A Diagnosis of Daily News’ Framing of Anti-Mnangagwa Protests Through the Media Capture Lens

This qualitative interpretive case study investigates how Zimbabwe’s independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, reported on the 31 March 2025, anti-President Emmerson Mnangagwa protests organized by war veterans. Established in 1999, the Daily News is regarded as Zimbabwe’s alternative media, but of late, the newspaper’s editorial disposition has shown symptoms associated with capture, necessitating this study. The other privately owned daily newspaper, NewsDay, has maintained its anti-government editorial stance, while the state-controlled newspapers under the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers) are ZANU-PF propaganda mouthpieces. In the context of this study, “independent” means free from state interference in the media’s editorial operations. Steeped in media capture and alternative media topographies, this study also investigates whether the Daily News aligns with its alternative media stance in its reports. Further, it sought to establish if the Daily News reports were symptomatic of media capture. Findings, which were subjected to a framing analysis, suggest that the Daily News’ reports were symptomatic of capture by pro-regime forces. This eroded the diversity of opinion in a country yearning for democracy.