(TALKZIMBABWE) 'Western media coverage of Zim ceremony biased'

'Western media coverage of Zim ceremony biased'
Donette Read Kruger
Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:58:00 +0000

ON the 17th April 2008, Raila Odinga, Kenya's former opposition leader was sworn in as Kenya's Prime Minister, in a power-sharing deal that ended weeks of violence following disputed elections in that country.

Mwai Kibaki, the President, named Odinga Prime Minister after the two former presidential rivals agreed to share power in February, and the West was quick to embrace that arrangement, even though the period leading up to that event had been marred by violence and intimidation.

Whilst coverage on Kenya was immense, I do not recall the BBC/SKY/Al Jazeera news organisations having some arbitrary stringer out there in the field giving a negative account of Mwai Kibaki's previous position during the inaugural ceremony as was done during the inauguration of our new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputies today.

Millions of Zimbabweans around the world were glued to their television screens wanting to witness this landmark event, only to be bombarded with a barrage of opinions from stringers and international correspondents. Many of us wanted to hear our three leaders take the oath of office.

This type of reporting rubbishes all our efforts at charting our own way forward. It also points to the danger of Western media undermining the 'impartial culture' of reporting that they often preach.

Such lapses in impartiality discredits the news these media organisations are trying to impart.

By such orchestrated playing up or playing down incidents that take place in Zimbabwe, Western media has contributed greatly to how the world sees and interprets what happens there.

Although the reporting on Zimbabwe was not as erroneous and full of misattributions as some programmes we have seen by these news organizations, the coverage is nevetheless biased and partial and devoid of any social responsility.

This is our second chance at proving that we can be the prototype for southern Africa where black, white and brown people can work together and make a nation great.

Well done Zimbabwe. Let us go forward together, hand-in-hand, the forgivers and the forgiven.

At the end of the day, we are One Tribe, One Zimbabwe, One Nation.

The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and African Union were created for a specific purpose and this proves that their input holds water.

The West should respect our African culture and allow us to chart our own way forward.

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*Donette Read Kruger is a sub-editor of the Zimbabwe Guardian.