ABSTRACT

An analysis of Zimbabwean journalists' framing of the country's 2008 and 2013 elections points to interesting insights on electoral and conflict reporting. Qualitative content analysis of articles from three Zimbabwean weekly newspapers that covered these elections showed the press as tacitly and overtly willing agents in fanning political violence by perpetuating social and political polarisation through acts of omission and commission. Private and public media journalists took “positioned” reporting styles and propagated hate speech, name-calling and propaganda, which mirrored key aspects of “war-like journalism”. While five years later, in 2013, the elections were less politically charged, the weekly press continued to publish hate speech, name-calling and counter-accusations against the “other”. We argue that “peace journalism” practices can help neutralise political violence and socio-political polarisation, while depolarisation of political and economic forces behind Zimbabwean mainstream press cannot be overemphasised.

摘要

津巴布韦新闻记者对该国2008年和2013年选举的构架进行了分析，得出了有关选举和冲突报道的有趣见解。对津巴布韦每周三份报纸报道这些选举的文章进行定性内容分析，结果表明新闻界是默示和公开的特工，他们通过不作为和委托来维持社会和政治两极化，从而煽动政治暴力。私人和公共媒体记者采用“定位”的报道风格，并传播仇恨言论，称呼和宣传，这反映了“类似战争的新闻”的关键方面。五年后的2013年，选举在政治上受到了较少的关注，但每周的新闻界仍在继续发布仇恨言论，召唤和反对“另一方”的指控。