Zambezin (2002), XXIX (ii)Policy-makers, the Press and Politics:Reporting a Public Policy DocumentALISON LOVEDeparhnent of Linguistics, University ofZimbabweAbstractNews media often have to present public policies, originally articulated in technicalcivil service documents, to the public, and to contextualise and comment on them.Such situations result in 'chains' of intertextual texts, where, for example, a newsreport is based on a policy document and an editorial then comments on andevaluates the content of the report. The transformations that take place as the chainprogresses are evidence both of media practice and of the strategies by which apolicy document may be positioned within a specific liistorical context. This articleexamines a case study in Zimbabzue immediately before the June 2000 Parliamentaryelections, when a housing policy document was reported on in the government-controlled media and then became the subject of a lengthy editorial.Introduction1It is frequently the task of the mass media to present newly formulatedpublic policies as 'news stories'. Such policies exist primarily as writtentexts, although they may be publicly 'launched' at a press briefing or otherpublic event. Media practitioners are thus often expected to act asintermediaries between policy-makers and the public, both in terms of thecontent of policies and of their political/social significance.Media texts produced in this type of situation are intrinsically intertextual,since each must position itself in relation to previous texts. Faircloughcharacterises mass communication as 'an extended chain of communicativeevents' (Fairclough 1995: 41). He comments: 'The interesting question is,then, how public domain communication events are transformed as theymove along the chain' (Fairclough 1995: 41). He stresses the need to focuson what choices are made at each link of the chain.In the case of reporting of public policy documents, there are fourimportant questions to consider in relation to intertextual chains. First, it isnecessary to consider how the primary communicative event is represented.1. This article is based on a presentation at the conference on Research and Practice inProfessional Discourse, Hong Kong, November 2000, and also at a Department ofLinguistics Seminar, University of Zimbabwe, February 2001.101102 Reporting a Public Policy DocumentSecond, attention should be paid to what selection has been made from theoriginal text, looking not only at what has been included, but also at whathas been omitted. Third, it is important to examine what changes have beenmade in textual structure, especially re-ordering, which may be made toproduce a change in emphasis or may reflect a change in genre. Finally, it isnecessary to analyse what linguistic reformulations Š changes in vocabularyand/or sentence structure Š have been made.A simple intertextual chain would be: primary policy document, newsreport and editorial comment. Each of these represents a natural progressionin the process of bringing a new policy into the public domain, and eachrepresents a different genre. Significant differences in textual organisationand language can therefore be expected between instances of these threetypes of text.The Case-studyThe specific case-study discussed in this article is an example of journalisticpractice in Zimbabwe, shortly before the June 2000 parliamentary elections.On Sunday 18 June, exactly one week before voting was to take place, thegovernment-controlled Sunday Mail carried on its front page (though not asthe main story) an article entitled 'State revamps housing policy' (Appendix1). This was a rather dull, and in some places almost incomprehensible,account of a new housing policy report. It seemed a rather surprising front-page article for such a late stage of a white-hot election campaign. However,the following day, Monday 19 June, the government-controlled daily, 77/eHerald, carried a lengthy editorial comment on the new housing policy'.This article will trace the intertextual links and transformatory movesbetween the policy document, the initial news report and the editorialcomment and discuss their implications within the political context.The Policy DocumentThe policy document, entitled National Housing Policy for Zimbabwe and onwhich the above newspaper reports were based, was prepared by theNational Task Force on Housing and published by the Ministry of LocalGovernment and National Housing in August 1999.2 It was the outcome ofa series of meetings of the Task Force over two years, following a NationalHousing Convention at Victoria Falls in November 1997.The actual 'policy' section of the document, from which the news reportis drawn, contains the following headings:I am grateful to Mr T. Mubvami, Department of Rural and Urban Planning, Universityof Zimbabwe, for obtaining a copy of the report for me.A. Love 1034.0 Proposed4.14.24.34.44.54.6National Housing PolicyIntroductionNational Housing VisionNational Housing GoalBasic4.4.14.4.24.4.34.4.44.4.5Points of DepartureConstitutional RightsThe Role of GovernmentDevelopment with a Human FaceFreedom of ChoiceNon-discriminationUnderlying Policy Approaches and Considerations4.5.14.5.24.5.34.5.44.5.54.5.64.5.7Housing, Economic Empowerment and Skills TransferSustainability and AffordabilityHome Ownership and Special Needs HousingUrban and Rural BalanceConsumer Education and ProtectionEnvironmental Protection and ManagementAccountability and MonitoringKey Strategic Approaches to Ensure Housing Delivery4.6.14.6.24.6.34.6.44.6.54.6.64.6.74.6.84.6.9Crisis ControlSupporting the Housing ProcessInstitutional