Blogging, feminism and the politics of participation : the case of Her Zimbabwe
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Blogs - Zimbabwe , Feminism - Zimbabwe , Participation
- Language: English
- Type: Book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/217283 , uj:21621 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Blogging, feminism and the politics of participation : the case of Her Zimbabwe.
- Description: Abstract: The proliferation of the internet has shown promises and ‘potentials’ of empowering women in ways that are unimaginable in most patriarchal societies. Politics, activism and engagements through technology seem to have been gendered spaces as evidenced by research in the developing world (Harris, 2008; Keller, 2012; Morahan-Martin, 2000). This chapter attempts to demystify this rather ‘silent’ myth, especially in the African context that the internet as well as technological activism and political domains are solely meant for men. To do this, I will discuss activism in support of women’s issues in Zimbabwe through a single case study approach. Specific attention is paid to the website Her Zimbabwe, a novel website which attempts to empower women as citizens, giving them a platform to speak on issues otherwise ignored in mainstream media or frowned upon by society. The site uses material from citizen journalists i.e bloggers and readers who comment under blog stories which compose an alternative public sphere to the mainstream one and to a certain extent officialised public sphere dominated by mainstream media. Her Zimbabwe, as the name suggests, focuses entirely on women’s issues giving women, as citizens, a platform to speak and articulate their issues which seem to be ignored by society, industry, policy makers and the media. The site has a lot of content on women’s issues especially from ‘feminist’ bloggers. Methodologically this study will use purposive sampling to select material that speaks to issues of women activism since 2012 and these will be subjected to critical discourse analysis, an analytic approach that critiques power, its distribution and imbalances. Theoretically the chapter is anchored on the issue of the voice in counter-digital public spheres.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Blogs - Zimbabwe , Feminism - Zimbabwe , Participation
- Language: English
- Type: Book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/217283 , uj:21621 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Blogging, feminism and the politics of participation : the case of Her Zimbabwe.
- Description: Abstract: The proliferation of the internet has shown promises and ‘potentials’ of empowering women in ways that are unimaginable in most patriarchal societies. Politics, activism and engagements through technology seem to have been gendered spaces as evidenced by research in the developing world (Harris, 2008; Keller, 2012; Morahan-Martin, 2000). This chapter attempts to demystify this rather ‘silent’ myth, especially in the African context that the internet as well as technological activism and political domains are solely meant for men. To do this, I will discuss activism in support of women’s issues in Zimbabwe through a single case study approach. Specific attention is paid to the website Her Zimbabwe, a novel website which attempts to empower women as citizens, giving them a platform to speak on issues otherwise ignored in mainstream media or frowned upon by society. The site uses material from citizen journalists i.e bloggers and readers who comment under blog stories which compose an alternative public sphere to the mainstream one and to a certain extent officialised public sphere dominated by mainstream media. Her Zimbabwe, as the name suggests, focuses entirely on women’s issues giving women, as citizens, a platform to speak and articulate their issues which seem to be ignored by society, industry, policy makers and the media. The site has a lot of content on women’s issues especially from ‘feminist’ bloggers. Methodologically this study will use purposive sampling to select material that speaks to issues of women activism since 2012 and these will be subjected to critical discourse analysis, an analytic approach that critiques power, its distribution and imbalances. Theoretically the chapter is anchored on the issue of the voice in counter-digital public spheres.
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Citizen journalism and moral panics : a consideration of ethics in the 2015 South African xenophobic attacks
- Mpofu, Shepherd, Barnabas, Shanade Bianca
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd , Barnabas, Shanade Bianca
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism - South Africa , Xenophobia - South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/217287 , uj:21622 , Citation: Mpofu, S. & Barnabas, S.B. 2016. Citizen journalism and moral panics : a consideration of ethics in the 2015 South African xenophobic attacks.
