The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
Itayi Garande
2 April 2008
opinion
DOES the mass media have control over public opinion? The emergence and use of new technologies like the internet - and the accompanying weblogs - has also led to the emergence of an opportunistic media.
Yesterday was an interesting day in which the role of mass media in shaping public opinion got tested to its limits. Big players like the BBC, Al Jazeera, and the Washington Post proved to us that they are not immune from the media rumour mill. Their role in ending conflict became questionable.
Even the seemingly indomitable US Department of State seemed to have caught on the bug â"- the Zimbabwe election bug.
The day started with a Reuters story stating that the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition MDC were heading for a run-off. That story was replaced by another story that President Mugabe had conceded defeat to the opposition MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Then we heard that Mugabe has run away - left the country for a destination unknown. To spice it all up, later, in the day, we heard that South African President Thabo Mbeki would be announcing progress of a deal he brokered for President Mugabe's resignation, which would culminate in a handover of power to Morgan Tsvangirai.
All these stories were, apparently, coming from unnamed sources within the ruling party - how unusual, we thought.
The cocktail was made more complicated by a midday Tsvangirai press conference and a Biti announcement that the MDC had won the election and prepared to form a government.
In the meantime, the anxious Zimbabwean people received intermittent announcements of House of Assembly winners from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission - who called for patience. The phone lines to Harare seemed endlessly jammed and phones in the office didn't stop ringing. Media banned in Zimbabwe: the BBC, Sky News, ABC, Channel 4, Fox News, etc. were endlessly calling â"- looking for a Zimbabwe 'political analyst'.
Many of us developed 'headaches' and 'resigned'. We reached our cognitive capacities; we couldn't handle the pressure anymore. The rumour mill was in overdrive.
The Manufacture of Consent
Walter Lippman famously coined the phrase "the manufacture of consent", enjoining it as a means of population control.
His concept was in full effect yesterday.
The status of the mass media and its faithful propagation of the established opinion that giant media like the BBC, Sky News, Fox, etc is fundamentally infallible and benevolent in intention, became very important.
Many Zimbabweans trawled BBC, Al Jazeera, Sky News, CNN websites, Zimbabwe news websites, blogs and fora to find out what was going on in their country. The rest of the world did as well. But they got too much unverified information. So they looked for the most convincing story, yet the evidence was not forthcoming. Because this is the most media saturated election ever, unverified reports became difficult to process and confusing. Too little information, in the information age, leads to frustration. Too much information from too many sources is overwhelming.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) gave us too little information to feed our huge appetites; and Western media gave us too much to process. We couldn't win either way. Yet ZEC could not be pushed; calling for patience and caution.
Mass media proved to be the most powerful institution, at least for us in the Diaspora. Afterall, it is the ultimate source of all our information, more so if our reporters are not communicating fast enough and their phones are constantly jammed.
The structure of the mass media therefore had fundamental implications for the political and cultural orientation of the public â"- for the perception we had about the election, about the opposition, about the government, about the final outcome of the harmonised elections in the country.
Those Who Reported First Have The Upper Hand
The opposition in Zimbabwe used international mass media it to the fullest, are using it to the fullest. They have had three press conferences so far. They will have another today.
Al Jazeera is exclusively relaying information worldwide. Even BBC's foreign correspondent John Simpson had to illegally sneak into the country 'to get a piece of the action'. This seemed acceptable, after all he was just trying to inform. Even Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman was sceptical about the altruism of these media organisations, asking Simpson whether Western media was trying to advance their own view of the electoral process in Zimbabwe. He could rightly see how they were trying to shape public opinion, world opinion, on Zimbabwe.
Paxman's question falls short of asking: Is US hegemonic expansionism legitimized and veiled by the mass media?
The world is likely to see escalating turmoil, violence and instability as the US extends its tentacles of consolidation to new regions. This expansionism can only be supported by popular demands for social change within the Global North as well as the Global South.
Zimbabwean Diaspora communities are targets in a wider net. They wait in vain for UK Channel 4's 'Press Conference' by President Mugabe to announce that he was stepping down. It doesn't come. It never was. Yet many believe that it is coming even though the Information Ministry in Zimbabwe has issued a statement to refute the claim.
A Deeper Look
Yet a deeper look at the internet and mass media throws considerable light on the structure of Western media, Western government concerns, the relationship between that media and governments, the public and those who possess power, as well as the ideologies produced by the media and their impact on the public. The role of spin, and counter-spin came to light.
Western media and governments are setting the agenda: in China, in Zimbabwe, in Cuba, in Tibet. If not, as in Zimbabwe, they will set the pace at least. It is big business, it is in their 'national interests'.
Reporting on conflict in Asia, the Middle East and Africa is big business for the media houses. Create media frenzy, create profit. It is big business for CNN, for google, for the BBC and those who are in it, win it.
The stories are dominating NATO meetings as I write. A new democracy, United States President Bush says, is sweeping across the world and changing the changing nature of NATO Alliance, an expeditionary alliance, with Twenty First Century capabilities. He wants to 'deploy effectively anywhere in the World' â"- deploy everything.
The headlines go: "America, the land of big cars, big dreams, big business.... [commercial] The political future of Zimbabwe's President Mugabe remains in the balance. The opposition leader says he has won the election"
This is all to protect 'our citizens' against 911-type ballistics, against the emerging threat from the Pacific, East Asia, Middle East, Africa. He says this is urgent.
Bush wants Russia to join in developing middle range ballistic defences, everyone to join in, 'so that the attack never comes to pass'. He wants everyone to join in. He says the Cold War is over. Everyone should join in, to protect everyone.
Counter Media, Counter Spin
Yet Al Jazeera is showing the Taliban using old methods to attack the 'new enemy'. They are using the rudimentary self-defence mechanisms: they are training their young to resist American occupation.
"The US occupation will never be sweet, and never be short," Al Jazeera reverberates as I write. "America's Art of Deception" so goes the headline of a programme to counter a US program.
China is countering reports in Tibet by its own versions of events; but is being absorbed by the power of the Western media. Chinese ambassadors, who are usually quiet, are bullied into appearing on television to feed the 'media hunger' - to explain Tibet. Even the Dalai Lama comes out of his usual nest, he appears calling for calm.
Democracy demands that, we are made to believe. Yet how could it demand that?
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