This article explores the fortunes of the leading farming periodical in Zimbabwe, The Farmer magazine, and how its parent body, the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) sought to control, censor and manipulate The Farmer and the coverage it gave the deepening crises in Zimbabwe. Doing so gives voice to a part of the white experience in Zimbabwe and also shows that the farming community was far from a cohesive entity. The article also shows that there are parallels in the CFU’s attitude towards The Farmer’s post-2000, and to that it expressed in the 1980s during the years of Gukurahundi. The CFU’s policy of ‘apoliticism’ affected the freedom of The Farmer at both times and ultimately led to the magazines closure in 2002
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