Cosmetic Reforms and Elite Continuity of Media Ownership Patterns in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe

Abstract

The chapter outlines the complexities associated with transforming media ownership in post-colonial Zimbabwe where triple processes of partial democratization, marketization and authoritarian entrenchment interact in complex ways. The chapter deploys Sparks’ (2006) metaphor of elite continuity and renewal together with the notion of media capture (see Stiglitz 2017; Schiffrin 2018) in order to highlight the complex nature of “change without change” within the context of media transformation in post-independent Zimbabwe. Ideas espoused by both elite continuity and renewal theory as well as media capture bring to light processes and mechanisms through which a few powerful political elites not only continue to own the media, but also how such media can be compromised by the very actors they are supposed to monitor. This chapter argues that Zimbabwe’s political elites use the media to consolidate and safeguard their political and economic interests by weakening the media’s watchdog role through hindering the growth of a diversified, plural, independent media.