- Description: Abstract: This article hinges on empirical qualitative data gathered from an illustrative sample to determine perceptions on enforcing ethics on social media from people who acted as citizen journalists during South Africa’s 2015 xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals. The April 2015 attacks were mediated through user-driven social media platforms such as WhatsApp, where truthful and untruthful information on xenophobia was disseminated to warn targeted recipients of impending attacks to allow them to take precautionary measures. While these messages proliferated valid and verified information there were cases where false information was spread, causing undue panic in some sectors of the immigrant society especially. This study therefore uses moral panics and citizen journalism concepts to explore the understanding of ethical implications in mediating the attacks from the perspective of citizen journalism. In the end, the argument is made that professional journalism ethics, according to the respondents in this study, need not apply to social media. Instead, the study concludes, there is a possibility of peer-to-peer monitoring and reprisals that may work as control measures in social media and citizen journalism, especially in times of crisis.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd , Barnabas, Shanade Bianca
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism - South Africa , Xenophobia - South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/217287 , uj:21622 , Citation: Mpofu, S. & Barnabas, S.B. 2016. Citizen journalism and moral panics : a consideration of ethics in the 2015 South African xenophobic attacks.
- Description: Abstract: This article hinges on empirical qualitative data gathered from an illustrative sample to determine perceptions on enforcing ethics on social media from people who acted as citizen journalists during South Africa’s 2015 xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals. The April 2015 attacks were mediated through user-driven social media platforms such as WhatsApp, where truthful and untruthful information on xenophobia was disseminated to warn targeted recipients of impending attacks to allow them to take precautionary measures. While these messages proliferated valid and verified information there were cases where false information was spread, causing undue panic in some sectors of the immigrant society especially. This study therefore uses moral panics and citizen journalism concepts to explore the understanding of ethical implications in mediating the attacks from the perspective of citizen journalism. In the end, the argument is made that professional journalism ethics, according to the respondents in this study, need not apply to social media. Instead, the study concludes, there is a possibility of peer-to-peer monitoring and reprisals that may work as control measures in social media and citizen journalism, especially in times of crisis.
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Disruption as a communicative strategy : the case of #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall students’ protests in South Africa
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fallist movements , Disruption , Violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/250396 , uj:26093 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2017. Disruption as a communicative strategy : the case of #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall students’ protests in South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: In 1994 South Africa became a miracle in the world of postcolonies as a newly independent ‘rainbow’ nation-state. Apartheid was replaced by an informal but still identical system which I refer to as apartheid. Good governance, democracy, peace, civility and quiet are framed by the media and regarded by investors and political elite among others to be the preferred set-up of things. Using the rage in the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protests as data, I argue that disrupting the world as we know it in order to address the poor’s grievances is part and parcel of strategic and effective communication especially for the marginalised poor majority black people whose dreams remain deferred. This argument will be framed by questions around the current burdens of apartheid, the achievements of disruptive protests and the meaning, roles and behaviours of officialdom towards members and ideologies of Fallist movements.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fallist movements , Disruption , Violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/250396 , uj:26093 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2017. Disruption as a communicative strategy : the case of #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall students’ protests in South Africa.
- Description: Abstract: In 1994 South Africa became a miracle in the world of postcolonies as a newly independent ‘rainbow’ nation-state. Apartheid was replaced by an informal but still identical system which I refer to as apartheid. Good governance, democracy, peace, civility and quiet are framed by the media and regarded by investors and political elite among others to be the preferred set-up of things. Using the rage in the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protests as data, I argue that disrupting the world as we know it in order to address the poor’s grievances is part and parcel of strategic and effective communication especially for the marginalised poor majority black people whose dreams remain deferred. This argument will be framed by questions around the current burdens of apartheid, the achievements of disruptive protests and the meaning, roles and behaviours of officialdom towards members and ideologies of Fallist movements.
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Making heroes, (un)making the nation?: ZANU-PF’s imaginations of the Heroes Acre, heroes and construction of identity in Zimbabwe from 2000-
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Heroes , Heroes’ Acre , National identity
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/250403 , uj:26092 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2017. Making heroes, (un)making the nation?: ZANU-PF’s imaginations of the Heroes Acre, heroes and construction of identity in Zimbabwe from 2000-.
