Mugabe. Through the years, the party has colonial power, the United Kingdom, the xtended its hegemony into the economic, social, European Union, and the United States. Control Vd cultural spheres, including the mass media, of media space within the national boundaries here the government controls the only broad can be seen as competition to dominate national $ting institution and the nominally public- consciousness and reinforce patriotism. Wned Zimbabwe Newspapers Group. However, Faced by multifaceted problems, the govern ward the end of the 1990s, there has been a ment fundamentally shifted the communication rowing discontent over limited political partici spaces. It did so by emasculating the mainstream ation, human rights violations, the declining national media, attempting to influence public Fonomy, and limited communication platforms. opinion in its own favor by directing the state his discontent against the ruling party saw the owned newspaper oligopoly to serve out govern rmation of a new opposition party, the ment propaganda; by regulating the reception of ()vement for Democratic Change (MDC), international media in the country; and by ~cked by important groups in the civil society restricting external communication channels. d supported by Western countries. Another The government also developed media policies velopment was the formation of an indepen that undermine the growth of the media and nt daily newspaper, The Daily News, to give their possible extension to new areas, creating an ice to oppositional discourses. The Daily News environment of insecurity that scares away local ade an enormous contribution by opening up investors, and put up stringent conditions that olitical communication spaces in the country effectively discourage foreign investment and !ld provided access to alternative interpretations limit access to the media. funfolding events. Within a short space oftime, Control ofthe media extends through owner $. readership became the largest in the country, ship structure and by means oflegal and extrale 11s challenging the ruling party's hegemony in gal measures. The

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