The coverage of Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe’s The Manica Post newspaper

Abstract

This study examines the coverage of Cyclone Idai in The Manica Post newspaper in Zimbabwe. Drawing upon decolonial theories, the study explores the knowledge contestations that characterised The Manica Post’s depiction of the natural disaster. Data were purposively selected from the news articles published by The Manica Post. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was employed to analyse the news stories. The study establishes that The Manica Post reproduced and promoted a Western-centric understanding of disasters. Local knowledge about disasters was largely ostracised. Therefore, the study concludes that Western knowledge systems about journalism and science influenced how news stories were framed. As such, there is a need to decolonise African media systems and promote Afro-centric coverage of natural disasters.