ArrangementsLegislative ReviewReview and Replication of Best PracticesMobilising Housing CreditMobilising SavingsSubsidiesLand(Ministry of Local Government and National Housing 1999)It is an unexceptional document, following expectable generic conventionsin textual structure, such as the breakdown of topics under multiplenumbered sub-headings. The language is formal, impersonal, and containsa relatively high number of nominalisations and of rather long sentences, asin the following extract from the section 'National Housing Goal':Government's goal is simply to increase housing in the country in thefirst instance. This can initially be achieved by increasing the share ofhousing in the National budget thereby increasing housing delivery on asustainable, planned and programmable basis to reach the Government'starget of 1,000,000 houses in ten years (National Task Force on Housing1999: 19).104 Reporting a Public Policy DocumentThe first sentence of this extract is simple and accessible to any reader.However, the second is much more complex: the initial main clause isqualified by a number of phrases expressing a high level summary of theintentions of the policy. The first participial phrase of manner ('by increasingthe share...') expresses the more detailed policy proposed, while the secondparticipial phrase ('thereby increasing housing delivery ...') expresses theresult of that policy. The next phrase is prepositional ('on a sustainable ...basis') and post-modifies 'housing delivery'. The final phrase is an infinitivephrase of purpose ('to reach the Government's target...') and qualifies thetwo participles ('increasing'), while simultaneously making anaphoricreference to the topic ('Government's goal'). The number of nominalisationsis high: 'goal', 'housing', 'delivery', 'basis', 'target'. Such language is commonin policy documents.News ReportsDrawing on Australian work, Fairclough suggests the following genericstructure of the news story:Ł 'nucleus' Š headline + lead paragraph giving gist of storyŁ series of 'satellite' paragraphs Š elaborating storyŁ wrap-up paragraph Š giving 'sense of resolution' to story (Fairclough1995: 72).The article will examine the Sunday Mail report of the new housingpolicy in terms of this structure, but with slight modification. The newsreport will be discussed in terms of its selection from the policy document,the ordering of information and the degree and character of linguisticreformulation. The generic structure of the report is shown in Table 1, withthe numbers indicating sentences (see Appendix 1). Added to Fairclough'smodel is a section 'Sub-leads', because this section of the report has particulartextual prominence.Nucleus and LeadsThe head-line Š 'State revamps housing policy' Š is a straightforwardstatement of topic. Sentences 1 and 2 establish the 'communicative event':1. The Government has drawn up a major housing policy that will secthe construction of over one million houses in the next 10 years whiledoing away with archaic laws that have been contributing to thecritical shortage of accommodation in the country.2. The National Housing Policy, which received a nod from PresidentMugabe, was developed following a National Housing Conventionheld in Victoria Falls at the end of last year.In fact no 'event' is reported, merely the existence of a major housingpolicy' and its background. What is interesting is the selection of whjchA. Love105Table 1: Generic Structure and Intertextual References of Sunday MailReportSection ofNews ReportNUCLEUSLEADSUB-LEADSSATELLITESWRAP-UPSentencesHeadline1-234-56-78-1011-1314-1617-192021-25Source Sectionin Policy Document4.34.6.44.4.14.6.44.6.34.6.14.6.64.6.84.6.9DiagramForewordHeading ofSource SectionNational Housing GoalLegislative ReviewConstitutional RightsLegislative ReviewInstitutionalArrangementsCrisis ControlMobilising HousingCreditSubsidiesLandInstitutional StructurePresidential Forewordpoints from the policy document to foreground in the Leads. While thereference to the National Housing Goal seems an obvious choice, the secondpart of Sentence 2 is less expectable. The reference to the deleterious effectsof 'archaic laws' which will be 'done away with' appears to relate to section4.6.4 of the Policy Š Legislative Review Š which is not foregrounded inthe policy document.Thus, the primary focus of the news report is on two issues: the predictableinterest in the goal of the housing policy, but also the less predictable issueof changes in laws. It appears that this choice, which is marked because itdoes not parallel the structure of the policy document, is made to introducean interpretive frame of 'post-colonial change' into the text.Sub-leadsThis section has been added to Fairclough's model because it is prominentin the Sunday Mail report in its deviation from the textual order of thepolicy document. The first point to note is Sentence 3, which appears veryodd at first reading:3. In cider to make the policy viable, the Government intends tointroduce legislation that will have the effect of ensuring thatParliament will be obliged to address the issue of housing as a matterof grave importance.106 Reporting a Public Policy DocumentThe multiple expressions of purpose, intention, and effect seem strange.However, an examination of how the sentence has been reformulated fromthe section of the policy document to which it refers, 4.4.1 ConstitutionalRights, makes clear the problem faced by the reporter. This section reads:In an attempt to rewrite the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Government hascreated the Constitutional Commission. In terms of the provision of