- Description: Abstract: This article explores the post 2000 national identity formation through the use of national heroes narrative and the Heroes’ Acre shrine in Zimbabwe. The Heroes’ Acre marks the country’s physical reminder of the past and acts as a tool for national identity and its symbolic maintenance through state presided rituals that happen at the shrine. Attached to the Heroes’ Acre as a permanent physical symbol of nationhood are the people the burial site was built for –the heroes, that is, the ‘war’ dead and the living who participated in the country’s liberation ‘war’. The argument made in this paper is that the definition and usages of heroes and Heroes’ Acre has mutated over the years to suit ZANU-PF’s shifting political agendas. Specifically the article addresses questions around conferment of a hero’s status on the dead, access to the Heroes’ Acre and the meanings of these to the emotive issue of nurturing a monolithic Zimbabwean national identity as imagined by ZANU-PF. The article concludes that the elite’s uses of the Heroes’ Acre and heroes’ status which excludes democratic public participation has served to carve a skewed and narrow narrative on the meaning of Zimbabweanness meant to bolster ZANU-PF’s hegemony. National identities, the article argues, are transient and always changing.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Heroes , Heroes’ Acre , National identity
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/250403 , uj:26092 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2017. Making heroes, (un)making the nation?: ZANU-PF’s imaginations of the Heroes Acre, heroes and construction of identity in Zimbabwe from 2000-.
- Description: Abstract: This article explores the post 2000 national identity formation through the use of national heroes narrative and the Heroes’ Acre shrine in Zimbabwe. The Heroes’ Acre marks the country’s physical reminder of the past and acts as a tool for national identity and its symbolic maintenance through state presided rituals that happen at the shrine. Attached to the Heroes’ Acre as a permanent physical symbol of nationhood are the people the burial site was built for –the heroes, that is, the ‘war’ dead and the living who participated in the country’s liberation ‘war’. The argument made in this paper is that the definition and usages of heroes and Heroes’ Acre has mutated over the years to suit ZANU-PF’s shifting political agendas. Specifically the article addresses questions around conferment of a hero’s status on the dead, access to the Heroes’ Acre and the meanings of these to the emotive issue of nurturing a monolithic Zimbabwean national identity as imagined by ZANU-PF. The article concludes that the elite’s uses of the Heroes’ Acre and heroes’ status which excludes democratic public participation has served to carve a skewed and narrow narrative on the meaning of Zimbabweanness meant to bolster ZANU-PF’s hegemony. National identities, the article argues, are transient and always changing.
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Mandelaism in newspaper advertising that ‘pays tribute’ to Mandela after his death
- Mpofu, Shepherd, Chasi, Colin
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd , Chasi, Colin
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/254643 , uj:26662 , Citation: Mpofu, S. & Chasi, C. 2017. Mandelaism in newspaper advertising that ‘pays tribute’ to Mandela after his death.
- Description: Abstract: Celebrated, Former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013 saw an outpouring of local and global grief and emotion. This reflected how Mandela became iconized as a popular cultural and political symbol for human rights, political messiah-hood, sainthood, dignity, peace and forgiveness. Even Mandela attempted to deflect and qualify this iconisation. Taking critical views into account, we propose ‘Mandelaism’ as a term to describe the cultural practices and sign systems that surround and mythologize Mandela, intermeshing with, feeding into and parasitically drawing on patriotic sentiments. Mandelaism magically invokes powers and forms of what Mbembe (2001: 25) calls the commandement – to conflate and inflate often weak notions and practices of the right. Popularly, these powers are invoked for nation building. However Mandelaism is also tightly associated with self-serving machinations that deform and weaken this right which legitimates it. This study explores advertisements from selected national English-language newspapers published in the two weeks that followed his death, subjecting them to a semiotic analysis. It thereby aims to recognize aspects of Mandelaism and of the parasite behaviors which we claim are appended to it. The unprecedented scale of the news-event that was Mandela death and funeral assures that the study is set in one of the greatest known nationalistic imaginariums.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd , Chasi, Colin
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/254643 , uj:26662 , Citation: Mpofu, S. & Chasi, C. 2017. Mandelaism in newspaper advertising that ‘pays tribute’ to Mandela after his death.
