Daily Media Monitoring Report Issue 21: 28 June 2018 Table of Contents 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Key Events ......................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Media Monitored .................................................................................................... 2 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 3 2.0 Did the media represent political parties in a fair and balanced manner? ............. 3 2.1 Space and time dedicated to political parties in private and public media ........ 3 2.2 Space and time dedicated to political actors in private and public media ......... 5 2.3 Tone of coverage for political parties ................................................................. 6 2.4 Gender representation in election programmes ................................................ 7 2.5 Youth representation in election programmes ................................................... 8 2.6 Time dedicated to political players in the different programme types in broadcast media ...................................................................................................... 7 3.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 10 The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 1 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context. 1.1 Introduction This twenty-first media monitoring report on the 2018 elections highlights trends in the Zimbabwean media’s performance in their coverage of the elections. The study assessed the level to which the media is fair and balanced in representing political players. The report covers issues reported by the media on the twenty-ninth day of the election period – 28 June 2018. 1.2 Key Events On this day, • ZEC is reported to have succumbed to opposition parties’ plea for a voters’ roll with people’s photographs. • The electoral commission reportedly accuses opposition political parties of bringing the name of the commission into disrepute by raising unnecessary court cases. • ZESN and ZLHR happy with the provision of the Electoral Amendment Act, which prescribes a 5-year jail term for electoral malpractice. • Independent presidential candidate, Joshua Munyanduri says the $1000 fee for presidential nomination is a rip-off. In campaign news: • Judge President George Chiweshe will preside over the legal battle between MDC Alliance and the MDC-T formation led by Thokozani Khupe over rights to use the original MDC logo (the open palm). • Aspiring ZANU PF Member of Parliament, Patrick Chinamasa addressed a rally in Makoni-West. ZANU PF also held rallies in Shurugwi and Mataga growth point in Mberengwa. • In an interview, UDF leader says his party seeks to create a platform for economic transformation and opportunities for youths and women. The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 2 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context. 1.3 Media Monitored News Platform Print Broadcast (6-10pm) Public media • The Herald • ZTV • Chronicle • SFM • Radio Zimbabwe Commercial radio • Star FM • ZiFM Private media • Daily News • NewsDay Methodology Monitoring aims to quantify and qualify time dedicated to political parties by the media. The quantitative analysis measures the total amount of space (cm2) and time (seconds) devoted to politicians and political parties by the media. The analysis also evaluates representations of political actors by gender and age as well as the type of programmes in which they are featured. For print media, the monitored sample includes articles published in the following sections: front page, local news, and political/election news. Monitoring also focuses on editorial pages and letters to the editor sections. Monitoring does not include articles published in the business section, sport pages, and entertainment sections Television and radio channels have been monitored daily during a select time frame, from 6 to 10 pm. All programs have been analyzed during the sampled time period. 2.0 Did the media represent political parties in a fair and balanced manner? On this day, a total of 16 political parties were covered in the media. The top three parties covered made up 86% of the total coverage. ZANU PF accounted for 58% of the coverage followed by MDC Alliance and CODE, which accounted for 20% and 8% of the coverage respectively. The remaining 13 political parties accounted for 14% of the coverage. 