Journalism and Mass Communication, ISSN 2160-6579 December 2013, Vol. 3, No.

12, 786-796

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DA VID PUBLISHING

Shifting Goal Posts: The Interplay Between Political Advertisements and Editorial Slants in Newspapers During Elections
Lyton Ncube
Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe

Advertising revenue is generally regarded as the lifeblood of the mass media since it largely contributes to the financial fortunes of both commercial and so-called public media houses. There is a consensus among political economy scholars that gives advertisers power over media content. It has also been argued that advertisers usually do not associate with ideological enemies. This research therefore sought to find out whether political advertisements especially, during election time, influence media content and whether political advertisers do not associate with media houses they are not ideologically compatible with. During election times, political parties also become big advertisers and newspapers together with broadcasting media compete to get advertisements from political parties so as to boost their financial fortunes. The research focused on the March 29, 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections with Network Guardian News a Kwekwe based privately owned community newspaper being used as a case study. This study utilised critical discourse analysis on purposively selected newspaper stories published during the period under study; while in-depth unstructured interviews with editors, reporters from the newspaper and politicians were also conducted to gather information. The findings revealed that in spite of the pro-ZANU-PF Network Guardian News newspaper carrying both MDC and ZANU-PF advertisements, its editorial stance remained hostile to the MDC-T party. Keywords: political advertising, political marketing, editorial content, political economy, 2008 Zimbabwean election

Introduction
In his Rethinking Media and Democracy thesis, James Curran (2000, p. 120) argues New times call for new thinking. Curran problematises the so called watch dog role of the media in society. He contends that in this era the media has largely become profit oriented and its role of protecting the rights of the underdog in society has largely been compromised. In other words, the media has deviated, going beyond the expectations of society, joining a wagon of human rights abusers in society. Taking a cue from Curran (2000) who calls for a revisit on the role of the media in a democracy, this study reconceptualises the relationship between political advertisements and editorial slants in newspapers. It has been asserted elsewhere that advertising revenue is the latter day licensing authority in newspapers, largely determining editorial content in newspapers (Murdock & Golding, 1978; Herman & Chomsky, 1988; Kellner, 1995; Mosco, 1996). These scholars further submit that
Lyton Ncube, Lecturer, Department of Media and Society Studies, Midlands State University.

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since most media around the world survive on advertising revenue, this makes them vulnerable to the influence of advertisers choices in their editorial content. Thus the production and dissemination of news are said to be largely influenced by advertisers, especially in the advertising based media. The author, however, assert that such a hypothesis needs a second glance, specifically when it comes to the power wielded by political advertisements over newspaper content during election period. The findings of this study however, might not be generalised but are Africa specific bearing in mind that conditions and context in which elections are held in Africa and the Western world are different. Thus the study is therefore specific to the African context using a Zimbabwean case study in an attempt to illustrate how the power wielded by advertising over newspaper content need not to be over emphasised especially when it comes to the terrain of political advertising. March 29, 2008, remains one of the most significant dates on the political calendar of Zimbabwe. The country held its first harmonised elections which triggered and culminated a series of events that shaped and had a say on the current political set up of things. For the first time in the countrys colonial and post colonial history, Presidential, Senatorial, Parliamentary, and Local governance elections were conducted concurrently. Unlike in other previous elections where the privately owned and international media voiced concern over the manner in which Zimbabwe held its elections, there was a general consensus that there was transparency and fairness in which the plebiscite was conducted. Contrary to what had prevailed in the previous elections where Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) the countrys state controlled sole broadcaster carried ZANU PF advertisements only, the March 29, 2008 harmonised elections saw ZBC flighting political advertisements from the MDC-T and other contesting opposition political parties. Such a trend also prevailed in state controlled newspapers. For example, The Herald privately owned publications like The Standard which accepted advertisements from both sides of the political divide. Even community newspapers including Network Guardian News which is at the nexus of this study could not be left out. For the first time since attainment of independence in 1980, the Zimbabwe African National Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) led by President Robert Mugabe then ruling party by the time of conducting the polls, faced major challenge from a credible opposition in the name Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Morgan Tsvangirai. To the neutrals and MDC sympathisers, all things being equal, Tsvangirai was set to do the Houdini act, sending ZANU PF to the cleaners in this harmonised election. However, far from the sanity that prevailed during the runner up to the plebiscite, it cannot be overlooked the context in which the election was conducted. The March 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections were held at a time when the country was economically reeling under a high-per inflationary environment which forced production to halt in most sectors of the economy including the media industry. Life had become difficult for almost every ordinary Zimbabwean. Basic commodities went missing in the shops and it was clear the economy was battling on its knees. Some commentators dubbed it Election of the stomach as Zimbabweans were mainly concerned about voting for a party that would restore and guarantee them sadza, their staple food on the table. The dire political, socio-economic problems that had hit the country, aided by economic sanctions imposed on the country by the Western powers on the turn of the millennium, and worsened the situation. The election therefore took place in an atmosphere pregnant of expectation for democratic and progressive change that would send this unfavourable prevailing situation to dustbins. This study came after an observation that the Zimbabwean newspapers had operated beyond the normative