- Description: Abstract: Celebrated, Former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013 saw an outpouring of local and global grief and emotion. This reflected how Mandela became iconized as a popular cultural and political symbol for human rights, political messiah-hood, sainthood, dignity, peace and forgiveness. Even Mandela attempted to deflect and qualify this iconisation. Taking critical views into account, we propose ‘Mandelaism’ as a term to describe the cultural practices and sign systems that surround and mythologize Mandela, intermeshing with, feeding into and parasitically drawing on patriotic sentiments. Mandelaism magically invokes powers and forms of what Mbembe (2001: 25) calls the commandement – to conflate and inflate often weak notions and practices of the right. Popularly, these powers are invoked for nation building. However Mandelaism is also tightly associated with self-serving machinations that deform and weaken this right which legitimates it. This study explores advertisements from selected national English-language newspapers published in the two weeks that followed his death, subjecting them to a semiotic analysis. It thereby aims to recognize aspects of Mandelaism and of the parasite behaviors which we claim are appended to it. The unprecedented scale of the news-event that was Mandela death and funeral assures that the study is set in one of the greatest known nationalistic imaginariums.
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Participation, citizen journalism and the contestations of identity and national symbols: A case of Zimbabwe’s national heroes and the Heroes’ Acre
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Alternative public spheres , Citizen journalism , Heroes’ Acre
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/123611 , uj:20818 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Participation, citizen journalism and the contestations of identity and national symbols: A case of Zimbabwe’s national heroes and the Heroes’ Acre.
- Description: Abstract: This article constitutes an examination on how citizen journalism has challenged Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian regime on issues pertaining to national heroes and usages of the Heroes Acre as central national identity markers. Under Mugabe’s ZANU‐PF, Zimbabwe has seen the public being limited from directly participating in salient national debates. ZANU‐PF’s control of the official public sphere has also constrained alternative views from ventilating the government‐controlled communicative spaces. The party’s narrative on heroes, the Heroes Acre and national identity has gained a taken‐for‐granted status in the public media. This has obtained against the backdrop of what has become known as the Zimbabwe crises, characterised by a declining economy, a constricted political space, a breakdown in the rule of law, and the subsequent flight of a number of Zimbabweans into the diaspora. The accompanying wave of technological advancements and the mushrooming of mostly diaspora‐based online media have opened up new vistas of communication, enabling a hitherto ‘silenced’ community of ordinary people to participate in national conversations. The conclusion reached here, is that citizen journalism has not only enhanced the culture of conversation among people (as espoused under democratic conditions) but has also covered up the democratic deficit experienced in the public sphere, mediated by traditional media, parliament and pavement radio.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Alternative public spheres , Citizen journalism , Heroes’ Acre
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/123611 , uj:20818 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Participation, citizen journalism and the contestations of identity and national symbols: A case of Zimbabwe’s national heroes and the Heroes’ Acre.
- Description: Abstract: This article constitutes an examination on how citizen journalism has challenged Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian regime on issues pertaining to national heroes and usages of the Heroes Acre as central national identity markers. Under Mugabe’s ZANU‐PF, Zimbabwe has seen the public being limited from directly participating in salient national debates. ZANU‐PF’s control of the official public sphere has also constrained alternative views from ventilating the government‐controlled communicative spaces. The party’s narrative on heroes, the Heroes Acre and national identity has gained a taken‐for‐granted status in the public media. This has obtained against the backdrop of what has become known as the Zimbabwe crises, characterised by a declining economy, a constricted political space, a breakdown in the rule of law, and the subsequent flight of a number of Zimbabweans into the diaspora. The accompanying wave of technological advancements and the mushrooming of mostly diaspora‐based online media have opened up new vistas of communication, enabling a hitherto ‘silenced’ community of ordinary people to participate in national conversations. The conclusion reached here, is that citizen journalism has not only enhanced the culture of conversation among people (as espoused under democratic conditions) but has also covered up the democratic deficit experienced in the public sphere, mediated by traditional media, parliament and pavement radio.
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When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’’ voices online
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism , Genocide , Sulbaltern
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/91587 , uj:20119 , Citation: Mpofu, S., 2016. When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’ voices online.
