The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is the state-owned broadcaster in Zimbabwe. It was established as the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC), taking its current name in 1980. Like the RBC before it, the ZBC has been accused of being a government mouthpiece with no editorial independence.'MuckRaker: ZBC has taken over the RBC's mantle', Zimbabwe Independent, 16 February 2012
History
Introduction of radio Radio was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in 1933, in Belvedere in Salisbury by Imperial Airways, which was used to provide radio guidance and weather reports.World Broadcasting: A Comparative View, Alan Wells, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, pages 157-159 However, it was not until 1941 that the first professional broadcaster was established.Zimbabwe: A Survey, African Minds, 2009, page 10 This was known as the Southern Rhodesia Broadcasting Service (SRBS), and was established to meet the needs of the colony's white population.Meanings of Audiences: Comparative Discourses, Richard Butsch, Sonia Livingstone, Routledge, 2013, page 84 The same year, a second broadcaster, the Central African Broadcasting Station (CABS), was established, which had responsibility for broadcasting to African audiences in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) as well as Southern Rhodesia.
Following the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953, the SRBS was renamed the Federal Broadcasting Service (FBS).E.B.U. Review: General and legal. B, Issues 71-76, Administrative Office of the E.B.U., 1962, page 12 The CABS, still based in Lusaka, continued to use African languages as well as English.The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1957, S. Steinberg, Springer, page 286 In 1955, a Federal Commission of Enquiry into the organisation of broadcasting in the Federation proposed the creation of a new broadcasting organisation, to be called the "Rhodesia and Nyasaland Broadcasting Corporation", which was to be established in 1956.BBC Handbook, BBC, 1956, page 132 However, it was not until 1958 that the FBS and CABS would be merged into the Federal Broadcasting Corporation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (FBC).Africa Media Review, Volumes 3-4, 1988, page 75
When the Federation was dissolved in 1963, the FBC was disbanded, and each territory acquired its own broadcasting service, which in Southern Rhodesia was initially known as the Southern Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (SRBC).Guide to Southern Africa, 1965, page 249 This later became known as the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation (RBC).Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Volume 10, NASOU, 1974, page 132
Introduction of television Television was introduced on 14 November 1960, first in Salisbury, with transmissions in Bulawayo beginning seven months later.EBU Review: Programmes, Administration, Law, Volume 71, Administrative Office of the European Broadcasting Union, 1962, page 12 It was only the second such service in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria,Zimbabwe's Cinematic Arts: Language, Power, Identity, Katrina Daly Thompson, Indiana University Press, 2013, page 32 and the first such service in Southern Africa, as South Africa did not introduce television until 1976.Sanctions: The Case of Rhodesia, Harry R. Strack, Syracuse University Press, 1978, page 235State Responsibility and the Direct Broadcast Satellite, Marika Natasha Taishoff, Pinter (Publishers), 1987, page 17
It was initially operated by a private company, Rhodesia Television (RTV) on behalf of the then FBC, with its major shareholder being South African companies, including the Argus Group of newspapers, through its subsidiary, the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company, and also served Northern Rhodesia until its independence as Zambia.Area Handbook for Zambia, Volume 550, Issue 75, Irving Kaplan, American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Area Studies U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969, page 255 Other companies included Davenport and Meyer,Viewing the Foreign and the Local in Zimbabwe: Film, Television, and the Shona Viewers, Katrina Daly Thompson University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2004, page 125 the latter of which operated LM Radio, based in Mozambique, then under Portuguese rule.Who's who of Southern Africa, Volume 54, Ken Donaldson (Pty.) Limited, 1967, page 393
Following the dissolution of the FBC in 1964, the Government of Southern Rhodesia attempted to take control of RTV through the RBC, whose chairman, J.M. Helliwell, announced that the RBC would acquire all shares in RTV, "at a price agreed upon by both parties".Broadcasting, Volume 68, Broadcasting Publications Incorporated, 1965, page 82 This prompted criticism by MPs, one of whom, Vernon Brelsford, moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly deploring the proposed acquisition.Africa Diary, Volume 5, M. Chhabra, 1964, page 2133 He asked: "Does it actually run the programmes to make sure that only its point of view is put over and no one else's is?".The Mass Media in the Struggle for Zimbabwe: Censorship and Propaganda Under Rhodesian Front Rule, Elaine Windrich, Mambo Press, 1981, page 35 Prime Minister Ian Smith argued that control of television was necessary for "winning the war for the minds of men", and would save it from falling into the hands of "communist sympathisers".Media, Public Discourse and Political Contestation in Zimbabwe, Henning Melber, Nordic Africa Institute, 2004, page 15
