SECTOR 2 The absence of community radio stations perpetuates this problem. “For as long as we don’t have community radios and other entities that might not be commercial, media won’t carry that diversity.” The lack of financial resources also limits the ability of media houses to effectively represent the voices of all people in society. “The private media are operating on bare bones due to resources. As such, voices from far out won’t be found in the media. The private press doesn’t reflect all the issues that it should.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.4 (2012 = 2.7; 2010 = 1.7; 2008 = n/a; 2006 = n/a) 2.9 Media cover the full spectrum of economic, cultural, political, social, national and local perspectives and conduct investigative stories. In general, there is an “over-obsession with covering politics at the expense of any other meaningful news.” “If you were a foreigner, you’d think only politicians exist in Zimbabwe” (based on media coverage). Additionally, the different media report very differently on a single topic. “You get one story with different angles. But you have to read all the papers to get an idea of the real story, due to varied bias.” On the positive side, however, although the focus is primarily on politics, collectively, the media also cover sports, business, lifestyle and so forth. “We are covering all these issues, and have different sections in the papers” for these topics. Headline news is usually reserved for political stories though. “The front page is based on what sells. And in Zimbabwe, politics sells! It’s a commercial decision.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZIMBABWE 2015 35