Partisan Media in a Politically Charged Zimbabwe: Public and Private Media Framing of 2018 Elections

What is it about?

This paper comes against a background of a new political dispensation in Zimbabwe, hence focuses on how the public and privately owned media framed the first post-Mugabe elections. The study shows that despite the new political environment, the media have maintained the long established partisan political lines with both public and privately owned media in violation of the electoral laws. The study therefore argues that such media bias is a stumbling block to democracy in that it fails to present the full range of political options for them to choose the best possible candidate.

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Why is it important?

The article is important because it shows the polarization in the media in Zimbabwe which violates the national laws as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) guidelines on media coverage of elections. In addition, the study shows that conflict frame is the dominant frame used in narrating the stories and this is noted as entrenching political divisions which may lead to political violence especially in a country that has experienced periods of politically motivated violence.

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