Title: Alternative Media and African Democracy
Subtitle: The Private Press and Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe
Subject Classification:  Politics and Government, Global South Studies, History  
BIC Classification: HBJH, JP
BISAC Classification: POL053000, SOC052000, HIS001040
Binding: Hardback, eBook
Planned publication date: Jan 2027
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-613-3
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-614-0

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Description

The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st were marked by enormous social, economic and political challenges in Africa and in other developing regions. This was partly due to the effects of a global economic recession, often unsuccessful national economic structural adjustment programmes, rampant public sector corruption, and a rise in authoritarianism, as states tried to keep restive populations under control.

Zimbabwe saw intense political struggles between the government and various agents of social change who were pressing for democratic space. This book specifically investigates how the news media in Zimbabwe played a critical role in actively mobilizing for political change and as a site for opposition politics and agitation during times of turmoil and repression from 1997-2010. Zimbabwe’s news media, particularly privately owned newspapers, provided more accessible platforms for robust debate that challenged the status quo in the troubled state.

Not only did the private press in Zimbabwe successfully oppose the one-party state after the country attained independence in 1980, they were even more significant at the height of the economic and political governance crisis, also known as the Zimbabwe Crisis, from 2000-2010. The narrative of the book is centered around the case study of The Daily News, a leading private newspaper whose masthead was aptly worded: “telling it like it is”, drawing on the author’s direct experience as a journalist of The Daily News at that time

It forms an important and unique reference work, of interest to students and researchers in politics, media and African studies.

Biography

Author(s):  Dr. Pedzisai Ruhanya is a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. He is a Senior Research Associate with the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

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