3.1 Introduction
4.8. Case studies
This research will be facilitated by the use of case studies. Looking at a case study and observing how the subjects within it behave without the researcher’s interference illuminates
exactly what goes on in real life, something that gives credence to the data gathered.
According to Miles and Huberman (1994: 6) the case study helps the researcher gain a ‘holistic’ overview of the context under study, its logic, its arrangements, and its explicit and
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Yin (2008) describes case research as a strategy which facilitates an empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context, when the boundaries
between the phenomenon and the context are not clearly evident and in which multiple
sources of evidence are used. Thomas (2011) also defines a case study as an analysis of
persons, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions, or other systems that are
studied holistically by one or more methods. He describes it as an intensive analysis of an
individual unit, stressing developmental factors in relation to context. In a case study, the
researcher explores in depth a program, event, an activity, a process or one or more
individuals (Creswell, 2003: 15). According to Thomas it is an inquiry which involves the
collection of data about the social setting under study such as demographics of members and
workers in an organization within which the study is conducted and in which the case
illuminates and explicates.
As Yin explains, it can include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence,
and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions. In a case study, the
researcher explores in depth a program, an event, an activity, a process, or one or more
individuals. The cases are bound by time and activity, and the researchers collect detailed
information using a variety of data collection procedures over a sustained period of time
(Stake, 1995). Stake describes this as a systematic way of looking at events, collecting data,
analysing information, and reporting the results. In the process the researcher gains a
sharpened understanding of why the instance happened as it did, and what might become
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However, it should be explained that this research partially adopted Stake’s approach. The
approach used in this thesis articulates the ecology created by the case studies in
collaboration with media users who are engaging with these case studies from various parts
of the world. When Stake wrote in 1995, the modern digital technologies that create different
media ecologies had not been invented. The approach adopted here, therefore complements Stake’s findings. It also adds a new dimension to the case study approach, the participatory
element which creates a dialogue between case studies, journalists and the audience who are
also active content producers.
As Turvey (2001) points out, a case study relies on inductive logic that constructs or
evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations of the subject of investigation. It
draws inferences from observations in order to make generalizations. This links well with the
Constructivist argument which views the social world as not given, but a product of human
consciousness where meaning is constructed through dialogue, observation, interaction and
negotiation. Inductive reasoning aims to collect facts, without bias. It classifies the facts,
identifying patterns of regularity, inferring generalizations about the relations between the
facts and tests the inferences through further observations. It is a form of reasoning that
makes generalizations based on individual instances.
In this research, the case study method will be used to provide an enriched conceptual
understanding of the political and socioeconomic significance of diasporic media activities. It
will determine the extent and pattern of consumption of diasporic media output in Zimbabwe
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experience about the phenomenon under study (diasporic media). The research will give the
reader an in-depth understanding of the effect of foreign-based Zimbabwean radio stations,
newspapers and news websites.
The case studies of this research will be a radio station SW Radio Africa (SWRA) a
newspaper The Zimbabwean and a website NewZimbabwe.com. The case studies will help to
illuminate the factors that led to the establishment of diasporic media in an independent
Zimbabwe. They will assist in the provision of an understanding of how the chosen media
interact with the Zimbabwean population in an attempt to create a public sphere in which the
people can freely deliberate on issues that affect governance in the country. The research
hopes to establish the extent to which the diasporic media manage to promote the
democratisation process in Zimbabwe with the aid of modern technologies that can be used
by citizens to effect political change. These diasporic media will be expected to justify their
relevance by demonstrating what media messages they communicate to and get from
Zimbabwe which the local media in Zimbabwe are unable to articulate, and how these media
messages have affected the populace. The case studies will reveal how much penetration they
have in Zimbabwe and how they evaluate their influences in the democratisation process,
considering the limited resources at their disposal and the limited range they can penetrate
into the country. In-depth interviews will be made with the media practitioners in the chosen
case studies. Themes will be identified and translated together with the responses from the
104 4.9. Factors that influenced the choice of the selected case studies
4.9.1. Short Wave Radio Africa (SWRA)
In this research diasporic radio stations are considered to be radio stations, formed by citizens
of a country and broadcasting from outside the country back into the country of their origin.
