Zimbabwe

When the Media covers a story as big as the sham election in Zimbabwe, I realise that journalists sometimes are looking for something different to say. As a blogger I am frequently faced with the same problem, especially when the Main stream media are covering the story, how can I say anything that has not already been said. Then on Sunday, in a radio report, a journalist that I normally respect said something so stupid that I was shocked by the appalling lack of understanding of the man. He said that; “As Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn from the race he may no longer have the opposition support”

Well as has been well reported, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the election run off after around seventy supporters of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) were murdered and countless hundreds of others were severely beaten. Additionally, Morgan Tsvangirai himself had to flee for his life to the Dutch Embassy.

What did this reporter expect? Morgan Tsvangirai at least had the interest of the people of Zimbabwe in mind, as it looked as thought the country was on the brink of a genocide. He was trying to prevent any more killings, rapes and beatings from occurring. Further, by refusing to take part in this sham of an election, he has placed a spotlight on the illegitimacy of Mugabe, one the world can no longer ignore.

While I too was disappointed that Morgan Tsvangirai was not going to contest the election, I could understand why. In the first round, even after stuffing the ballot boxes with three million extra votes for Mugabe, Zanu-PF still failed to win the presidential race. That message did apparently get through to Mugabe who was ready to stand down. However, all the other people who are part of the Zanu-PF leadership dissuaded him from doing so because they knew they could face the international criminal courts for crimes against humanity.

It is interesting to note that many of the spoilt ballot papers in the run just had the word “Murderer” written on them. Also while the official result says that there was a high turn out, the independent observers say that the turn out was minuscule. Again the independent observers were saying that there were more spoilt ballot papers than actual votes.

While I feel sorry for the many supporters of the MDC that were determined to vote against Mugabe, defying the threats of violence, by Morgan Tsvangirai withdrawing from the race he largely prevented that violence escalating. That shows a high degree of statesmanship.

The greatest difficulty is and will be need to build a fair and equitable society in Zimbabwe. Far to much of the talk from outside has been about how to force Mugabe out of office. Yet Morgan Tsvangirai has only ever spoken about how to effect peaceful change.

At least now other African leaders are calling on Mugabe to go.

The shame is that it has taken so long for this to happen. As Zimbabwe was the bread basket for southern Africa, the failing economy and the agricultural failures will have a devastating effect for the whole region. While I have sympathy for the argument that the Black (indigenous) population had regarding the fact that most of the land was owned by a minority of white farmers, just taking the land away from the white farmers was never going to solve the problems of black poverty. There had to be a willingness and ability to work the land, to produce a crop.

In effect all that Mugabe did was take the land from the white Farmers and give it to a few selected supporters of Zanu-PF, the former rebel fighters, who just wanted to own the land for its own sake. Land only has economic value because of productive value. Most of that land is not even providing a sustenance living for the people who now own that land. All the while Mugabe blames everyone else for the economic crisis. And has relied upon the fact that as the rebel leader who won independence that morally justified him having power. But like all thugs and bullies, he cant see the damage he is causing.

At least now with other African leaders calling for him to go, the end will come sooner rather than latter. What Africa needs is good governance and while I don't know if Morgan Tsvangirai will be a good leader, he has won my respect by talking peace and taking actions to avoid violence.

Cyclone in Burma and the Media

While I was aware that a Cyclone had struck in Burma, it was not until this evening that I discovered the scale of the disaster that has struck that benighted country. Today (although this will be posted on Tuesday) has been a bank holiday here in the UK, so I did not hear the radio or the TV news until late.

While news is difficult to extract from Burma at the best of times, and no doubt this has been exacerbated by the physical damage caused by the cyclone, I would have thought that with a disaster that results in ten thousand people being killed would have merited more prominent coverage.

However, as it has been a bank holiday, I didn't go out into the countryside as I know from experience that it is likely be crowded with people and I would stand little chance of seeing much. Therefore, I had a relaxed day listening to some of the podcasts I down load, reading and writing. This is where I have a difficulty with the way the story of the Cyclone was covered, as several times I logged on to the web and the news feeds from my ISP were full of crap about “celebrity” and that bunch of people that are only famous for being famous.

Now I know that Burma is a long way away and obviously the fact that some unknown celebrity wannabe has had a boob job was far more important!

That is no exaggeration, following seeing the story on Burma on the TV, my ISP was still leading with four nonsense celebrity stories. I had to search out real news for myself. However, this just one example, and possibly the most serious, of the way that the media are abdicating their responsibility to report the news.

While the TV news from the BBC is quite good and comprehensive, I have see to much of the celebrity non story appearing in the news. Most of the other TV channels news is far to tabloid and low brow. The print media here is a complete waste of time. The tabloids have lost all pretence that they cover real news, and while the broadsheets are still readable to a point, there is nothing like the real investigative journalism that the press used to excel at. Additionally they spend far to much space to reporting football. How can any game that a dog can be taught to play be worth all those acres of news print?

While this may seem like a tirade, good quality journalism via the media is important. Its rather appropriate that it should be a media report about Burma, a repressive and secretive regime, should have prompted this posting. As good journalism helps shine a light on the dark corners that governments and businesses would rather remain obscured. Further, we need good quality journalism helps increase understanding about what is happening in the world.

Part of the reason why we have so much going wrong in the world is that the media is failing to scrutinise events properly. The concentration upon celebrity distracts people from discovering what is really happening.