Each time another white person is killed in Rho­desia, western journalists vividly depict a scene ofbloodshed and brutality and inevitably blame theincident on the liberation forces of the PatrioticFront. When this occurs, the illegal regime scores apropaganda victory, using the event to discredit theguerillas and to win support for its war effort, and,since March 3, to gain international recognition for itsinternalsettlement.

For instance, when Pentacostal missionaries andtheir children were killed near the eastern border onJune 23rd, the regime flew foreign journalists to thescene of the slayings, allowing them to photographfreely, and to send back stories without censoring thegory details. This was quite a contrast to the massacreof 22 Africans by security forces two weeks previouswhen even the statements of two members of theinterim Executive Council were censored. It also farovershadowed the coverage of a massacre only 24hours earlier when Rhodesian troops raided a refugeecamp 33 kilometers inside Mozambique, killing 17refugees and 2 UN Food and Agriculture Organi­zation volunteers from Belgium.

The statements of the liberation forces, if usedat all, are reduced to a few sentences and buried inthe middle of an article. Most US media simply repeatthe regime's accusations that the guerillas are on therampage against whites and the church. This processreinforces racist images which make it easy to believestories depicting Africans as brutal barbarians. Itbolsters the regime's contention that it is fighting topreserve Christianity and civilization against theattacks of "murdering mad~ogcommunist terrorists."

The media thus tend to act as both judge andjury-to pronounce a verdict instea~ of giving theiraudience the evidence needed to form their ownconclusions.

ZIM WE:

5•In

Winninrts nH

How can we avoid taking on the same biasesabout Zimbabwe that are expressed in major mediafrom which we get most of our information?

1. Learn to read and listen critically.Next time you read an account of a massacre, anattack on the church, or an assessment of politicaldevelopments in Rhodesia, refer back to this leafletto help evaluate what you read.

2. Alternative media.To escape the limitations of the establishment media,seek out other sources of information. Magazinessuch as International Bulletin, In These Times, SevenDays and The Guardian can round out your informa­tion about southern Africa. Good sources of in-depthinformation on southern Africa include:

Southern Africa156 Fifth Ave., Room 707

New Vork, N.V. 10010($8 subscription for 12 issues)

Africa NewsP.O. Box 3851

Durham, N.C. 27702($15 introductory offer for 48 issues)

Wa hington Notes on Africa110 Maryland Ave., N.E.Washington, D.C. 20002($5 annual contribution)

American Committee on Africa305 East 46th St.

New York, N.V. 10017(ask for literature list)

3. Educate others.Distribute copies of this leaflet. Order from theWashington Office o.n Africa (see address below)for 15¢ each for 1-1 0; 1O¢ each for 11-50; 5¢ eachfor over 50 copies.

Monitor the local media and write articles or lettersto the editor to correct false or one-sided coverage.Take the opportunity to appear on public radio andTV shows to give a side of the story different fromwhat usually appears. Organize teach-i ns in your localcommunity at schools, churches or union meetings.

WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA110 Maryland Ave., N.E.Washington, D.C. 20002

Out from Under the Media's Biases.

Wha the Media DontTel1 UsTwelve people ... were k~lIed last night in

a terrorist attack. The 12, all white, were bat­tered and bayoneted by black nationalists.

New York Times, June 25,1978

All but one of the priests to whom I spoke stressedthat their African congregations were convinced thatthe killings were being carried out by the SelousScouts ... The [former] Bishop of Umtali, Rt. Rev.Donal Lamont recounted . . . "I had a visit from oneof my African clergy who reported that he was ter­rorized by European members of the security forces.They said to him: 'You'd better watch out. One deadmissionary is as good as 100 dead terrorists to us'."

