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Zimbabwe: The media, market failure and political turbulence

A rapidly changing socio-political and economic environment characterised the period 1991 to 2003 in Zimbabwe. The press both shaped and was shaped by the shifting contestation(s) within and between different centres of power during the second and part of the third decade of independence.

While the adoption of free market reforms and liberalisation in 1991 encouraged a significant expansion of the press, representation of critical national debate in the press was largely limited to (organised and powerful) competing interests in business, labour and politics. The relationship of the press to capital and the state during this period became more pronounced.

The rationale, in this article, for examining the interface between press, state and capital, and its implications for the representation of national issues and debates, is to theorise the role of the press in democratic transition, especially viewed in relation to the concept of the public sphere, and to make policy reform suggestions for a press that is ideally suited to provide a critical, discursive realm in societies in transition in Africa.

Keywords: Competing interests, control, economy, influence, national debate, policy, politics, relationship, representation, transition, Zimbabwe