Text in English / This thesis explores the representation of political conflict in the Zimbabwean press with a specific focus on the The Herald, The Sunday Mail, Daily News and The Standard. The thesis sought to unpack the representation of political conflict in the four selected newspapers and to compare and contrast state-owned and privately-owned press representation of power, succession struggles and factionalism in ZANU PF and opposition MDC. The theory is undergirded by the framing theory and data was analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis. The thesis contends that the representation of political conflict in Zimbabwe was sensational and polarized. With clearly separate agendas, the government controlled press, The Herald and The Sunday Mail; and the privately owned Daily News and The Standard, have drawn upon different framing practices to represent political conflict in Zimbabwe. By selecting to report on a particular issue and silencing another, through choice of certain headlines, and vocabulary employed, they have produced a construction of events in political parties that satisfy their political agendas in an increasingly polarized political environment. The newspapers became associated with diverging political opinions, showing political parties they support. On the one hand, the state-funded media represented ZANU PF in positive light while the opposition, particularly the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was represented negatively, mainly depicting the party as harbouring a regime change agenda. On the other hand, the privately-owned press was critical of the ruling party, ZANU PF and blamed the party for economic problems, corruption, mis-rule, and abuse of human rights. As a result of this partisan representation of political reality by the two press camps, they became directly implicated in the conflicts thereby ceasing to be credible sources of information. This clearly illustrates the enormity of challenges faced by the press in political conflicts in politically polarised environments such as Zimbabwe. The thesis argues that when reporting political conflicts ideological considerations of the press take precedents at the expense of the informational and educational mandate of the press as ethics and professional interests of the press are pushed to the back stage. Contrary to the view that the press is a neutral and impersonal purveyor of information, it is an active participant in the framing of political conflicts and its framing is ideological. The study has broadened the body of knowledge on the framing of political conflicts in polarised political environments. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication Science)

The study critically explored the tabloidisation of political news in Zimbabwe by focussing on the coverage of the expulsion of Joice Mujuru from ZANU PF and government by selected newspapers. The study analysed three national dailies across the ownership divide; The Herald, Daily News and NewsDay. The objective of the study was to establish whether or not the decline in standards of journalism and performance in Zimbabwe could be attributed to tabloidisation. The study employed a qualitative methodology through qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews to assess whether the framing reflected tabloid or broadsheet journalism styles. The framing of Joice Mujuru by The Herald was pejorative and derisive as she was depicted as corrupt, traitor, inept and a simplistic thinker who cannot handle issues to do with statecraft. Daily News sympathised with Joice Mujuru as a victim of chauvinistic factional politics in ZANU PF, especially, after the death of her husband, General Solomon Mujuru. The study argued that Joice was also depicted as a brave leader who could challenge for the office of the president, if she formed a coalition with MDC –T leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Daily News sought to counter all the negative framing of Joice Mujuru by The Herald. NewsDay framing was sympathetic, like Daily News but was more inclined on creating an image of a moderate leader in Mujuru, one who would be acceptable to all Zimbabweans because she had the critical liberation war credentials that Tsvangirai lacked and Mujuru’s perceived abilities to extricate the country from the economic challenges by mending relationships with the West. Despite the diametrically opposed frames in terms of The Herald versus Daily News and NewsDay, all the newspapers are undergoing the damaging process of tabloidisation by employing tabloid styles and formatting in their political news coverage through sensationalism, trivialisation and emotionalism. It was argued that the media needs self-introspection and recommitment to ethical and objective journalism as the watchdogs of society. / Communication / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)