theDraft Constitution, it has been recommended that housing be included asan issue under social rights and obligations.This inclusion in the Constitution will have the effect of ensuring thatParliament will be obliged to address the issue of housing as a matter ofgrave importance (National Task Force on Housing 1999: 19-20).Since the Draft Constitution had been rejected by the electorate in theReferendum of February 2000, this passage had been overtaken by events,and the reporter's attempt to reformulate the sentence is extremelycumbersome.Sentences 4 and 5 again foreground the Legislative Review section of thepolicy document:4. The new amendment to the constitution would look at such archaiclegislation as the Housing and Building Act, Housing Standards Actand the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act.5. The policy document cited the example of the rent control regulationsthat were gazetted in terms of the Housing and Building Act of 1979that were now irrelevant.The news report repeats the characterisation of 'archaic laws' used insentence 1 and then lists the relevant laws verbatim from the policydocument.Sentences 6 and 7 foreground the Institutional Arrangements:6. The policy document points to the fact that there is need forre-engineering of the governmental, statutory and parastatalinstitutional framework within which the national housing strategywould be implemented.7. 'The process of institutional rationalisation will, therefore, be dealtwith as a matter of immediate priority in order to establish aninstitutional and funding framework within which the envisagedGovernment programmes can be implemented with success,' readpart of the policy document.This reporting contains minimal linguistic reformulation from the policydocument. What is notable is the choice of this section for foregrounding inthe report.Thus, the Sub-lead section is characterised by marked choices of issues tobring to prominence. The emphasis appears to be on the need to changefrom the inherited colonial framework and on the responsibility ofParliament to effect these changes.A. Love 107SatellitesIn this lengthy part of the news report, further details follow closely theorder of the National Housing Policy sub-headings not yet mentioned. Interms of selection of material, what is most significant is what is omitted.No reference is made to sections 4.6.2 'Supporting housing process' or 4.6.7'Mobilising savings'. This is possibly significant because both these sectionsrelate to self-help in housing provision rather than to what Governmentintends to provide.In terms of linguistic reformulation, a number of points of interest emerge.Firstly, there is, in fact, extremely little reformulation, and most of whatthere is appears to be minimal change to ensure the coherence and cohesionof the news report's summary of the policy document. Most of this part ofthe report is incorporated almost verbatim from the policy document.There is virtually no attempt to change the linguistic register from thatappropriate to the expert policy-maker to one more accessible to a non-specialist newspaper reader. For example, sentences 14 and 15 read:14. The issue of user end subsidies was another approach the Governmentwill take in order to reach the target of a million houses in ten years.15. It is hoped that the subsidy policy would be flexible to accommodatea wide range of tenure and delivery level in order to obtain maximumgearing with private investment savings and sweat equity.No attempt is made to explain the implications of 'user end subsidies'.Possibly even more unfamiliar to the non-expert reader is the meaning of'sweat equity'.Where significant reformulation takes place, its purpose appears to be toforeground the potential role of Government in initiating change. Forexample, sentence 11 reads:11. In order to cushion a number of people in need of housing, theGovernment would make available a housing credit scheme.Here 'the Government' is grammatical subject and agent in the mainclause. However, the related section from 4.6.6 of the policy documentreads rather differently:A number of households in need of housing can afford to access housingcredit, provided this is available. Such credit is currently not accessibleby most of such households. Making housing credit available must beseen as a fundamental requirement in order to facilitate the improvementof the housing circumstances of such households.The substantial syntactic rearrangement which has been made here,changes the policy document's generalised statement of 'necessity' to anexplicit Government intention.108 Reporting a Public Policy DocumentSentences 17 and 18 also show reformulation. The news report reads:17. The whole policy will however depend heavily on the availability ofland.18. The Government will ensure the efficient assembly and release ofappropriately located land.Sentence 17 is not immediately traceable to a specific sentence of thepolicy document. Rather, it appears to be constructed from the document'ssub-heading 4.6.9 'Land', which is then reformulated into a statement, withobvious intertextual links to the issue foremost in the Government's electionplatform. Sentence 18 is a reformulation of the following from the policydocument:The efficient assembly and release of appropriately located and servicedland for housing is critical to achieving the desired rate of delivery ofhousing (National Task Force on Housing 1999: 30).As in sentence 11, the reformulation serves to change the document'sgeneral statement of necessity into a firm Government intention, interestinglyomitting the mention of 