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Quick thread. In media and a communication studies, there’s something called confirmation bias. The media in the west and developed countries look for the lowest factor and amplify it as a representation of a country.
So in the west, for example, they won’t show the high rise buildings in Africa but will look for shanty towns and squatter camps to portray Africa, because this is what their audience believes Africa is like. If you show high rise buildings and development you lose audience.
Even local media tend to refer to Mbare and Makokoba as Zimbabwe to portray poverty. Media portrayal is aspirational, even locals say at least we aren’t as bad as Makokoba and Mbare. That’s confirmation bias.
So when SABC brings in Tinashe Jonas for an interview, it’s a conscience decision. No matter how unhinged Tinashe Jonas is, on SA TV he is portrayed as being representative of being Zimbabweans. So when Jonas is on SA TV the joke is on Zimbabweans
I know Zanu PF is a joke and MDC is desperate for coverage. Buy any of MDC or Zanu PF should refuse to be on the same panel as Jonas. His buffoonery reflects badly on not just those two parties but on the country as a whole.
It’s not as if SABC couldn’t find a better panellist, they wanted a buffoon, who fits the stereotype of what a Zimbabwean is. Jonas has made some outlandish remarks that should genuinely disqualified him from respectable media, but SABC found room for him. Not a coincidence
