This paper uses the importance of the public sphere theoretical concept to present day societies and uses the presidential runoff elections in Zimbabwe to argue that a purely legalistic and nationalistic approach to protecting the media public sphere is now redundant. Various techniques used by the Zanu PF to emasculate media discourses to maintain its ideological hegemony are outlined. Through the control of all appointments to key public media management positions at two key public media houses and the war rhetoric, Zanu PF was able to use brazen techniques of threats, reprimands and dismissals of journalists as tools for controlling national messaging, hence making public media a mere political microphone. The paper recommends the establishment of supra-regional bodies to monitor and enforce adherence to African and Regional protocols and norms on media freedom during elections to ensure the nurturing of pluralistic democracy on the continent. The paper ends by concluding that the media in Africa still need to be protected to ensure that they can provide platforms for critical and rational debates.

Key Words: Public Sphere, Hegemony, Democracy, Propaganda and Rhetoric.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, April  2009, 71 – 82.

About the author

Stenford Matenda is of the Department of Public Relations and Communication, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha Campus, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

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Article Citation

Matenda, S. (2009): Nurturing African public spheres: Lessons from the Zimbabwe presidential runoff elections. Journal of Communication and Media Research 1(1): 71 – 82.