Shades of the GNU in Zimbabwe (2009-13): linguistic discourse analyses of representations of transitional politics in Zimbabwean newspapers

Abstract

The chapter seeks to make a comparative analysis of the representations of Zimbabwe's GNU in Zimbabwean newspapers – The Herald and NewsDay with regards to two main issues of contention – the Zimbabwe Sanctions Debate and the constitution making process. It is important to note that Zimbabwe at the time of the GNU was under European Union (EU) and United States of America imposed ‘sanctions' and the sanctions debate constituted one of the most contentious issues with regards to the relations between the parties to the GNU. As such, it examines the discourse linguistic question of ‘objectivity' (or ‘neutrality') in ‘hard' news reports on the matter in these newspapers and from an Appraisal linguistic theoretic perspective. It compares the textuality of purposively sampled ‘hard' news reports in The Herald and NewsDay that evince the political relations between the parties to the GNU and the functionalities of the GNU in general during the period between September 2009 and June 2013.