Mugabe’s Media War: How New Media Help Zimbabwean Journalists Tell Their Story

By Sandra Nyaira

A paper by Sandra Nyaira, fall 2008 fellow, analyzes efforts to keep Zimbabweans informed in the wake of the collapse of the country’s media landscape – a part of the ZANU‐PF government’s violent campaign to remain in office. Without private daily newspapers, private, commercial or community radio stations, independent television channels, or access to foreign media coverage of Zimbabwe, online publications and other technologies such as shortwave radio, and SMS (text messages) were used to inform people at a grassroots level. Yet despite their resourcefulness, online publications and text messages remained insufficient, as Internet access and cell phones were not widespread among the poor.

Download the paper (PDF).