adminPatson Gasura Correspondent
There has been such a deluge of negative reports on Zimbabwe for close to two decades now, this negative publicity issuing from local and international quarters.
Many newspapers seem to thrive on reporting scandals and all sorts of social ills. Is this all that the publications are noticing? Is this all that our literate nation needs?
Since the country seems to continue soldiering on, is this not time for positive reporting?
It can be posited that newspaper companies would actually sell much more newspapers if they focused on positive reporting. Yes, it can be argued that negative news sells all over the world.
However, Zimbabweans have consistently proven, more than once, that certain world theories do not apply in our case. Zimbabweans are a rare crop of people.
Zimbabwe’s literacy rate is glaringly increasing and we find a large majority of the population being able to read and write. If this literate population’s minds are continually fed with mostly negative stories, they will in turn have their minds off development and investment issues. Thoughts become things. It is best to entrench positive thoughts.
The country’s latest Demographic and Health Survey estimated that 96 percent of men aged 15 to 54 and 94 percent of women aged 15 to 49 were literate. The United Nations, based on Zimbabwe figures, puts literacy at 83,6 percent which gains us a place in the top three on the continent.
Other surveys have actually argued that we are the most literate country in Africa but my question is, with that mental ability what media articles are we exposed to in order to turn things around? From the market research work I do it can be argued that Zimbabwe indeed has a lot of good stories to tell.
According to the 2016 Zamps (Zimbabwe All Media and Products Survey) results launched in August 2016 by a local research consultancy, Topline Research Solutions (TRS), the media channel with the highest reach are the daily newspapers.
However, reach by itself is not enough. Good reporting must have an impact on people’s lives and newspapers must give readers more articles that make them engage colleagues and friends about what is happening in the country. Not even a single newspaper is delivering on these three mandates (reach, impact and engagement). This is a glaring opportunity for existing newspaper businesses.
One of the interesting findings from Zamps is that readers are mainly drawn to newspapers by, among other things, appetite for local news. More specifically, 72 percent of the urban adult population accesses the newspaper with the aim of reading local news.
It cannot be true that these readers are mainly interested in reading about the failures of our country or other forms of negatives. From where I stand as a research consultant, there is clearly a gap for a publication that writes about the secrets of Zimbabweans.
What makes Zimbabweans so resilient? Surely, there are many small good things Zimbabweans do that collectively keep this country afloat. For example, millions earn a living by selling commodities ranging from fruits to car parts by the roadside.
For the corporate sector, Zamps also reveals that a number of businesses are growing in spite of prevailing macro-economic challenges in Zimbabwe. The funeral assurance, the radio industry, the telecoms sector and the banking sector show some exciting growth dynamics that are worth writing about for the benefit of potential investors, local businesses and customers. Most notable is the trend that new players have come on to the market during the turbulent economy and have turned the tables.
The retail sector also seems resilient judging by the never ending queues in the big supermarkets inspite of the emergence of a vibrant informal traders market. What is the secret of these organisations? Have they been profiled enough by newspapers? Not that much!
Patson Gasura is the Managing Director of Topline Research Solutions (TRS), a local marketing research consultancy. He can be contacted on [email protected].
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