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during this historic Zimbabwe plebiscite. The study therefore critically explores the factors which were at play that might have influenced the shifting of gears by the media during the 29 March 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections. Most importantly this study develops from my honours dissertation submitted to the Midlands State University, Media, and Society Studies in 2009. The study purposively focused on Network Guardian News community newspaper due to the fact that most institution researches conducted in Zimbabwe tend to use national newspapers like The Herald, The Sunday Mail, and The Standard as case studies.

Literature Review and Conceptual Frame Work

Political marketing has become an integral part of the practice of contemporary politics across the globe, informing and influencing election campaigns in the USA, UK, Australia, and Denmark (Savigny, 2009), and Zimbabwe is no exception. In simple terms, political marketing can be understood as the application of commercial marketing tools in the field of politics. Savigny (2009) further asserts that political marketing is informed by a set of assumptions and models derived from management which is premised on the assumption that political parties are business while voters are consumers. Political marketing as an art of persuasion, dates back to the days of the respected Greek philosopher Aristotle (Savigny, 2009). However, Maarek (1995) states that the development of modern political marketing can be attributed to the USA especially with the development of television. This argument could be plausible considering that the media (both old and new) is the nerve centre for political marketing. Political marketing utilises various techniques, which can also be found in commercial marketing such as branding and advertising which are both effectively communicated through the mass media. The latter is the central discussion of this study. Political advertising indeed, has become a central component of political marketing in the Western world and Africa. Bolland cited in Brian McNair (1999, p. 94) defines political advertising as the purchase and use of advertising space paid for at commercial rates in order to transmit political messages to a targeted audience . Political advertising differs from commercial advertising in the sense that it is direct and explicitly persuades people to rally behind a candidate. However like generic advertising, political advertising has three distinct roles which are to inform, to persuade, and to sell. Another definition of political advertising is advanced by Kaid and Johnstone (2004, p. 112) who note that it is, the communication process by which a source usually a political candidate or party purchases the opportunity to expose receivers through mass channels to political messages with the intended effect of influencing their political attitudes beliefs and behaviours. In this age of digital media, political marketing is also now exploiting the availability of cyberspace. Such a scenario can be said about Zimbabwe where the Internet, social network sites like Facebook and Whatsapp have also become critical in disseminating political messages to the electorate. Political advertising has come a long way from the day when the major media were bill boards and posters. Just like political marketing where it traces its parentage, political advertising in its contemporary from can also be traced from countries like the USA, UK, and Australia. Importantly, as a field of study, political advertising draws from Communication studies, Political science, and Management marketing (Scammell, 1999). Political advertising has also become highly professionalised due to various developments in the political sector. Crucially, just like commercial advertising, political advertising is now regulated, for instance in Britain there is the 1990 Broadcasting Act and the Political Parties Elections and Referendum Act 2000 regulating political advertising in the country (Norris, 2000). According to the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) (2009) Zimbabwes regulations governing media coverage of elections are contained in the

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Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act (Chapter 2, p. 12) as amended by the Electoral Laws Amendment Act, 2007 (No.17 of 2007). For the 2008 general elections, government affirmed these regulations through the use of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Media Coverage of Elections) Regulations, 2008 Statutory Instrument. Apart from stating that the public broadcaster should afford all political parties and independent candidates contesting an electionfree access to their broadcasting services, the Act stipulates that during an election both broadcast and print media coverage On direct access it notes that while the media was not obliged to air or publish political adverts, it recommends that when they carry such material:
(1) They shall offer the same terms and conditions of publication without discrimination, to all the political parties and candidates contesting the election, (2) The price it charges for publication shall be at the lowest rate it offers to publishers of commercial advertisements, and (3) Every such publication shall be identified clearly as an advertisement.