In times of war these radio stations aim to effect a change of government. In an independent
state they operate with the intention of providing a dialogical environment that can effect
good governance. There are a number of radio stations operated by Zimbabweans from
outside Zimbabwe and broadcasting into the country. These include Short Wave Radio Africa
(SWRA) which operates from UK, Studio 7 which operates from Washington DC and Voice
of the People (VoP) which operates from The Netherlands. There are others which are solely
internet based which include Nehanda Radio, Mthwakazi Radio, Shaya FM and Visions FM. Whilst the two major stations which are Studio 7 and VoP broadcast on Short Wave like
SWRA they lack some of the characteristics of SWRA. For instance Studio 7 and VoP are
extensions of The Voice of America and Radio Netherlands respectively. Voice of America
and Radio Netherlands enable these stations to function by giving them facilities and
financing their operations, whereas SWRA claims to be solely financed by donor funding and
advertising. It is operating from the UK, but is not in any way attached to the BBC or any
UK broadcaster. Admittedly, all these stations are operated by Zimbabweans. However, it is
important to draw a line between them in that SWRA is more autonomous than the other two
operating from their own building far away from any other broadcaster with no influence
from any external editorial policies. However, it can be argued that donors also fund a project
if it is in line with their philosophy and they will continue to provide funding for as long as
the project fulfils specific criteria. One would, however note that, overall SWRA enjoys more
autonomy than the others and can therefore be considered to meet the criteria for which it was
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the first diasporic radio station to be formed by former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
employees and has been operating since 2001. It is the first station to challenge the restricted
media democratic sphere in Zimbabwe by offering oppositional rhetoric which got
Zimbabweans interested and participating in the dialogue that addresses the political climate
in the country. The station has evolved so much that it now operates on multiple channels
including online and it facilitates interactivity in a way that has served as an inspiration to
other diasporic radio stations and the state broadcaster. It is for these reasons that SWRA was
chosen as the radio case study.
4.9.2. NewZimbabwe.com
Shortly after the forced closure of the independent newspaper the Daily News in 2003, a
former employee of the Daily News decided to operate from the diaspora offering a platform
for the former Daily News reporters to continue with articulating issues that affected the
country. Their participation in what was supposed to be only a blogosphere evolved into an
online newspaper which linked the diaspora with the populace in the country. There are a
number of online publications that have come up ever since Mathuthu launched
NewZimbabwe.com. These include, among others, ZimDiaspora.com, ZimNews and
NewsDzeZimbabwe. However, NewZimbabwe.com seems to have developed significant
enough to warrant the interest of this thesis to find out the extent to which it is contributing to
debate on democratic change in Zimbabwe. During the start of this research in 2010
NewZimbabwe.com was the only website which had developed significantly to arouse the
interest of any research on Zimbabwean online diasporic media. The research is also made to
understand that the website is solely funded by advertising revenue, although this needs to be
106 4.9.3. The Zimbabwean Newspaper
At the beginning of this study there was only one newspaper, The Zimbabwean, which, in
addition to being online was also published as hard copies from the UK and South Africa and
ferrying them into Zimbabwe. Other independent papers operated from within the country
and eventually collapsed as a result of viability problems and legislation which criminalised
the publication of views which the government considered radical. Many years down the line
The Zimbabwean is still operating from the diaspora and offering a dialogical space for the
people in and outside Zimbabwe. Like the other case studies chosen The Zimbabwean
maintains that it is funded by advertising and gets occasional support from donors. No
evidence suggests that it is affiliated to any other production company anywhere in the world.
It therefore became the right choice of the newspaper for this thesis case study.
To understand the history and operations of the diasporic media case studies their executives
had to be interviewed. These included SWRA director, Gerry Jackson, the editor of
NewZimbabwe.com, Mduduzi Mathuthu and the editor of The Zimbabwean Newspaper, Wilf
Mbanga. To complement the information gathered from the case study executives, other
diasporic media executives had to be interviewed as well. These include the director of
Voice of the People Radio (VoP) John Masuku, editor of ChangeZimbabwe.com, Mukusha
Mugabe and director of Mthwakazi Radio, Gerald Ngulube. The researcher had a chance to
also interview journalists, among them the then Callback presenter at SWRA, Ezra Sibanda,
Freelance Journalist Thabo Kunene, Freelance Journalist, Lenox Mhlanga, Radio Announcer
Sipho Dube and a number of other journalists who requested anonymity.
107 4.10. Semi-structured interviews
After getting information from the case studies the research sought to chronicle and evaluate
the significance of the growth of the Zimbabwean diasporic media since 2000 and to
determine the extent and the pattern of consumption of diasporic media output in Zimbabwe
and the implication of this pattern of consumption to the democratization process. The
capture of this qualitative data was facilitated by the use of semi structured interviews with a
sample of respondents in Zimbabwe.
Getting into Zimbabwe to conduct such a research was not feasible under the political climate
prevailing during this research (2010-2013). Posting the questionnaire to people in Zimbabwe
was not possible as getting physical addresses of respondents was difficult. The postal
services are also not reliable as mail from overseas is believed to be subject to search, a
situation that can put the respondents at risk of prosecution and persecution. The interview
questionnaire was administered mainly over the phone and by email and Skype. It was
administered in English, Shona and Ndebele, the three main languages spoken in Zimbabwe.
The researcher can speak the three languages fluently. Each interviewing process would take
about 30-45 minutes. The responses were then transcribed into English before being
analysed.