‘All experience shows that access to the media is a decisive political resource in modern society... By the end of the 1990s, ZANU (PF) had lost an important advantage over its political rivals in this respect’ In March 1999, the establishment of The Daily News put an end to the media’s one-sided presentation of Zimbabwe’s political situation, and gave the opposition an important channel of communication. Ragnar Waldahl demonstrates how this alternative to the state-run media gave voters access for the first time to competing accounts of the state of political affairs, and made the 2000 election the most exciting and open in Zimbabwe’s short history. He sets his review of press and television coverage against the background of the country’s political development and offers a detailed analysis of the origination, nature and impact of that coverage. Ragnar Waldahl is a professor in the University of Oslo’s Department of Media and Communication.