- Description: Abstract: Using qualitative data drawn from newzimbabwe.com and a listserv comprising mostly Ndebele speaking people of Zimbabwe, this article investigates how the Web 2.0 era has given subaltern voices platforms to discuss issues rendered taboo in authoritarian contexts. The study is anchored on the concept of the subaltern public sphere and the metaphor of the ‘voice’ in cyberspace. The subaltern, as used here, refers to those people who perceive themselves as excluded from mainstream power and economic activities. The study thus uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine how ‘Ndebeles’ discuss the 1980s genocide and how citizen journalism has generally revolutionised their participation in debates silenced by the ruling elite. What strongly comes out from the discussants’ interactions is that the genocide, which has not been addressed since it ‘ended’ with the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987 remains contentious as victims have not found closure. The study concludes that Web 2.0 has reconfigured subaltern communities’ engagements with the traumatic genocide.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Citizen journalism , Genocide , Sulbaltern
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/91587 , uj:20119 , Citation: Mpofu, S., 2016. When the subaltern speaks: citizen journalism and genocide 'victims’ voices online.
- Description: Abstract: Using qualitative data drawn from newzimbabwe.com and a listserv comprising mostly Ndebele speaking people of Zimbabwe, this article investigates how the Web 2.0 era has given subaltern voices platforms to discuss issues rendered taboo in authoritarian contexts. The study is anchored on the concept of the subaltern public sphere and the metaphor of the ‘voice’ in cyberspace. The subaltern, as used here, refers to those people who perceive themselves as excluded from mainstream power and economic activities. The study thus uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine how ‘Ndebeles’ discuss the 1980s genocide and how citizen journalism has generally revolutionised their participation in debates silenced by the ruling elite. What strongly comes out from the discussants’ interactions is that the genocide, which has not been addressed since it ‘ended’ with the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987 remains contentious as victims have not found closure. The study concludes that Web 2.0 has reconfigured subaltern communities’ engagements with the traumatic genocide.
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Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on
- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Genocide , Zimbabwe , violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/124040 , uj:20866 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on.
- Description: Abstract: Since the end of genocide in 1987 Zimbabwe has remained a zone of ‘conflicts’, and the enduring debates surrounding this genocide, especially in public-owned but state-controlled media, call for critical attention. Three years after independence, in 1980, Zimbabwe was plunged into a genocide named ‘Gukurahundi’ (meaning the rain that washes the chaff away after harvest) that lasted until 1987. This article argues that there has been a clash of ‘interests’ playing out in the mediation of this yet-to-be-officially addressed genocide. Through evidence from public-owned media, the media that carry the official voice of the ruling party, I argue that public media have seen genocide from conflicting and complex angles, making it difficult to reach a consensus suitable for national building based on genocide truths, meanings and effects to Zimbabweans. I specifically use the Unity Accordassociated holiday, the Unity Day, and its associated debates to pursue two arguments. First, public media have played an ambiguous role in appreciating the conflictual and multipronged nature of the genocide within ZANU-PF. Second, public media have largely been supportive of, and even complicit in, official silences on genocide debates and memory. The article uses public sphere and narrative analysis as frameworks for understanding the operations of public media journalism in the mediation of genocide nearly 30 years after its occurrence.
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- Authors: Mpofu, Shepherd
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Genocide , Zimbabwe , violence
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/124040 , uj:20866 , Citation: Mpofu, S. 2016. Zimbabwe’s state-controlled public media and the mediation of the 1980s genocide 30 years on.
- Description: Abstract: Since the end of genocide in 1987 Zimbabwe has remained a zone of ‘conflicts’, and the enduring debates surrounding this genocide, especially in public-owned but state-controlled media, call for critical attention. Three years after independence, in 1980, Zimbabwe was plunged into a genocide named ‘Gukurahundi’ (meaning the rain that washes the chaff away after harvest) that lasted until 1987. This article argues that there has been a clash of ‘interests’ playing out in the mediation of this yet-to-be-officially addressed genocide. Through evidence from public-owned media, the media that carry the official voice of the ruling party, I argue that public media have seen genocide from conflicting and complex angles, making it difficult to reach a consensus suitable for national building based on genocide truths, meanings and effects to Zimbabweans. I specifically use the Unity Accordassociated holiday, the Unity Day, and its associated debates to pursue two arguments. First, public media have played an ambiguous role in appreciating the conflictual and multipronged nature of the genocide within ZANU-PF. Second, public media have largely been supportive of, and even complicit in, official silences on genocide debates and memory. The article uses public sphere and narrative analysis as frameworks for understanding the operations of public media journalism in the mediation of genocide nearly 30 years after its occurrence.
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