''The Herald'' is a state-owned daily newspaper published in

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, 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 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 A monopteros (Ancient Greek: , from: μόνος, 'only, single, alone', and , 'wing'), also called a monopteron or cyclostyle, is a circular colonnade supporting a roof but without any walls.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Archi ...

duplicating process. In October the following year it became a printed newspaper and changed its name to ''The Rhodesia Herald''. The Argus group later set up a subsidiary called the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company to run its newspapers in what was then

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

. After the white minority

Rhodesian Front The Rhodesian Front (RF) was a conservative political party in Southern Rhodesia, subsequently known as Rhodesia. Formed in March 1962 by white Rhodesians opposed to decolonisation and majority rule, it won that December's general election and s ...

government unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, it started censoring ''The Rhodesia Herald''. The newspaper responded by leaving blank spaces where articles had been removed, enabling readers to gauge the extent of the censorship.

After Independence

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, and established the

Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

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 A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bugs or exploits to break ...

. For Robert Mugabe's 93rd birthday, the state-owned newspaper issued a 24-page supplement packed with goodwill messages from government departments.

Sister papers

Other newspapers published by the same group include '' The Sunday Mail'' in Harare, '' The Chronicle'' and ''Sunday News'' in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

and the ''Manica Post'' in

Mutare Mutare, formerly known as Umtali until 1982, is the capital and largest city in the province of Manicaland. It is the third most populated in Zimbabwe. Having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 ...

. ''The Chronicle'', launched in October 1894 as ''The Bulawayo Chronicle,'' is the second oldest newspaper in the country.

Controversy

''The Herald'' has for some time been noted for its slant in favor of President

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

and the Zanu-PF party, and its demonisation of the opposition party, the

Movement for Democratic Change Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

(MDC). It often accuses the MDC of being agents of colonial powers. ''The Herald'' faces limited competition from within Zimbabwe, mainly from independent newspapers, such as ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', due to very restrictive accreditation laws. Many opposition media claim that the paper has evolved into an instrument of rather crude and aggressive propaganda. The editorial staff are open in their partisanship.

Editors

* 1892–1896: William Fairbridge * 1898–1903: T. Shillington * 1911–1915: C. D. Don * 1915–1927: R. H. Douglas * 1927–1931: W. Addison * 1931–1955: Norman Ferris * 1956–1962: C. J. Cowan * 1962–1967: Malcom Smith * 1967–1970: Sydney Swadel * 1970–1974: Rhys Meier * 1975–1980: Roland Fothergill * 1980–1981: Robin Drew * 1981–1982: Farayi Munyuki * 1983–1998: Tommy Sithole * 1998–2000: Bornwell Chakaodza * 2000–2001: Ray Mungoshi * 2001–2009: Pikirayi Deketeke * 2009–2012: William Chikoto * 2012–2013: Innocent Gore * 2013–2018: Caesar Zvayi * 2018–2019: Joram Nyathi * 2019: Tichaona Zindoga ''(acting)'' * 2019–2020: William Chikoto ''(acting)'' * 2020–present: Hatred Zenenga

Notable staff

Davison Maruziva Davison Maruziva is a Zimbabwean journalist and editor. Along with Geoffrey Nyarota, he broke the 1989 "Willowgate" scandal that resulted in the resignation of five government ministers, but was forced from his job with the state-owned '' Bulawa ...

, deputy editor *

Geoffrey Nyarota Geoffrey Nyarota (January 1951 – 22 March 2025) was a Zimbabwean journalist and human rights activist. Born in colonial Southern Rhodesia, he trained as a teacher before beginning his career with a Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper, '' The Hera ...

, hired in 1978 as one of the paper's first black reporters *

Chipo Sabeta Chipo Sabeta is a media personality, sports journalist and sports administrator. In 2020, she was Awarded FIFA/CIES sports management network project winner (Worldwide). She is the first Zimbabwean female journalists to be included in the FIFA Bal ...

, senior sports reporter *

William Saidi William Sylvester Saidi (8 May 1937 – 4 January 2017) was a Zimbabwean writer and journalist. Among his friends and family he was commonly known as 'Bill' Saidi. He died in Kitwe, Zambia after a long illness. Early life Saidi was born at St D ...

, early 1980s * Angus Shaw, 1972–1974

References

External links

The Herald
newspaper website {{DEFAULTSORT:Herald Newspapers published in Zimbabwe Mass media in Harare Newspapers established in 1891 1891 establishments in Southern Rhodesia