Representations of the Zimbabwe Political New Dispensation in Selected New Media from November 2017 to April 2023

Abstract

Although the concept of media representation is not new, the development of new media technologies has changed and improved the way that people and events are portrayed on internet platforms. The goal of this qualitative study was to examine how the New Dispensation in Zimbabwean politics was portrayed in a few different new media platforms. The state-run (The Herald) and private (Zimbabwe Daily and NewsDay) online news outlets, as well as their Facebook pages, were among the new media technologies chosen. This study examined both real photographs and caricatures that were utilized in the new media to portray Zimbabwe's political New Dispensation. In order to uncover the images' underlying meanings, the Social Semiotic Theory and Agenda Setting Theory were applied to the analysis of the photographs. Interviews were also useful for getting information. Therefore, the primary thrust of the dissertation was on how new media technologies use pictures to create different portrayals of the political New Dispensation in Zimbabwe. It was consequently concluded that because both the state and private internet news outlets have a particular ideology they strive to transmit through their representations, both are prejudiced in how they portray the Zimbabwean political New Dispensation. Additionally, the study found that there is no such thing as negative publicity, indicating that honest and authentic opinions can be found in those framed representations