The Herald is a state-owned daily newspaper published in
Harare, the capital of
Zimbabwe.
History
Origins
The newspaper's origins date back to the 19th century. Its forerunner was launched on 27 June 1891 by
William Fairbridge[1] for the
Argus group of South Africa. Named the Mashonaland Herald and Zambesian Times, it was a weekly, hand-written news sheet produced using the
cyclostyle duplicating process. In October the following year it became a printed newspaper and changed its name to The Rhodesia Herald.[2]
The Argus group later set up a subsidiary called the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company[3] to run its newspapers in what was then
Southern Rhodesia.
In 1981, after Zimbabwe became independent, the government bought The Herald and other papers from the Argus group, using a US$20 million grant from Nigeria,[7] and established the
Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust[8] to operate them. The Trust created
Zimbabwe Newspapers, Ltd., as the publisher of the papers.
In mid-May 2008, its website was briefly shut down by cyber
hackers.[9]
For Robert Mugabe's 93rd birthday, the state-owned newspaper issued a 24-page supplement packed with goodwill messages from government departments.[10]
Sister papers
Other newspapers published by the same group include The Sunday Mail in Harare, The Chronicle and Sunday News in
Bulawayo and the
Manica Post in
Mutare.[11]The Chronicle, launched in October 1894 as The Bulawayo Chronicle, is the second oldest newspaper in the country.[12]
Controversy
The Herald has for some time been noted for its slant in favor of President
Robert Mugabe and the
Zanu-PF party, and its demonisation of the opposition party, the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It often accuses the MDC of being agents of colonial powers.[13]
The Herald faces limited competition from within Zimbabwe, mainly from independent newspapers, such as The Independent, due to very restrictive accreditation laws.[14][15] Many opposition media claim that the paper has evolved into an instrument of rather crude and aggressive propaganda.[16] The editorial staff are open in their partisanship.[17]