'servicing' the land. The final reformulation in thissection is in sentence 20:20. The proposed institutional structures include the Government as theco-ordinator, non-governmental organisations, National HousingTrust, local authorities, local non-governmental organisations, theprivate sector and the general public both in the urban and ruralcommunities.This list is constructed by a largely accurate transcoding of an organogramof the 'Proposed Institutional Structure for Housing Delivery in Zimbabwe'(National Task Force on Housing 1999: appendix). What is lost in thetranscoding is the relationship between the players, leaving the impressionthat they are all vaguely equal. Moreover, the one significant omission isthe pre-modifier 'international', which appears in the diagram with the firstmention of 'non-Governmental Organisations'. The result is a confusingapparent repetition. However, this is presumably motivated by the animositywhich had developed towards international NGOs in the months betweenthe publication of the document and the news report, as many NGOs wereseen as supporting opposition groups and/or policies.Wrap-upThe section which closes the report is a justification for the new policy anda positive evaluation of it, drawn entirely, and mostly verbatim, from thePresidential Foreword to the document. It does not really sum up the story,as often occurs in this position in a news report. Rather, it serves to give thepolicy Presidential blessing Š and to bring the President and his verbatimwords into the story.A. Love 109CommentThis news report appeared a little odd, since no event, not even an officiallaunching of the policy, was reported. Comparison of the report with thepolicy document reveals a rather unsophisticated cut-and-paste job. NoMinistry official is mentioned as a source, and the impression might begained that a reporter had been simply given the policy document andinstructed to produce a story from it. Significantly, given the timing of theappearance of the news report, what selection, reorganisation, andreformulation occurred tended to shift the focus of the story to an interpretiveframe of post-colonial problems and of a strong agentive role for thegovernment and to a slightly stronger emphasis on the issue of landavailability. It seemed a fairly minor story, though clearly an example of'positive government action'.However, by the following day the 'news value' of the 'story' was beingmore effectively exploited. TJie Herald devoted a lengthy Comment to it (SeeAppendix 2).Editorial CommentThe best-known model of the generic structure of editorial comment ispossibly Bolivar's (1994). Her model is very detailed, but this article willfocus only on the macro-structure, which has been slightly adapted.Bolivar (1994) Suggested ComponentsSituation headline + recapitulation of news itemDevelopment evaluation + grounds for evaluationRecommendation exhortation Š to someone to do somethingThe most significant questions to address in relation to editorial commentrelate to the presentation of the Situation and the Recommendation. In theSituation, how much knowledge of the event is presupposed? Does therecapitulation re-narrate the event or refer to it by nominalised labelling?How much evaluation is incorporated into the recapitulation? In theRecommendation, who is exhorted to do what, and how strong is theexhortation?Structure of 'Herald' EditorialThe full text of the 'Herald' editorial is given in Appendix 2. The structureof The Herald editorial is shown in Table 2.11 o Reporting a Public Policy DocumentMacro-structureSituationDevelopmentRecommendationTable 2: Structure of The Herald EditorialComponentsHeadlineRecapitulationEvaluationGrounds for evaluationExhortationSentences1-23-45-3132-33Situation and RecapitulationThe headline of the Comment is straightforward, namely, 'New NationalHousing Policy a positive development'. The New National Housing Policyis introduced as Theme (initial element) and the grammatically compressedstatement makes a simple positive evaluation. Thus, readers are clear as tothe news item being commented on.This is necessary because the opening of the Comment bears no immediaterelation to the previous news report. The two sentences of the recapitulationfocus first on other issues before introducing the National Housing Policy:1. WHILE other parties make promises, ZANU (PF) has already startedimplementing crucial planks of its manifesto.2. After cutting through the opposition to a proper distribution of landby changing the constitution and listing the first 804 farms to beacquired very soon, it has now launched the new National HousingPolicy, which sees one million new homes being built over the next 10years.Each of these sentences opens with a Marked Theme (Halliday 1994). InEnglish, the normal, unmarked sentence organisation is for the grammaticalsubject of the main clause to occur in initial position and thus be consideredthe Theme, or 'starting point', of the sentence. If other material occurs ininitial position, it is considered a marked choice and can be interpreted asinfluencing the context within which the reader processes the main clause(Gosden 1992, Thompson 1996: 131-2). In sentence 1, the marked theme('WHILE other parties make promises') introduces a contrastive interpretiveframe, which draws attention to the parties contesting the election. Themain clause of the sentence then makes a general assertion relating to theelection: 'ZANU (PF) has already started implementing crucial planks of itsmanifesto'. This first sentence thus repositions the news item in terms of theelection campaign, with the agent