'Winning Hearts and Minds'

Recent work on media and propaganda in Zimbabwe has focused on media politics in the contemporary crisis. Most of these studies do not examine the circumstances that created the propaganda or the responses of the recipients. Some commentators have created the impression that government propaganda easily supplanted alternative opinions. This article analyses the development of Rhodesian propaganda from 1962 to 1970. It argues that far from being a sign of the strength of the Rhodesian Front (RF) regime, government propaganda was a response to political paranoia and insecurity in the face of an uncertain future. Smith's propaganda was not as successful as sometimes assumed and was not effective enough to fully counter alternative opinions.