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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Mediating the 2000 elections in Zimbabwe: competing journalisms in a society at the crossroads
Author:Chuma, Wallace
Year:2008
Periodical:Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies
Volume:29
Issue:1
Pages:21-41
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:newspapers
elections
2000
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02560054.2008.9653373
Abstract:This article analyses the framing of the 2000 parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe through editorials and selected front page news reports in selected Zimbabwean newspapers - the Herald, Daily News, and Zimbabwe Mirror. It argues that three models of journalism, namely, 'patriotic', 'oppositional', and 'independent nationalist', were applied in framing the election. The essence of framing is 'selection to prioritize some facts, images or developments over others, thereby unconsciously promoting one particular interpretation of events'. These models were the offspring of a society at political crossroads, where public life became bifurcated, and where the press became one of the most visible sites of struggle for control of the State. The article further argues that although the models represent different public spheres ahead of the election, the media framing of the election narrowed rather than broadened the scope of public debate. The dramatic shifts in the political economy of the country, including the formation, suspension, and (re)negotiation of alliances between political parties and fractions of capital and civil society, meant that all were interested in one way or another in controlling the national media and its framing of the 2000 elections. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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