As alluded to earlier, probably this explains why during the March 29, 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections; Zimbabweans were exposed to a tidal wave of political advertising. Though there has always debate concerning the impact of political advertising specifically on the African continent, during election period a lot of revenue is allocated to political advertising. Kaid (2004) notes that in 1988 candidates in the US Senate general elections they spent approximately 29% of their funds on television advertising while Bush is reported to have spent 57% of funds on advertising. During the 1992 presidential campaign Clinton and Bush spent a comparable 60% of their general election budgets on radio and television advertising. Thus a clich in America today continues if you havent said it on television, you havent said anything. The mass media in this age largely survive on advertising revenue (Picard, 1989; Curran, 2000). It is that reliance on advertising which resulted on some scholars noting that advertising revenue has become the latter day licensing authorities in newspapers. At the end of the day, advertisers tend to heavily influence the editorial content in newspapers. Importantly, during election times, political parties also become big advertisers in the mass media since they compete for space to sell their manifestos and candidates to the electorate. Against such a background, this study critically discusses clarifying on whether revenue generated from political advertisements has control in newspaper editorial content. Harms and Kellner (2000), Smythe (1997), Murdock and Golding (1978), Herman and Chomsky (1988) underline the view that sources of finance (especially advertisers) are strongly influential on all aspects of news production and that a funders ideology is likely to have an ultimate effect on editorial decisions relevant to his ideology. As Picard (1989, p. 89) notes, advertising revenue accounts for two thirds of revenue made by the media. What this therefore implies is that the interests of advertisers dominate those of consumers when it comes to issues of media content (Harms & Kellner, 2000). As McQuail (1994, p. 150) argues, The higher the dependence on advertising as a source of revenue, the less independent the content of cultural production. Herman and Chomsky (1988) further contend that advertisers have power to directly influence the content of the media by mainly giving their business to those media that provide them with ideological compatibility and favourable editorial treatment. There have also been allegations that to ensure media loyalty, advertisers can withdraw their advertisements or at least threaten to do so, especially when they want to protect their interests from topics they feel might tarnish their image and reputation. This is often referred to as the the faithful dog theory of advertisings influence on media (Moyo, 2001). In this case, the media becomes a faithful and harmless watchdog, which can compromise issue of public interest to testify the interest of capital

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advertisers. So can such a relationship be generalised to the terrain of political advertisements and news content during election period? This is what the study attempts to clarify. Prior to the March 29, 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections the countrys major political parties Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANUPF) and the Movement for Democratic Chance (MDC-T) competed for space both in the publicly owned and privately owned media to reach the audience who were the potential electorate. Their political advertising revenues however had little or no influence on editorial slants of the newspapers as established by this research which used a case study approach focusing on the Network Guardian News a privately owned community newspaper based in Kwekwe.

Methodological Issues
This study is largely qualitative in nature employing the interpretive approach (Bryman, 2004; Ruddock, 2001) in data collection, presentation, and analysis. Data for this study were collected through use of archival search at the Network Guardian News Library in Kwekwe. The study was largely confined to qualitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis of political stories and political advertisements published during the period under study. Of course most stories in newspapers are political as alluded to by Clark and Ivanic (1997) who point out that every writing is political. However, 36 stories were purposively sampled from 14 newspaper editions published during the period under study. The yard stick or bench mark for assessing the slant of news stories was the newspaper editorial Charter of Network Guardian News. According to Wycliff Nyarota, the then editor of the newspaper is to report objectively on socio-cultural, economic, and political development in a way that fosters community progression while sustaining the principles of the sovereignty of Zimbabwe. Most importantly, the newspaper is obliged to disseminate content that is in the interest or support the cause of the government of the day. Prior to the 29 March 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections, ZANU PF were the government of the day. In-depth face-to-face interviews were also conducted with reporters, editors from the newspaper, and also representatives from political parties. The study also benefited from participant observation since the researcher once worked for Network Guardian News newspaper as an intern from January to December 2007.