David Martin in London Observer~March 13, 1977

1 The US media have given scant coverage to theSelous Scouts, an elite counter-insurgency unit in theSmith army which impersonates guerillas and commitsatrocities in order to discredit the authentic liberationforces. Their activities make it extremely difficult totell which side is in fact responsible for any atrocity.In the eyes of the African people, the Scouts are thereal terrorists and would not shrink from murderingmissionaries if it would serve their cause. The Com­mission for Justice and Peace in Rhodesia had gatheredsignificant evidence linking the Scouts with the deathof seven missionaries at St. Paul's Mission in February,1977 as well as to several major massacres of Africancivilians which had been blamed on the guerillas.

oooo

A thirteen man section of Selous Scouts posing asguerillas arrived at Nyadiriri kraal ... On their arrival,Lytton, the section commander, interrogated Mr.Nyadiriri ... After torturing him for two hours with-out obtaining any useful information, Lytton .ordered his band to shoot down the innocent man .Three days later the [Rhodesian Broadcast Corpora­tion] ... report was as follows: "Terrorists arrivedat Nyadiriri Kraal and demanded for food. Mr.Nyadiriri refused them food and the murderersgunned him down with their Soviet automatic rifles."

Account of Wonderful Mukoyi, captured SelousScout, Zimbabwe New, Julv-December, 1977

2 Missionaries who have stayed in rural areas havegenerally formed a working relationship with theliberation forces in their region. Some church person­nel provide food, shelter and medicine to the libera­tion army. It is therefore much more likely that mis­sionaries would be viewed as enemy targets by theSmith regime than by the guerillas. The church, as arule, doe~ no~ report ~.he presence ~~J!uerillas, a crimethat carries a maximum penalty of death. It is mis:sionaries who have witnessed and exposed torture andill-treatment of African civilians by the security forces.

Several church people who have been killed werefirm supporters of the Patriotic Front. One of thefirst victims, Bishop Adolph Schmitt, was a life-longfriend of Patriotic Front leader Joshua Nkomo. ThePentacostals who were the most recent victims werereportedly cooperating with the liberation forces intheir area. On the other hand, missionaries of c~urcheswhich support the regime, such as the Dutch ReformedChurch and the Anglicans, have never been touched.

oooo

G' eo,0 a',S' .,a'y, 0 kil e missiona ie&21Blacks Massacred ~~i Rhod sia? IIlRhoclesian Village;~ ~

Law.. Order Crumb e in SoleSuJ'I)il1Or/njured 5;2 a', odes· 0 Rh d · SALI.S~URY, Rhodesia, July 15 (AP) ~, . ........~~ 0 eSla 0 bia~~~~~ZI~~~~~~~a~a~a~~~e~~: ••

ugabp: 11/it"~1f1~3 Blame blacks last night in a viIIage 100 miles'=Killings on S~curit)· ~711... • ritrth

of here, Some of the Victimsrer .~

M.' Ie 881·O.n SchlQOo, .:~~:.~:'~~;;A:'~~:::::;l'.lISSIOnar es .l arp'ets 0 .§ .

portll that RhodesIan security forrersDh~ J . • GO' .•,.,-:. '•.1IiIIIIi ......iIIIIjI__PO.lli".'J'.'<:.nal.ill".aliS.\l-!.'Uf'.rril.11l5.('Rn UUeswn uerr, IUS e.

4 The regime h powerful supporters in the USwhich help make its voice heard there. The officialRhodesian information Office in Washington, D.C.provides a steady flow of propaganda to sympatheticAmericans, especially politicians and journalists. Thenetworks of the New Right are beginning to mobilizesupport for the internal settlement. Robin Moore,who heads an unofficial "embassy" in Salisbury toserve American mercenaries, has written a popularpaperback containing the regime's version of the war.American industry is also deeply involved. E.F.Andrews of Allegheny Ludlum Industries {the coun­try's largest specialty steel company which has usedchrome mined in Rhodesia}, has been a principallobbyist over the years against sanctions. This year hehas helped promote the internal settlement in Rho­desia and the Un ited States.

The Smith regime goes to inordir:late lengths toconceal the real situation in Rhodesia from the out­side world, and even from its own citizens. Since thewhite minority regime seized power illegally in 1965,Rhodesia has been in a declared State of Emergency.Such laws as the Law and Order (Maintenance) Actcurtail freedom of the press as well as freedom ofspeech, particularly with regard to the conduct of thewar. It is a crime to publish anything "contrary to theinterests of public safety or public order," or any­thing likely to "cause fear, alarm and despondency."Since January of 1978, all reports relating to the warmust pass through the hands of government censors.The penalty for violating the new press restrictions isa $700 fine or one year imprisonment or both.

