Media Coverage of Presidential Candidates 23% ZANU PF MDC ALLIANCE 5% 57% 15% APA Other Figure 12.1: Media Coverage of Different Political Parties The performance of the State-owned media showed a heavy bias in support of ZANU-PF. The party received 76% of coverage in state-run newspapers and 48% on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). The MDC Alliance, in comparison, received 17% of coverage in State-run newspapers and just 6% on ZBC. Throughout the election campaign period, there was an overwhelming predominance of ZANU-PF adverts on all radio stations and on Zimbabwe Television (ZTV). ZANU-PF accounted for 93% of advertising space on ZBC stations. There was emotive coverage noted on the two main parties, ZANU-PF and MDC Alliance. ZANU-PF received mostly positive coverage in the government-controlled media where MDC Alliance received more negative coverage than the other parties. Overall, there was under representation of women in election coverage, with a paltry 11% of coverage in the monitored media on women while coverage for men accounted for 89%. Figure 12.2 below compares media coverage between men and women. 71 | P a g e