The Herald
Herald House, Harare
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)State-owned
PublisherZimpapers
EditorHatred Zenenga
Founded1892 (1892)
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersHarare, Zimbabwe
Circulation60,000
Websitewww.herald.co.zw

The Herald is a state-owned daily newspaper published in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

History

Origins

The newspaper's origins date back to the 19th century. Its forerunner was launched on 27 June 1891 by William Fairbridge[1] for the Argus group of South Africa. Named the Mashonaland Herald and Zambesian Times, it was a weekly, hand-written news sheet produced using the cyclostyle duplicating process. In October the following year it became a printed newspaper and changed its name to The Rhodesia Herald.[2]

The Argus group later set up a subsidiary called the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company[3] to run its newspapers in what was then Southern Rhodesia.

The front page of a newspaper, "The Rhodesia Herald". The main headline is "UDI—Rhodesia goes it alone".
The front page of the Rhodesia Herald's 12 November 1965 edition. Note the blank spaces where content was removed by state censors.

After the white minority Rhodesian Front government unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, it started censoring The Rhodesia Herald. The newspaper responded by leaving blank spaces where articles had been removed, enabling readers to gauge the extent of the censorship.[4][5][6]

After Independence

In 1981, after Zimbabwe became independent, the government bought The Herald and other papers from the Argus group, using a US$20 million grant from Nigeria,[7] and established the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust[8] to operate them. The Trust created Zimbabwe Newspapers, Ltd., as the publisher of the papers.

In mid-May 2008, its website was briefly shut down by cyber hackers.[9]

For Robert Mugabe's 93rd birthday, the state-owned newspaper issued a 24-page supplement packed with goodwill messages from government departments.[10]

Sister papers

Other newspapers published by the same group include The Sunday Mail in Harare, The Chronicle and Sunday News in Bulawayo and the Manica Post in Mutare.[11] The Chronicle, launched in October 1894 as The Bulawayo Chronicle, is the second oldest newspaper in the country.[12]

Controversy

The Herald has for some time been noted for its slant in favor of President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF party, and its demonisation of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It often accuses the MDC of being agents of colonial powers.[13]

The Herald faces limited competition from within Zimbabwe, mainly from independent newspapers, such as The Independent, due to very restrictive accreditation laws.[14][15] Many opposition media claim that the paper has evolved into an instrument of rather crude and aggressive propaganda.[16] The editorial staff are open in their partisanship.[17]

Editors

  • 1892–1896: William Fairbridge[18]
  • 1898–1903: T. Shillington[18]
  • 1911–1915: C. D. Don[18]
  • 1915–1927: R. H. Douglas[18]
  • 1927–1931: W. Addison[18]
  • 1931–1955: Norman Ferris[18]
  • 1956–1962: C. J. Cowan[18]
  • 1962–1967: Malcom Smith[18][19]
  • 1967–1970: Sydney Swadel[18]
  • 1970–1974: Rhys Meier[18]
  • 1975–1980: Roland Fothergill[18]
  • 1980–1981: Robin Drew[18]
  • 1981–1982: Farayi Munyuki[18]
  • 1983–1998: Tommy Sithole[18][20]
  • 1998–2000: Bornwell Chakaodza[21]
  • 2000–2001: Ray Mungoshi[22]
  • 2001–2009: Pikirayi Deketeke[23]
  • 2009–2012: William Chikoto[24][25]
  • 2012–2013: Innocent Gore[25][26]
  • 2013–2018: Caesar Zvayi[26]
  • 2018–2019: Joram Nyathi[27][28]
  • 2019: Tichaona Zindoga (acting)[26]
  • 2019–2020: William Chikoto (acting)[24][29]
  • 2020–present: Hatred Zenenga[18]

Notable staff

See also

References

  1. Keppel-Jones, A. (1983). Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe 1884-1902. MQUP. p. 356. ISBN 9780773505346. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. "Zambezia journal, January 1970" (PDF). archive.lib.msu.edu. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  3. Nyarota, G. (2006). Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman. Zebra. p. 45. ISBN 9781770071124. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  4. Avrahm G. Mezerik (1966). Rhodesia and the United Nations: UN imposition of mandatory sanctions 1966 ... International Review Service. ISBN 9780598497741.
  5. Bennie Goldin (1 January 1990). The Judge, the Prince, and the Usurper-from UDI to Zimbabwe. Vantage Press. ISBN 9780533085187.
  6. Media Professionalism and Ethics in Zimbabwe: A Report Based on the Inquiry Carried Out by the Media Ethics Committee. Media Ethics Committee. 2002.
  7. "WACC".
  8. Ellias T. Rusike. See http://journ.ru.ac.za/rjr/Rusike_homepage.html
  9. "BBC NEWS - Africa - Hackers shut Zimbabwe website". 13 May 2008.
  10. Dzirutwe, MacDonald. "As he turns 93, Mugabe dismisses corruption allegations | Top News | Reuters". af.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  11. Zimbabwe Newspapers website. "Zimpapers - the Herald, the Chronicle, Manica Post". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  12. "Zimbabwe Press, Media, TV, Radio, Newspapers - television, circulation, stations, papers, number, print, freedom". pressreference.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  13. For example: "Tsvangirai confirms US, UK's regime change agenda" Archived 28 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Herald, 28 June 2008
  14. "Zimbabwe Newspapers and News on the Internet". library.stanford.edu. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  15. Zimbabwe newspapers and news sites world-newspapers.com
  16. Zimbabwe: Herald newspaper trimmed to size over propaganda botch-up ZimDaily
  17. For example: "Time for MDC-T to take stock" Archived 28 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Herald, 28 June 2008
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Herald Editors down the years". The Herald. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  19. "Rhodesia Herald Editor Dies". AP. 27 May 1985. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  20. Compagnon, Daniel (2011). A Predictable Tragedy: Robert Mugabe and the Collapse of Zimbabwe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8122-0004-1.
  21. "Ex-Herald editor Bornwell Chakaodza dies". Nehanda Radio. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  22. "Two editors sacked in Zimbabwe newspaper purge". The New Zealand Herald. 22 March 2001. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  23. "Latest: New bosses for Zimpapers". The Herald. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  24. 1 2 "Herald appoints acting editor". The Herald. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  25. 1 2 "Zimpapers senior editorial changes". The Chronicle. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  26. 1 2 3 "Caesar Zvayi leaves Zimpapers after 15 years, 5 of them as editor of The Herald". ZimLive. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  27. "Zimpapers makes senior editorial appointments". The Herald. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  28. "Herald editor fired over Mnangagwa story; leaves after just one month on the job". New Zimbabwe. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  29. "Zimpapers makes editorial appointments". The Zimbabwe Mail. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  30. Jackson, P. P. (2010). Shattered Dreams. Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-4520-4394-4.
  31. "Geoffrey Nyarota: a defiant voice". CNN. 17 August 2001. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  32. van Trommel, Nienke (22 October 2003). "Daily News interim editor Saidi: No fear". MediaNews. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  33. Barbee, Jeff (8 April 2005). "On the run, again". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
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