of implementation being the ruling party,ZANU (PF), rather than 'the Government', as found in the policy documentand, indeed, the news report. The implication is that the National HousingPolicy is one of the 'crucial planks of the manifesto'. It should be noted thatin the case of the Housing Policy, this 'implementation' is to have drawn upA. Love 111a policy: the typical verb tenses in the news report are future or conditional.Thus, the publication of the Policy has been reformulated as a decisiveaction.The second sentence opens with a long and syntactically complex markedtheme, which mentions prior 'planks' which have been 'implemented'. Thevocabulary is interesting: 'cutting through' suggests decisive action, while'proper distribution of land' presupposes agreement on the evaluation. Theactions which have achieved this 'proper distribution' are in fact all enablingrather than decisive: 'listing' farms which are 'to be acquired very soon'; inother words, no decisive action has in fact yet been taken. After the longmarked theme, the main clause finally introduces the event to be commentedon: 'it has now launched...'. In fact, no specific launch event has beenreported. Thus, in this Situation section of the editorial, a long-worked on,relatively routine policy document has been transformed into crucialevidence of the ruling party's decisive action, by conflating the presentpublication (which had no connection with the election) with future'promises'.EvaluationThe main evaluation of the editorial Š that the National Housing Policy isa positive action by the ruling party Š has been incorporated into theheadline and recapitulation. However, sentences 3 and 4 develop theevaluation in an interesting way:3. This can be implemented and will do much more than just solve ahousing crisis.4. The scale is huge but not impossible.The editor is clearly aware that potential challenges to the evaluation liein the area of feasibility. He, therefore, responds to anticipated questions.This implicit interaction is evident in the emphatic use of the modal verb'can' and in the phrase 'huge but not impossible', where the combination ofconcession and negation presuppose a challenge (Hunston 2000: 179-80). Itshould be noted that this evaluation thus relates primarily to the ability ofthe National Housing Policy to deliver on promises.Grounds for EvaluationThere are several distinct phases in this long section, and only the mostsignificant will be discussed here. Sentences 5-10 put forward evidencefrom other countries to show the feasibility of fast large-scale housingprojects. The choice of post-World War Two Europe and Japan as thesources of evidence is interesting because this establishes a frame of 'post-war reconstruction', in some ways parallel to the 'post-colonial change'frame already mentioned. Both these interpretive frames suggest a situation112 Reporting a Public Policy Documentof historical crisis which requires rapid resolution. This is then combinedwith a 'decade' time-frame. While this is in fact the time-frame of thePolicy, the merging of this into the 'decade' time-frame of post-war Europeand Japan subtly implies a parallel historical setting.Sentences 15-19 give detailed attention to an 'archaic law' coveringbuilding materials allowed for urban construction. Oddly, this particularpiece of legislation is not mentioned in the policy document. However, itmay have been chosen because it concerns very concrete issues whichreaders can easily relate to.Sentences 25-29 of the editorial elaborate the implications of the Policy interms of employment creation. This is not based directly on the policydocument text, which does not concern itself with this issue. The commentsare therefore more speculative, but are able to portray a concrete vision ofthe future:25. A major housing drive will do much more than just give a home toevery family, important as that is.26. A vast army of workers will be needed, providing employment.27. The new jobs will not just be in the formal sector or in the buildingtrades.28. There will be ample room for the informal sector, making bricks forexample, and in many other areas.29. The new suburbs will need shops, creating new business opportunitiesand yet more jobs.The concrete grammatical subjects Š 'A vast army of workers', 'The newsuburbs' Š encourage the reader to visualise the implications of the policy.Moreover, the use of definite articles Š 'The new jobs', 'The new suburbs'Š presuppose that this future can be assumed to have reality.Sentences 30-31 return to the policy document text, but make much moreeffort than the news report to make its provisions accessible to an ordinaryreader, and draw attention to the needs of specific groups which will becatered for:30. Special attention has been given to those whom the normal housingmarket will never be able to satisfy.31. The old, the infirm, the very poor, and the recent school leaver orgraduate will all need extra help if they are to have a decent roof overtheir heads.Thus, the grounds for evaluation of the National Housing Policy movethrough a 'post-war reconstruction' frame to a related 'archaic laws' frame,to issues of employment and the housing problems of such groups asschool leavers. This culmination is significant because it addresses issueswhich appeal to the younger urban population, the precise section of thenation most disenchanted with the prevailing political and economic climate.A. Love 113ExhortationThe culmination prepares the ground for the exhortation, which comprisesthe final two sentences:32. The new Parliament we elect next weekend will be asked to pass