Journalists' access to information is also severelylimited. On arrival in Rhodesia journalists are inform.edthat they are forbidden to enter operational areaswithout government permission and escort. This in­cludes almost the entire country except for the citiesof Bulawayo and Salisbury.

They are also forbidden to visit th~ government's"protected villages," in which one-third of the ruralpopulation is restricted. Because of the racial segre­gation enforced by the Land Tenu.re Act, it is alsodifficult for white journalists to visit African town­ships or to talk to Africans without drawing the at-

The campaign against the Roman Catholic Churchby the Smith regime is deliberate and calculated be­cause of the stiff resistance which that Church hasput up against the injustice and mass murder ofpeople ... Smith, in an attempt to cover up theseatrocities, has accused us of committing them ...The truth is that the white missionaries are beingsacrificed by the Smith regime on the mistakenbelief that the gullible Western world will believehis side arid see justice in his cause and injustice inours.

Robert Mugabe, President of ZANUU.N. Conference on Zimbabwe and Namibia

Maputo, Mozambique, May 16, 1977

It is a wicked lie for anybody to suggest thatfreedom fighters are molesting or killing missionaries. . . Those who have left the country because theyhave been deported or because they could not standthe oppressive system in our country, or becausethey feared for their lives, must know that they willbe needed in a free Zimbabwe. We shall take troubleto bring them back to continue to perform theirinvaluable service.

Joshua Nkomo, President of ZAPULusaka Radio, September 1977.0. 0.0. 0•

3 Propaganda has been a powerful weapon in theSmith arsenal. The regime publishes numerouspamphlets depicting Rhodesia as a happy multi­racial society beset by communist invaders fromwithout its borders. A nati.Qn~t.p~'-y~h ogical cam­paign was. launched in October, 1976 to sell theidea 0 an J.[l1~naTs-ettlement and to depict theliberation movement as Marxist, terrorist and extrem­ist. This pervasive propaganda provides the govern­ment with a plausible motive for blaming the mission­ary killings on the guerillas.

.0. D • 0 .0.In Rhodesia the news media are completely con­

trolled by the regime. Only a censored version of thekilling (or any other aspect of the war) reaches theou ide world. Journalists who have been critical,or even skeptical, of official Rhodesian propagandahave en promptly deported, over 70 of them to date.

Christian Science Monitor, July 11, 1978

Why we he r nly ne Si e

FEIFFEby 4ULES'FEIFFER

tention of the police. Reporters are usually tailed bythe Special Branch of the police and their hotelrooms are often searched.

The government also controls journalists by issuingthem work permits for a limited period of 29 days.If their reporting is not acceptable to the regime theywi II not be granted an extension.

During briefings by military personnel, journalistsare fed the regime's side of the war and also dis­couraged from talking with Africans. They are in­doctrinated with the stereotype of Africans as hostile,anti-white, and tribally oriented. With this kind ofintroduction it is small wonder that many corres­pondents are forced to rely' on gossip which circulatesamong journalists who gather at the Quill Club inSalisbury's Ambassador Hotel.

American media coverage of Zimbabwe is alsobiased because of the structure of the media itself.UPI and AP are the major sources of foreign coveragefor most American papers. Neither has reportersbased in any of the front-line states where they wouldhear the Patriotic Front's version of the war. In con-.trast, both agencies have bureaus in Salisbury wherethey are inundated with the Smith regime's propa­ganda. Individual reporters- who cover Africa for themajor big-eity papers and magazines generally have tocover almost all of the continent. They can onlyspend a few days at a time in Rhodesia, and seldomhave time to establish African contacts and get anin-depth reading.of the situation.

The highly concentrated corporate ownership ofUS media is not interested in sympathetic portrayalsof movements with socialist objectives. It is thereforenot surprising that reporters or editors do not getencouragement to write stories that break stereo­types or challenge 'assumptions that the PatrioticFront is the enemy. This same factor helps to explainwhy evidence of US support for the minority regime­the continued violations of sanctions, the supply ofoil from US subsidiaries in South Africa, the 500mercenaries in Smith's army-is often ignored. Thecombined effect of Rhodesia's propaganda, encour­agement of racist biases and the corporate interestsof US media help to explain which stories on Zim­babwe will continue to "stop the presses".

i

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The Eye f the hider