The newspaper's origins date back to the 19th century. Its forerunner was launched on 27 June 1891 byWilliam Fairbridge[1] for theArgus group of South Africa. Named theMashonaland Herald and Zambesian Times, it was a weekly, hand-written news sheet produced using thecyclostyle duplicating process. In October the following year it became a printed newspaper and changed its name toThe 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 thenSouthern Rhodesia.
The front page of theRhodesia Herald's 12 November 1965 edition. Note the blank spaces where content was removed by state censors.
After the white minorityRhodesian Front governmentunilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, it started censoringThe Rhodesia Herald. The newspaper responded by leaving blank spaces where articles had been removed, enabling readers to gauge the extent of the censorship.[4][5][6]
In 1981, after Zimbabwe became independent, the government boughtThe Herald and other papers from the Argus group, using a US$20 million grant from Nigeria,[7] and established theZimbabwe Mass Media Trust[8] to operate them. The Trust createdZimbabwe Newspapers, Ltd., as the publisher of the papers.
In mid-May 2008, its website was briefly shut down by cyberhackers.[9]
For Robert Mugabe's 93rd birthday, the state-owned newspaper issued a 24-page supplement packed with goodwill messages from government departments.[10]
Other newspapers published by the same group includeThe Sunday Mail in Harare,The Chronicle andSunday News inBulawayo and theManica Post inMutare.[11]The Chronicle, launched in October 1894 asThe Bulawayo Chronicle, is the second oldest newspaper in the country.[12]
The Herald has for some time been noted for its slant in favor of PresidentRobert Mugabe and theZanu-PF party, and its demonisation of the opposition party, theMovement 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 asThe 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]