apackage of legislation to allow the housing policy to be implemented.33. So vital is this sector that care must be taken by voters to ensure thatthose they vote for will take the policy seriously and will implementthe ZANU (PF) Government's programme.Here the editorial switches back to the context of its opening Š theelection campaign. The thematic grammatical subject of sentence 32 transfersthe focus from housing to 'The new Parliament we elect next weekend'. The'fate' of the National Housing Policy is put in the hands of this hypotheticalagent. Thus, the editorial has resolved the problem caused by the referenceto the Draft Constitution in the original policy document, and, indeed, hasturned it into a strength, by pointing out that it will be the responsibility ofthe 'new Parliament' to ensure that this self-evidently good policy becomeslaw. It, therefore, forms the platform on which the final exhortation can bebuilt.Sentence 33 opens with a marked syntactic structure, with the evaluativeclause complement in marked theme position. This provides strong emphasisfor the positive evaluation of the housing policy. This main clause providesthe context for the exhortation to voters which, unusually, is placed in thedependent clause, thus making it a logical outcome of considering this vitalissue. The exhortation is expressed as a passive Š 'care must be taken' Šwith those exhorted relegated to an agentive prepositional phrase Š 'byvoters'. This appears to be an attempt to defuse any suggestion that votersare being told what to do. Rather, they are having a 'vital' issue and itsimplications pointed out to them. Moreover, the exhortation itself is atseveral removes from action: 'care must be taken... to ensure that thosethey vote for... will implement the ZANU (PF) Government's programme'.Thus, the exhortation is, on the one hand, relatively cautious andunderstated, particularly when compared with the strength of the openingof the editorial. On the other hand, it is carefully constructed to presentimplementation of the policy as linked to the election and the policy as partof the ruling party's programme. It is possible that this complex combinationis an attempt to woo urban voters, for whom housing and employmentwere certainly crucial issues, to think twice before experimenting with anuntried opposition party.Interpretation of Intertextual AnalysisTo fully understand the intertextual processes of selection, reorganisationand reformulation employed in these texts, it is necessary to investigate the114 Reporting a Public Policy Documentprecise context of the news report. The main news story of Sunday 18 May2000 covered President Mugabe's key election rally in the historicallysignificant Highfield area of Harare.3 This rally, which should have formedthe climax of the ruling party's election campaign, had been rather poorlyattended. There was hence a need for the ruling party to obtain positivereporting of some kind as damage limitation. It is, therefore, likely that areporter had been handed the National Housing Policy and been asked tocome up with a pro-Government story. This would account for the absenceof any specific 'event' in the report.It should also be noted that reporters for the Government-controlledpress frequently produce 'stories' by cut-and-paste methods fromGovernment press releases, with little attempt at reformulation. There maybe several reasons for this. Firstly, editorial policy dictates that their mainconcern is essentially symbolic: they wish to present the idea thatGovernment has done something positive, and the details are not veryimportant, especially as they may be too technical to be of much interest toreaders. Secondly, reporters in these publications may well be hesitant todepart very far from such strongly authoritative sources, fearing criticismfrom superiors. On the other hand, they may also lack the training in theprocesses Š essentially linguistic Š of assessing a policy text for itsaccessibility to the readership and in reformulating it into a more appropriatelinguistic register. The only reformulation attempted by The Sunday Mailreport is the small-scale effort to position the policy document in a frameworkof 'post-colonial change of laws and institutions'.The Herald editorial, however, uses this slim base for a substantialreformulation. The policy document is completely recontextualised. It isrepositioned as part of the ruling party's election programme. The policyitself is presented as 'action', as if it had already been implemented, or, atleast, the assumption of its implementation is presented. The editorialadopts a 'post-war reconstruction' interpretive framework, which parallelsattempts in other parts of the ruling party's election campaign to effectivelyerase 20 years of post-Independence history and take people back to animmediate 'post-war' situation. The most notable case of this approach, ofcourse, is the concentration on the land issue. The motivation appears to beto deflect any potential criticism of the ruling party for inaction on theseissues during the first 20 years of Independence. Moreover, the editorialshifts the focus not only to the provision of housing for disadvantagedgroups but also to employment creation, both issues which would appealto disaffected urban voters.3. The rally took place where Mugabe had launched his successful pre-Independenceelection campaign in 1980.A. Love 115The original text, the National Housing Policy, was a civil servicedocument drawn up by a National Task Force, under the direction of agovernment ministry, but also in response to a National Housing Conventionwhich