Abstract
This chapter explores business news making practices in Zimbabwe, whose economy has performed poorly since the turn of the millennium. Through interviews with journalists from the country’s oldest business newspaper, the Financial Gazette, and the state-controlled The Herald, this qualitative study interrogates how journalists manoeuvre the challenges and opportunities brought by the country’s economic policies and choices. The study finds that journalists are often caught in the hazy space of desiring to maintain credibility of the newspaper and the need to survive in a crisis-ridden country, as well as contending with the usual influences such as government interference, corporate interference and organisational routines. While these factors influence non-financial newspapers as well, they become complicated for financial journalists whose target market has been dwindling not only because of a shift in technology, but also because of a hostile business environment since 2000.
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Notes
- 1.
A term used to denote government assistance particularly in agriculture to increase production. It entails government providing inputs for farmers who pay them back in the form of the produce which may be maize, cotton etc. However, it has seen government setting prices for delivered produce at prices that are over market prices.
- 2.
A predatory state disregards conventional macroeconomic policy as those in power seek to exercise direct control over markets and economic actors.
- 3.
MDC was the first opposition party since independence in 1980 to give Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF a serious challenge. It successfully campaigned for the rejection of a draft constitution in 2000 before going on to win 57 seats in parliament later that year. It, however, split in 2005 due to a disagreement over contesting for senatorial seats. The two parties maintained the name MDC. In the 2008 elections, the bigger party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, decided to call itself MDC-T to separate itself from the one led by Welshman Ncube. Both parties had won seats in parliament in 2008, so when the Government of National Unity (GNU) was formed in 2009, they were both represented.
- 4.
Journalists tend to cover similar issues and rely on the same circle of sources. As a result, they did not report on views of those who saw the risky market conditions that led to the collapse of a big bank like Lehman Brothers.
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Chambwera, C. (2021). Business News Making Practices in Zimbabwe. In: Dunn, H.S., Moyo, D., Lesitaokana, W.O., Barnabas, S.B. (eds) Re-imagining Communication in Africa and the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54169-9_12
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