Editorial Policies Are Set With or Without Elections

Prior to the 29 March 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections the Network Guardian News flighted both ZANUPF and MDC-T political party advertisements. President Mugabes manifestos theme which dominated the advertisements read: Defending our Land and National Sovereignty: Building Prosperity through empowerment. However, Morgan Tsvangirais theme was calling for change and read: Changing Zimbabwe for Prosperity Morgan is MORE. The study noted that in the 14 issues of the Network Guardian News studied, only ZANUPF and MDC-T advertisements flighted with the then ruling partys advertisements being carried 10 times while the latters advertisements were carried nine times. Though the newspaper compromised and accepted both parties advertisements probably for revenue gains, the placement of the advertisements could reflect the editorial slant of the newspaper. For instance out of the 10 ZANUPF advertisements, seven were placed on the right side while only three were placed on the left side. However, out of the nine MDC-T advertisements only three were on the right side while six of them were placed on the left side. There is a consensus that the right side is more convenient for readers and most of them prefer reading text placed on the right side compared to the left. Therefore this could have been strategically

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done to ensure that the readers who in this scenario were the potential voters would get the ZANU PF message clearly than that of their main rivals MDC-T. Moreover in most cases, ZANUPF advertisements came first so as to attract attention of the readers whist MDC-T advertisements would follow later. When asked why more ZANUPF advertisements were placed on the right side compared to those of the MDC-T, the newspaper editor Wycliff Nyarota, exonerated himself from any attempt to down play the MDC-T but pointed out that such a trend prevailed because ZANUPF always booked for advertising space earlier than the MDC-T. ZANU PF always got the preference of the right hand side of the pages because they always booked space earlier than the MDC-T party, said Nyarota during an interview. He further highlighted that at times they had to decide where to position the advertisement as long it was carried in the newspaper although that would not have been the first priority of the advertiser. It was also observed that from the beginning of the campaign period in January 2008, political stories published by the Network Guardian News emphasised a two horse race between ZANUPF and MDC-T candidates. ZANUPF enjoyed a lions share of publicity followed by MDC-T party, while candidates from other political parties were mentioned just in passing albeit on rare occasions. Out of the 36 political stories purposively sampled published during the period under study, majority of them peddled ZANUPF hegemony and blackmailed the partys main political rivalsthe MDC-T. Although MDC-T just like their main political rivals ZANUPF placed advertisements in the Network Guardian News, that was not enough to influence the editorial slant of the newspaper to sympathise and champion their political cause. Instead the publication guided by the principle of serving and promoting interests of the government of the day, which was ZANUPF by the time of going to the polls, remained hostile to the MDC-T and capitalised on the dark side of the party to sell their newspaper. For instance in a story in a newspaper dated February 22-29, 2008 which ran a front page headline of Campaign intensifies, the story tipped ZANUPF candidates to trounce their MDC-T counter parts in the election. Part of the story read:
the two lawyers join Tendai Masawi who lost in the primary elections to Masango Matambanadzo. Nyarota will be contesting in the house of assembly under the Simba Makoni banner while maverick lawyer Tapera Sengweni will contest under the MDC-T formation. The novice politicians engage the ruling party favourites that include Matambanadzo in an election that that is set to see ZANUPF sending its rivals to the cleaners (p. 1)

In the above cited example the MDC-T candidate Sengweni is described as maverick implying that he is a rebellious character who in this case cannot be entrusted with the responsibility of representing people in the House of Assembly. The choice of words served to delegitimise Sengweni. In contrast, Matambanadzo a ZANUPF candidate is described in the story as a favourite. In this context, the ZANUPF candidate is the darling of the people. It can be argued that the newspaper was therefore playing political public relations for ZANUPF, as it battled hard to sway public opinion and public action (voting) in favour of ZANUPF. Internal conflicts that rocked the MDC-T party were of interest to the Network Guardian News and were highly publicised as front page lead stories. In the publication dated 7-14 March 2008, the front page headline screamed: MDC-T Candidates clash. The story written by Nyarota, the editor of the newspaper chronicled how Tapera Senweni and Aaron Chinhara both from the MDC-T party fiercely fought to represent the party in the Redcliff constituency in parliamentary elections. Another dark side of the MDC-T party was exposed again in the publication dated 28-04 2008 April, which was the final edition before the historic election. The front