However, the government's move was rejected by RTV's directors.Africa Digest, Volumes 12-14, Africa Publications Trust, 1964, page 97 Instead, the RBC initially acquired a 51 per cent stake in the service, which became part of the RBC in 1976.Broadcasting: An Introduction, John R. Bittner, Prentice-Hall International, 1980, page 263 RBC TV was funded by advertising and a television licence fee.Broadcasting in Africa: A Continental Survey of Radio and Television, Sydney W. Head, Temple University Press, 1974, page 131 Television reception was confined mainly to the cities and largest towns, and most viewers were whites., Volume 1, Congress for Cultural Freedom., 1964, page 29 Umtali (now Mutare) only received television in 1972, by which time it was estimated that more than 90 per cent of the white population had access to the service. By 1973, RTV was broadcasting 42 hours a week from three transmitters, and 61,716 combined radio and television licences had been issued.The Statesman's Year-Book 1976-77, J. Paxton, page 536
Unilateral Declaration of Independence In November 1965, the white minority government of Ian Smith issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, under which censorship of broadcasting and the press was imposed, and key posts at the RBC were gradually filled by supporters of the ruling Rhodesian Front party.Censorship: A World Encyclopedia, Derek Jones, Routledge, 2001, page 2713 The previous year, the Deputy Minister of Information, P. K. van der Byl, described the aims of his Ministry as "not merely to disseminate information from an interesting point of view but to play its part in fighting the propaganda battle on behalf of the country". Rhodesia: The Road to Rebellion, James P. Barber, Institute of Race Relations, 1967, page 293 In response, the RBC Director General, James Neill, resigned, citing political interference.Combroad, Issues 50-57, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, 1981, page 60
On 1 January 1965, the RBC had ceased to relay the morning world news bulletin from the BBC, and replaced it with a bulletin from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).The Journalist, 1981, page 45 However, afternoon and evening news relays of the BBC remained unchanged.News Letter, Institute of Race Relations, London, 1965, page 23
The British Government, which had denounced UDI as illegal, began broadcasting BBC programmes into Rhodesia by building a radio relay station in Francistown, in the then Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.Botswana's Search for Autonomy in Southern Africa, Richard Dale, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, page 111 The Rhodesian Government retaliated by clandestinely building a 400,000 watt transmitter nicknamed "Big Bertha", in order to jam the signal from the smaller BBC transmitter.Africa Today, Volume 31, Africa Today Associates, 1984, page 46 Programmes about Rhodesia were subjected to jamming, but other programmes were not affected.Radio and Television Broadcasting on the European Continent, Burton Paulu, University of Minnesota Press, 1967, page 19 In 1968, the BBC ceased broadcasting from Francistown, and the relay station was transferred to the Government of Botswana.The Politics of International Telecommunications Regulation, James G. Savage, Westview Press, 1989, page 134
Speaking at the opening of the new RBC Centre in Pocket Hill in 1970, President Clifford Dupont said that few other countries had been subject "to such a barrage of hostile propaganda over the air", and that the new centre would contribute to the RBC's very successful role "in combatting this insidious offensive".Summary of World Broadcasts: Non-Arab Africa, Issues 3420-3497, BBC Monitoring Service, 1970
The RBC operated two main services, the English-language General Service (or National Network),World Radio & TV Handbook, Oluf Lund-Johansen, Cardfont Publishers under license from Billboard Publications., 1973, aimed at the white audience, and the African Service, broadcasting in English, Shona and Ndebele, aimed at black listeners. The RBC also established three community stations with a multi-racial audience, Radio Jacaranda (Salisbury), Radio Matopos (Bulawayo) and Radio Manica (Umtali).Black List: The Concise and Comprehensive Reference Guide to Black Journalism, Radio, and Television, Educational and Cultural Organizations in the USA, Africa, and the Caribbean, Volume 2, Black List, 1975, page 286 In 1975, an Ndebele language service operating out of Bulawayo, known as Radio Mthwakazi, was established, using the "Big Bertha" transmitter previously used to jam the BBC's broadcasts from Francistown.Broadcasting and Political Change in Zimbabwe 1931-1984, James Joseph Zaffiro - 1984, page 74
As armed opposition to white minority rule mounted in the 1970s, Africans in Rhodesia increasingly began to turn to short wave radio broadcasts from neighbouring countries, which carried programmes from exiled nationalist movements, with the Zimbabwe African National Union's Voice of Zimbabwe operating from Mozambique, and the rival Zimbabwe African People's Union's Voice of the Revolution operating from Zambia.Making sense of cultural nationalism and the politics of commemoration under the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Wendy Willems, Journal of Southern African Studies, 35 (4). pp. 945–965
In order to counter this, the RBC installed an FM network, while the government distributed FM-only receivers to chiefs and village headmen in the Tribal Trust Lands. It also ran campaigns promoting FM-only receivers, pointing out that they were exempt from the annual licence fee, and how short wave broadcasts were affected by static noise and required retuning between frequencies throughout the day.International Journal, Volume 42, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1987, page 346
Transition to independence