ABSTRACT This paper is a critical exploration of the emergence and manifestations of a phenomenon we refer to as “factional” or “succession” journalism within the state media in the context of the tussle over the succession of the late former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Using the state-controlled Chronicle daily newspaper as a case study, we seek to examine the role and influence of editors and journalists in the negotiation of power in the context of reporting a contested succession of Mugabe in 2016. We locate “factional journalism” in the context of the capture of the state media by the ruling party and the virtual erosion of journalistic agency in the state media institutions. We argue that whereas the onset of the “Zimbabwe crisis” spawned the creation of different and polarised forms of journalism in the country (i.e. oppositional and patriotic journalism; see Ranger, 2005. “The rise of patriotic journalism in Zimbabwe and its possible implications”. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 2: 8–17; Chuma 2008. “Mediating the 2000 elections in Zimbabwe: competing journalisms in a society at the crossroads”. African Journalism Studies 29 (1): 22–41), within the “patriotic journalism” camp also emerged a new strand of “factional journalism” linked closely to the fierce contest for the succession of Robert Mugabe within Zanu PF. We also argue that the succession issue presented a poignant moment at which political journalism at the public media became subordinate to whichever faction held sway in the information/media portfolio in government, and which faction deployed its allocative powers to reward and punish specific forms of political reporting. We apply a limited qualitative content analysis of news stories on the succession issue and complement this with qualitative in-depth interviews with journalists reporting on the subject. This approach arguably provides a much more holistic picture of the factors at play in the production of political content on the subject.

中文翻译：

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津巴布韦的继承政治与派系新闻：以津巴布韦纪事为例

摘要本文是对在津巴布韦已故前总统罗伯特·穆加贝（Robert Mugabe）继任之争的争论中在国家媒体中被称为“派系式”或“继任式”新闻现象的出现和表现的批判性探索。我们以国家控制的《纪事报》为例，研究在2016年报道有争议的穆加贝继任情况下，编辑和记者在权力谈判中的作用和影响。我们将“派系新闻”定位为执政党占领国有媒体的背景以及国有媒体机构中新闻机构的虚拟侵蚀。我们认为，“津巴布韦危机”的爆发催生了该国不同极化的新闻形式的产生（即 反对派和爱国新闻；参见Ranger，2005年。“津巴布韦爱国新闻的兴起及其可能的影响”。威斯敏斯特传播与文化论文2：8-17；Chuma2008。“在津巴布韦调解2000年选举：在十字路口的社会中竞争新闻业”。非洲新闻研究29（1）：22–41）在“爱国新闻”阵营中也出现了一条新的“派系新闻”，与Zanu PF内罗伯特·穆加贝（Robert Mugabe）继任者的激烈竞争息息相关。我们还认为，继承问题是一个痛苦的时刻，在这个时刻，公共媒体上的政治新闻事业要服从于政府信息/媒体业务中占据主导地位的任何派系，并且哪个派系会利用其分配权来奖励和惩罚特定形式的政治报告。我们对继任问题的新闻报道进行了有限的定性内容分析，并通过对报道此主题的记者进行定性深入采访来对此进行补充。可以说，这种方法可以更全面地了解有关该主题的政治内容的产生中所起作用的因素。