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page story ran a headline of Battle of Titans. The story outlined the history of previous elections that had preceded the March 29 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised election and claimed that perennial losers MDC-T would want to resort to unorthodox means in the event they lost the election. Part of the story read:
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have exchanged blows in the previous polls and in both plebiscites, Mugabe came out victorious. Tsvangirai has also on both occasions complained of rigging, intimidation and violence as having worked against him. He has always cried of a stolen vote, which he petitioned to courts with very little success. This time around, he has vowed to protect his vote. Borrowing a phrase from 2005 comic political tryist Elizabeth Madangure, the MDC-T has vowed, Rwendo runo hazvikoni. If that is a fact, the MDC-T will engage in unorthodox means to wrestle power from the Mugabe regime. (p. 1)

The newspaper also used candidate pictures which would accompany the stories. A picture is part of storytelling and the study noted that through the use of pictures Network Guardian Newss slant of reporting hardly changed albeit accepting advertisements from MDC-T. For a start, pictures of ZANU PF candidates in the newspaper were clearer and more elaborate. Once again, most of them were placed on the front page compared to those of candidates from other political parties. The captions on the pictures however did most of the story telling and could reflect the newspaper slant. For example the caption on Tsvangirais picture in the publication dated 14-21 March 2008, it read:
He has succeeded in tutoring his subordinates in the use of hate language, as has been the order of any rally, on which MDC-T candidates address. Members of the opposition are on record of saying they will protect their vote in the Kenyan way. In 2002 Tsvangirai vowed to remove President Mugabe violently. (p. 1)

Such a caption long as it is, portrayed Tsvangirai and the MDC-T as violent party desperate to get into power through unconventional means. The phrase the Kenyan way could also have intended to draw the minds of the people to the sad scenario when blood was lost in Kenya following the clash between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. Odinga now the Prime Minister of Kenya rejected the outcome of the 2007 Presidential election which he allegedly lost to the incumbent President Kibaki. Thus a civil war broke out as Odinga tried to wrestle power. Contrastingly captions on pictures of ZANUPF candidates were positive and narrated the better side of the candidates and the party. For example in the edition of 15-22 February 2008 Emmeson Mnangagwa of ZANUPFs picture had a caption, Classical leader The ZANU PF heavy weight has vowed to humiliate MDC-T in the forth coming election. The phrase Classical leader implies that Mnangagwa is a distinguished and reputable politician. Moreover the heavy weight status accorded to him implied that his prediction that ZANU PF would triumph would come to pass. The same can be found in the 28-04 April 2008 edition which had Mugabe and Tsvangirais pictures juxtaposed on the front page. The caption on Mugabes picture read: President Mugabe, the tried and tested peoples choice ready to teach Tsvangirai and his cronies a life time lesson again. Although the newspaper edition was published less than 24 hours before the election when Mugabes title as President had become void, the newspaper continued to emphasise his title. It can be argued the newspaper intended to naturalise Mugabes rule and sway public opinion in his favour so that people would re-elect him. The caption describes Mugabe as tried and tested emphasising that he has gone through the mill and seen it all in the field of politics unlike his rival Tsvangirai who is still a novice in the game, hence it became obvious Mugabe would emerge victorious. Finally the caption emphasised that Mugabe who was highly fancied to win would give his

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opponents a life time lesson again, implying a repeat of the same trend where Mugabe always out manoeuvres his political rivals specifically Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party. The French philosopher Michel Foucault warns that discourses are not innocent as they serve to either empower or dis-empower at any given historical moment (Foucault, 1980). Such discourses therefore aimed at disempowering Tsvangirai and the MDC-T party while empowering Mugabe and ZANUPF. Editorial comments of the Network Guardian News were also subjected to critical discourse analysis. In most newspapers, the editorial comment is written by the editors and it reflects the identity of the newspaper and its position concerning a certain phenomenon. Out of the 14 editorial comments in the editions studied, all but two centered on the campaign period. Just like news stories most of them were pro-ZANU PF and demonised the partys political rivals. True to its editorial policy that strives to protect interests of the government of the day, and in this scenario was ZANUPF, the newspapers editorial policy hardly changed but continued to advance ZANUPF interests. For instance in the 21-28 March 2008 edition, the editorial comment headlined, No cry babies this time, argued that all political parties had been afforded access to the state controlled media so MDC-T party was advised to desist from their habit of crying foul whenever they lose an election. The same could be said of the editorial comment in the edition of March 1-7, 2008, headlined Political hotbed gets hotter. The comment argued the breaking away of Simba Makoni from ZANU PF would work against MDC-T party. The comment claimed the void that had been underutilised by the opposition had been taken over by Makoni hence ZANU PF had an easy chance to cruise to victory as Makoni and Tsvangirai were likely to share votes. Part of the comment read:
the MDC-T has enjoyed and abused their urban support base. Their place under the sun in urban areas is now over as Simba Makonis arrival has seen him claiming another huge chunk of their support base. ZANUPF have also regained favour in the urban areas and with this, it does not need a rocket scientist to tell that ZANUPF will win the election (p. 4)

