Categories: Stories

Are Zimbabweans giving social media more credit than it deserves?

The role of social media on how people get their news in Zimbabwe is being hyped because a survey by African think-tank Afrobarometer says only 43% of Zimbabweans get their news through the internet or social media.

This is vastly different from Mauritius where 82% get their news through the internet and social media. South Africa is also way up at 74% followed by Eswatini at 64%, Namibia at 53% and Botswana at 47%.

The average for 39 countries surveyed is 47%.

Zimbabwe is, however, way above Madagascar at 14%, Malawi at 20% and Tanzania at 21%.

The survey shows that most of the people in Africa still get their news through radio which stands at 74%, followed by television at 66%  while newspapers are way down at 31%.

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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