7 POLITICAL INTEREST AND MEDIA USE 7.1 Media exposure and political interest – main trends (57) 7.2 Interest in public affairs-politics (58) 7.3 Media use (58) Zimbabweans’ trust in the news media they use (60) Demographics and media use (60) Geographical spread and media use (60) The section explores some of the ways beyond direct experience and exposure in which politics and news about politics reach Zimbabweans. It specifically investigates their patterns of media exposure and use – access, preferences and the trust they have in these sources. Exposure to the mass media is often voluntary (even if without options of alternatives), and interest in public affairs is therefore one of the filtering mechanisms. The Freedom House survey reveals the marked unevenness in media exposure – and continuation of known trends in media use in Zimbabwe. The state electronic media, especially television and radio, retain their extreme dominance over alternative, privately-owned news sources. Large proportions of Zimbabweans remain entirely dependent on state media for their information about public affairs. Urbanites are often the more privileged when it comes to access to varied sources of information – but the print media require cash resources. Radio remains the medium with the widest reach – yet, even this source is not accessible to vast numbers of Zimbabweans. Newspapers are widely used, but lag far behind the electronic media. The internet is used by about 9% of Zimbabweans for political news. 7.1 Media exposure and political interest – main trends The most pertinent trends regarding media exposure and political interest were: Radio remains the predominant news source for Zimbabweans, with 52% in this survey reporting that they get their news from radio at least a few times a week. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has the widest reach. Television is largely the domain of the ZBC, although Channels 1, 2 and 3 of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) enjoy substantial penetration, especially in the southern and urban parts of the country. Newspapers remain the domain of a modest number of Zimbabweans. 23% report that they get their news from the papers ‘a few times a week’ or ‘every day’. Another 17% occasionally access the newspapers for public affairs news. Internet, according to this survey, is used by 9% of Zimbabweans for political news; two-thirds of the 9% use this source so regularly. 58