Once again the newspaper sided with ZANU PF in this ideological war so as to garner votes by emphasising that the partys victory was inevitable. In other words conducting the elections was a mere formality, of re-conferring power to President Mugabe and his government. In their propaganda model Herman and Chomsky (1988) argue that advertising revenue influences or controls content in the news media. Advertisers are blamed for subtle or indirect manipulation of content. In view of the present economic challenges and demands, it is argued a newspaper will; think twice before publishing a story that will annoy its largest advertiser. Advertisers are viewed as patrons who provide media subsidy. As such the media competes for their patronage, developing specialised staff to solicit advertisers and necessarily having to explain how their programmes serve advertisers needs. Negrine (1989) notes that the choices of these patrons therefore greatly affect the welfare of the media and they must be accommodated by the media if they are to succeed. One can strongly contend from the findings of this study that contrary to what has been argued by scholars Herman and Chomsky (1988), Picard (1989), Harms and Kellner (2000) among others that advertising revenue controls editorial slants in newspapers, goals tend to shift when it comes to revenue from political advertisements. The relationship between revenue generated from political advertisements and editorial policies is a unique one. Regardless of how much revenue political advertisements may contribute to the financial

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fortunes of a newspaper, this cannot easily cause a shift on the editorial slant over night. The ability to gate-keep information in newspapers by political advertisements is largely limited since a newspaper has its traditional advertisers whom, the newspaper cannot antagonise just for revenue from political advertisements. The pro-ZANU PF Network Guardian newspaper remained hostile to the MDC-T party regardless of the fact that they were accepting political advertisements from the party. A lesson can be drawn from this case study specifically for the Zimbabwean and African context that the relationship between advertising revenue and content cannot be generalised when it comes to the election period. According to Crowley (1982) an editorial policy is a conceptual framework or regulation effected usually by the owners and shareholders of the media house to guide the operations of the media house. The editorial policy guides reporters and editors in discharging duties that is from newsgathering, editing, and distribution of the final product. Editorial policies are like brands which differentiate newspapers form the rest. A brand just like a relationship, does not naturally survive but needs to be properly managed and invested in. Tempering with a brand can negatively affect the fortunes of a newspaper. This probably explains why the newspaper under study, Network Guardian News did not shift its editorial posts because of revenue from political advertisements it received from the MDC-T party. Responding to the question concerning the relationship between revenue from political advertisements and editorial slant of a newspaper during election period, Nyarota former editor of the Network Guardian News had this to say, If revenue from political advertisements influences the editorial slant of a newspaper, Network Guardian News should have succumbed to pressure from the MDC-T party advertisements and championed the partys cause. Nyarota further argued that editorial policies are set with or without an election hence they cannot be changed just over night because an election period is just a phase which will pass. He further said:
Our newspaper is based in a community made up of people with different political affiliations, hence it was necessary for us to offer a service to the community but without necessarily shifting from the modus operandi. Even national newspapers like The Herald were doing it thus our newspapers way of reporting hardly shifted . (Nyarota in an interview on 13 April 2009)

Such a remark therefore confirms that academics need to rethink and avoid generalising the relationship between advertising revenue and editorial content in newspapers.

