Framing of Land Ownership in The Herald Newspaper in Zimbabwe

The aim of this article is to critically unpack the frames through which the concept of land ownership was discussed in The Herald newspaper during the land reform exercise, also known as Third Chimurenga or “Fast Track Land Reform Exercise,” which was earnestly conducted in the period 2000–2008. The potential of the media in general, and The Herald newspaper in particular, to mould public opinion cannot be ignored. The article is guided by framing theory in its exploration of land ownership discourses in the Zimbabwean media. Framing theory refers to how the media packages and presents information to the public. Accordingly, the media highlights certain events and places them within a particular context to encourage or discourage certain interpretations. In this way, the media exercises a selective influence on how people view reality. This article argues that land, according to The Herald newspaper, belongs to the Black majority or native people of Zimbabwe, and ownership of land was legitimised generally through skin colour and place of birth. In this respect, The Herald newspaper took a positive stance toward the inevitability of the Land Reform Programme. However, it did not clearly state whether all Black people had equal access to the land or had the same right to own land. To demonstrate the above, two stories from The Herald newspaper, namely: “Land: Central to Liberation Struggle” (18 April 2005); and “Land Reform Pinnacle of the Struggle” (10 August 2004) were purposively sampled. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling technique used in selecting stories that have particular characteristics within a canon of newspaper stories that are of interest, and which will best enable the researcher to answer research questions. The two stories above were chosen since both focus on land ownership in Zimbabwe.