incorporated a wide range of stakeholders. The first stage inreformulation, The Sunday Mail report, served largely to draw attention tothe document, repositioning it as an unspecific 'event', providing littleattempt to help the readership to understand its detailed provisions, butgiving greater emphasis to the role of the government in its projectedimplementation. In The Herald editorial, the policy document had beencompletely re-presented as part of ZANU (PF)'s election manifesto, at apoint in the election campaign when the ruling party needed desperately toinfluence urban voters.Thus a text, the National Housing Policy, which was published as a civilservice document, was progressively transformed into a piece of electionpropaganda, passing through an intermediate stage of a most uninformativenews report. This raises questions about journalistic practice in theestablishment media in Zimbabwe. Not long after these texts were published,Bornwell Chakaodza, who was Editor of The Heiald at the point when thiseditorial was published, but who lost his job soon after the election, suggestedthat the quality of reporting in the offficial media was influenced by tworather different contributing factors, namely, incompetent reporters, whowere unable to produce original journalism, and the suspension ofprofessional ethics in favour of a sycophantic support of the ruling party(Daily News, 21 May 2001).This case-study suggests that Chakaodza's interpretation was correct.Reporters do indeed have difficulty in reformulating the texts of suchgenres as relatively technical policy documents so that the newsworthyissues are made accessible to the general reader, preferring to take theeasier approach of presenting any government policy as an unspecificallypositive achievement. Tlie Herald editorial shows the willingness to suspendprofessional ethics, in its transformation of the policy document into a pieceof election propaganda.ReferencesDAILY NEWS, THE, Harare, 21 May 2001, 'Chakaodza tells Herald secrets'.FAIRCLOUGH, N. 1995, Media Discourse, London: Edward Arnold.GOSDEN, H. 1992, 'Discourse functions of marked theme in scientific researcharticles', English for Specific Purposes, 11: 207-224.HALLIDAY, M.A.K. 1994, An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Second Edition,London: Edward Arnold.HERALD, THE, Harare, 19 June 2000, 'New National Housing Policy a positivedevelopment'.116 Reporting a Public Policy DocumentHUNSTON, S. 2000, 'Evaluation and the planes of discourse', in S. Hunston andG. Thompson eds, Evaluation in Text, Oxford: Oxford University Press.NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON HOUSING 1999, National Housing Policy for Zimbabiue,Harare: Ministry of Local Government and National Housing.SUNDAY MAIL, THE, Harare, 18 June 2000, 'State revamps housing policy'.THOMPSON, G. 1996, Introducing Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold.A. Love 117APPENDIX 1Vie Sunday Mail: 18 June 2000State Revamps Housing Policy1. THE Government has drawn up a major housing policy that will see theconstruction of over one million houses in the next 10 years while doingaway with archaic laws that have been contributing to the critical shortageof accommodation in the country.2. The National Housing Policy which received a nod from PresidentMugabe, was developed following a National Housing Convention heldin Victoria Falls at the end of last year.3. In order to make the policy viable, the Government intends to introducelegislation that will have the effect of ensuring that Parliament will beobliged to address the issue of housing as a matter of grave importance.4. The new amendment to the constitution would look at such archaiclegislation as the Housing and Building Act, Housing Standards Actand the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act.5. The policy document cited the example of the rent control regulationsthat were gazetted in terms of the Housing and Building Act of 1979 thatwere now irrelevant.6. The policy document points to the fact that there is need forre-engineering of governmental, statutory and parastatal institutionalframework within which the national housing strategy would beimplemented.7. 'The process of institutional rationalisation will therefore be dealt withas a matter of immediate priority in order to establish an institutionaland funding framework within which the envisaged Governmentprogrammes can be implemented with success', read part of the policydocument.8. Other areas that would be looked at to ensure the success of the policyinclude rekindling confidence back into the housing sector by addressingcrisis situations.9. It is envisaged that this move would bring more stability and confidenceback into the housing sector.10. The Government intends to pursue an incentive-based approach tostabilise the living environments for many communities living in unstableand degenerating residential areas.11. In order to cushion a number of people in need of housing, theGovernment would make available a housing credit scheme.12. This credit scheme would be supplemented with savings to enable alarge number of people in need of housing to acquire access to formalstarter housing under a range of tenure options.118 Reporting a Public Policy Document13. This, the draft said, would ensure progressive development of the urbanenvironment.14. The issue of user end subsidies was another approach the Governmentwill take in order to reach the target of a million houses in ten years.15. It is hoped that the subsidy policy would be flexible to accommodate awide range of tenure and delivery level in order