2.1 Space and time dedicated to political parties in private and public media Eight political parties were featured in the government-controlled press. ZANU PF was the most featured party with 65% of the coverage ahead of the MDC Alliance and UDF, which accounted for 22% and 5% respectively. The other five parties combined for the remaining 8%. The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 3 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context. Space allocated to political actors in the government-controlled press in (cm2) Political National Local Member of Party Total Affiliation Government Government Parliament Member ZANU PF 1434 0 20 1056 2510 MDC ALLIANCE 0 0 0 850 850 UDF 182 0 0 0 182 BZA 0 0 0 87 87 CODE 0 0 0 86 86 INDEPENDENT 0 84 0 83 83 UDM 0 0 0 77 77 #1980FMZ 0 0 0 1 1 The private press gave the most publicity to political parties. A total of thirteen political entities were covered on this platform with ZANU PF being the most visible. The party accounted for 66% of the visibility of political parties followed by MDC Alliance, which had 14% of the publicity. Eleven parties were featured in the remaining 20% of the coverage. Space allocated to political actors in the private press (in cm2) Political National Local Member of Party Total Affiliation Government Government Parliament Member ZANU PF 162 0 133 1666 1961 MDC ALLIANCE 0 0 0 411 411 NPF 0 0 0 161 161 DOP 0 0 0 156 156 MDC-T 0 0 0 103 103 MRP 0 0 0 54 54 ZAPU 0 0 0 48 48 NEW PF 0 0 0 35 35 CODE 0 0 0 21 21 UDF 0 0 0 14 14 BZA 0 0 0 7 7 APA 0 0 0 6 6 ZIPP 0 0 0 6 6 There was a sizeable decline in the number of political parties covered on the ZBC stations. From the 13 parties covered yesterday only four were covered today. ZANU PF remained the most visible party with 48% of the coverage. MDC Alliance and CODE took up 27% and 25% of the total time respectively. The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 4 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context. Time dedicated to political parties on ZBC (in seconds) Political National Local Member of Party Total Affiliation Government Government Parliament Member ZANU PF 644 0 0 861 1505 CODE 0 0 0 850 850 MDC ALLIANCE 0 0 0 800 800 MDC T (TK) 0 0 0 2 2 The commercial radio stations monitored gave publicity to seven political parties. ZANU PF received the most mileage on this platform with 51% of the total coverage followed by independent candidates who accounted for 30%. The MDC Alliance featured in 17% of the coverage whilst the remaining four parties shared the remaining 2%. Time dedicated to political parties on commercial radio (in seconds) Political National Local Member of Party Total Affiliation Government Government Parliament Member ZANU PF 311 0 845 98 1254 INDEPENDENT 0 0 727 0 727 MDC ALLIANCE 0 0 416 8 424 BZA 0 0 0 26 26 UDM 0 0 0 20 20 CODE 0 0 0 10 10 MDC-T 0 0 0 8 8 2.2 Space and time dedicated to political actors in private and public media Twenty-six political actors were covered in the electronic media and fifty-two were featured in the press. The top ten political actors in the press and electronic media are presented in tables below. Top political actors in the press Actor Political Party Total Space in cm2 Emmerson Mnangagwa ZANUPF 2353 Nelson Chamisa MDC ALLIANCE 555 Constantino Chiwenga ZANUPF 219 Patrick Chinamasa ZANUPF 214 Welshman Ncube MDC ALLIANCE 203 Obert Gutu MDC -T 193 Mapfumo Peter Gava UDF 182 Cain Mathema ZANU PF 161 Harry Peter Wilson DOP 156 Pupurai Togarepi ZANU PF 150 The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 5 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context. Top political actors in the electronic media Actor Political Party Total time in seconds Emmerson Mnangagwa ZANU PF 1388 Elton Mangoma CODE 860 Kudakwashe Damson ZANU PF 845 Jacob Mapfume MDC ALLIANCE 798 Zalera Makari INDEPENDENT 726 Earthrage Kureva MDC ALLIANCE 416 Constantino Chiwenga ZANU PF 182 Rabelani Choeni ZANU PF 32 Ruth Maboyi ZANU PF 30 Goodwills Masimiremba ZANU PF 28 2.3 Tone of coverage for political parties In the government-controlled press, most of the political parties covered on this day received coverage that was mostly neutral. BZA, CODE and UDM received coverage that was wholly neutral. The MDC Alliance received most of the negative coverage in the government-controlled press. Tone of coverage in the government controlled press (in cm2) PARTY NEGATIVE NEUTRAL POSITIVE #1980FMZ 1 0 0 BZA 0 0 87 CODE 0 0 86 INDEPENDENT 0 84 83 MDC ALLIANCE 214 335 301 UDF 0 182 0 UDM 0 0 77 ZANU PF 0 2060 530 The private press was mostly neutral in its coverage of political parties and actors. ZANU PF and MDC Alliance received most of the negative coverage on this day following their absence on the signing of the national peace pledge where they sent representatives. On This day ZanuPF was the only party with positive coverage on this platform. Tone of coverage in the private press (in cm2) PARTY NEGATIVE NEUTRAL POSITIVE APA 0 6 0 BZA 0 7 0 CODE 0 21 0 DOP 0 156 0 MDC ALLIANCE 142 269 0 MDC-T 0 103 0 The media have an ethical obligation to be impartial in their coverage of electoral 6 processes; this requires fairness and balance in their representation of the prevailing context.