The Election Was a Unique One

Editors and reporters from the newspapers interviewed concur that the 29 March 2008 plebiscite was an extra ordinary election in the countrys history. This therefore largely influenced operations of the newspapers to go beyond the normative. Political parties usually want to associate with newspapers whose editorial policies are sympathetic to their cause, but an election period specifically the March 29 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections, was informed by unique characteristics. Politicians just looked for platforms to sell their manifestos and party ideologies to reach the possible maximum audience who were the potential voters. The usual principle of advertisers shunning ideological enemies was ignored during this historic election. Network Guardian News was therefore among those platforms, which political parties like ZANU PF and the MDC-T needed to reach potential voters. This was supported by an official from the MDC-T Midlands Province Information and Publicity

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department MDC-T party who defended the position why their party gave Network Guardian News their advertisements despite that the publication was hostile to them. He remarked: We could not stop give them our advertisements as we desperately needed to sell our party manifesto and candidates to the electorate so as to enhance our chances of winning the crucial election. The fact that March 29, 2008 harmonised elections were unique cannot be underestimated. As alluded to earlier, it was the first time in the countrys history both in colonial and post colonial period that synchronised elections were held. A cloud of uncertainty engulfed the nation as the general populace failed to understand where such an event would head their future to. Most importantly the election was held at a time when the countrys economy was bleeding due to the hyperinflationary environment which negatively affected production in most sectors of the economy and the media was not spared also. Some sections of the population believed the election would officially mark the collapse of the ZANU PF hegemonic project hence they tipped MDC-T, ZANUPFs main rivals to become new leaders of Zimbabwe. The harsh economic environment strongly campaigned for the opposition MDC-T and this envisaged their chances of winning. Wycliff Nyarota editor of the Network Guardian News had this to say:
The election was a tricky one hence it was important for us to know where to position ourselves ideologically. Chances were high that MDC-T could replace ZANUPF as the new leaders of this country, so how could we reconcile with them after denying them space to market their manifesto and candidates in our newspaper. (Interviewed 14 May 2009)

The Network Guardian News editor, however, highlighted that though they allowed MDC-T advertising space in their newspaper, it was important for them to avoid acting as if they wanted to subvert the status quo. Thus they maintained their editorial slant championing the ZANUPF cause.

Media Organisations Are Business Entities

The fact that the election was held at a time when media houses were eager to serve their ailing economic fortunes cannot be overlooked. Network Guardian News had to accept advertisements from their ideological enemies MDC-T albeit without compromising their editorial slant. The current editor of the Network Guardian News Jasper Maposa had this to say:
Network Guardian News is a privately owned community newspaper that doesnt get any subsidies towards production as such; advertising revenue is the lifeblood of the publication. The situation was bad for us just like any newspaper due to the highperinflationary environment hence we had to capitalise on revenue from political advertisements to resuscitate our fortunes albeit without compromising our editorial charter. (Interviewed 18 August 2011)

Picard (1989) contends that the media as business entities is mainly there to serve interests of four stake holders namely shareholders, advertisers, employees, and the audience. To the shareholders, the media is purely business hence they expect returns on capital they would have invested. Since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwes economic fortunes changed for the worse. After the ZANU PF government had embarked on the Land reform programme which aimed at empowering the traditionally marginalised black Zimbabweans, the countrys relations with the West soared. There was an outcry on allegations of human rights violations by the Western media and civil society groups and this resulted in sanctions being imposed on the country. Most importantly, effects of the neo-liberal policies which Zimbabwe had embarked on in the 1990s that is the Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) also continued

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to haunt the nation in post 2000 Zimbabwe. An unfriendly hyper-inflationary environment which prevailed in the country resulted in a high mortality rate of newspapers due to failure to meet production costs. Thus by accepting advertisements across the political divide newspapers like Network Guardian News wanted to save their ailing financial fortunes and evade the pending shut down.

Conclusion
Though there is a general consensus among political economy scholars that advertising revenue is the life blood of any news media which privileges it to exercise control over editorial slants, this is contrary to what prevails during election periods. This study which made use of the Mach 29 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections observed that the power of advertising revenue is circumstantial and cannot just be generalised. Probably it is safer to say in the African context or Zimbabwean set up political advertisements has little or no effect on editorial slants of newspapers. The study established that the pro ZANUPF Network Guardian News newspaper regardless of the fact that it carried MDC-T advertisements prior to the March 29 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised elections. It remained focused on its goal championing the ZANUPF cause and demonising the MDC-T. Most importantly this study has also challenged the general assumption that advertisers do not want to associate with ideological enemies. The MDC-T party went on to advertise in a newspaper which is hostile to them. Thus Zimbabwean operations of newspapers prior to the March 29 2008 Zimbabwe harmonised lections shifted the goal posts, defying odds or the norm as witnessed in the scenario revenue from political advertisements failed to influence editorial content in newspapers. It is therefore paramount for scholars to revisit the relationship between advertising revenue and editorial content in newspapers.

References
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