to obtain maximumgearing with private investment savings and sweat equity.16. The policy is intended to cater for the vulnerable groups who includethe ultra-low income households, the elderly, young people leavingcollege and the disabled.17. The whole policy will however depend heavily on the availability ofland.18. The Government will ensure the efficient assembly and release ofappropriately located land.19. The Government will intervene to facilitate nationally uniform normsand standards in relation to land development including the preparationof Master and Local Plans which would include the inclusion of minimumresidential stand and zoning conditions.20. The proposed institutional structures include the Government as theco-ordinator, non-governmental organisations, National Housing Trust,local authorities, local non-governmental organisations, the private sectorand the general public both-in the urban and rural communities.21. Writing in the foreword of the National Housing Policy document,President Mugabe said housing was a critical factor in the socio-economicdevelopment of the country.22. He said since independence, housing had been regarded as a budgetaryitem that received annual financial allocations.23. 'It has however, been proved beyond doubt that Zimbabwe has enoughresources in terms of both financial and professional skills to meet itshousing requirements.24. What is lacking is the mechanism to marshal these resources where theycan be utilised for housing development,' read part of the foreword byPresident Mugabe.25. He further stated that the policy called for unity of purpose and improvedco-ordination among all stakeholders in the housing sector.A. Love 119APPENDIX 2The Herald: Monday 19 June 2000New National Housing Polio/ a Positive Development1. WHILE other parties make promises, ZANU (PF) has already startedimplementing crucial planks of its manifesto.2. After cutting through the opposition to a proper distribution of land bychanging the constitution and listing the first 804 farms to be acquiredvery soon, it has now launched the new National Housing Policy, whichsees one million new homes being built over the next 10 years.3. This can be implemented and will do much more than just solve ahousing crisis.4. The scale is huge but not impossible.5. Other countries have built similar numbers of houses in proportion totheir population.6. We only have to look at several European countries after Second WorldWar.7. Germany had hardly a house or block of flats undamaged, and themajority of the country's homes were destroyed.8. People were living in the open, in filthy cellars or in shacks among theruins.9. Yet by the late 1950s, just a decade after work started in earnest inbuilding new homes, almost every family in the nation, whether in thewestern or eastern states, had a decent home.10. The cities of Japan and the western areas of the Soviet Union werealmost as badly destroyed, yet the millions of homeless people werewithin a few years securely housed.11. What happened is that Governments rewrote the rule-books to ensurerapid construction could take place, experimented with new materialsto cut costs, and then set up the systems for the actual building.12. In the countries with the most damage up to 10 percent of the work forcewas employed in the building and materials sectors.13. Many of the new homes were fairly basic but in the decades of prosperitythat followed the massive construction effort, modest renovation andadditions moved the austerity housing up market.14. The new housing policy promises a similar sort of effort in Zimbabwe.15. It covers the pitfalls that have prevented rapid housing development inthe past.16. Zimbabwe has some rather peculiar laws.17. One minor example is the standards set for building.18. It is very difficult, if not quite impossible, to build anything in a cityusing farm bricks and lime mortar.120 Reporting a Public Policy Document19. Yet the Parliament building itself, not to mention the President's ownoffice building, are among the dozens of old surviving structures inHarare that used very similar technologies.20. The financing of construction has seen no real advance since the adventof the first building societies decades ago.21. The plan looks at innovative ways to mobilise other sources.22. More incentives will be offered to ensure that more people can havetheir own home.23. Yet, while willing to be imaginative, the policy also adheres to thefundamentals.24. There must be proper town planning, for example, to prevent the horrorsof unplanned development that are so difficult to solve later.25. A major housing drive will do much more than just give a home toevery family, important as that is.26. A vast army of workers will be needed, providing employment.27. The new jobs will not just be in the formal sector or in the buildingtrades.28. There will be ample room for the informal sector, making bricks forexample, and in many other areas.29. The new suburbs will need shops, creating new business opportunitiesand yet more jobs.30. Special attention has been given to those whom the normal housingmarket will never be able to satisfy.31. The old, the infirm, the very poor, and the recent school leaver orgraduate will all need extra help if they are to have a decent roof overtheir heads.32. The new Parliament we elect next weekend will be asked to pass apackage of legislation to allow the housing policy to be implemented.33. So vital is this sector that care must be taken by voters to ensure thatthose they vote for will take the policy seriously and will implement theZANU (PF) Government's programme.