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JK underlines media ethics
2008-03-27 09:14:01
By Felister Peter
President Jakaya Kikwete has challenged media practitioners and other stakeholders in Tanzania to defend and promote the journalism profession by observing ethics and respecting the freedom of the press which the country now enjoys.
He threw the challenge in an address at the official launch of the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The President called on media owners to make sure that all the news their institutions published is deeply researched, true and balanced ``because Tanzanians have confidence in the media and it is only fair that they get credible news they can count on``.
``You should stick to your professional ethics and make sure
that journalism is protected against unprofessional elements out to tarnish its image.
Media owners have a wonderful opportunity to monitor the situation and ensure that this is done to satisfaction,`` he said.
He explained that the value of any media organisation is measured through the extent to which it writes and publishes or broadcasts news, reports and commentaries so professionally done that people have full trust in them and look to them for informed guidance.
President Kikwete also challenged the media to seek, process and run news and other news materials from the country`s rural areas, saying there are countless development issues in villages that go unreported just because it is wrongly believed that only urban areas produce publishable news that sells.
``The government will continue supporting the media and protect freedom of the press by making sure that media practitioners gradually become true professionals, partly through advanced education and training.
This is because the information and communication sector has become the most dynamic in the world,`` he pointed out.
The President then urged the media not to abuse freedom of the press by publishing one-sided and other hastily or maliciously done reports, including those aimed at besmirching innocent people or causing antagonistic divisions in society.
The Chairman of the Media Owners Association of Tanzania (MOAT), Reginald Mengi, meanwhile said there was an urgent need for deliberate efforts to help journalism in the country retain and build on the enormous respect it commands among the citizenry ``by writing and running well-researched and balanced reports``.
He warned that failure to stick to professional ethics was a recipe for the media in Tanzania to remain weak and even lose popularity.
Mengi congratulated the government-owned TBC on its ``gradual but enviable`` transformation over the years and recommended that it cooperate as fully as possible with other media houses ``because they all serve the same community``.
In his remarks, Information, Culture and Sports minister George Mkuchika noted that the media are by definition expected to publish or broadcast reliable news ``set to bring about or consolidate unity and solidarity among Tanzanians and motivate community development instead of fomenting or precipitating chaos``.
He too said it was mandatory for the media to stick to professional and social ethics if they were to win the public sympathy, understanding and support they need to survive and thrive.
The minister, a one-time journalist, described Tanzania as one of the African countries that really honour and cherish freedom of press.
He said it was thanks to the freedom of the press Tanzania currently enjoys that the country now boasts some 50 radio stations, 21 television stations and a host of daily, weekly and other newspapers and publications both public and privately owned.
Six radio stations and four television stations run countrywide broadcasts, he explained, seeing that as an achievement with little record in Africa.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that the government would not unduly censure or punish any media house or individual journalist ``but any violating professional ethics will be dealt with in line with the law``.
TBC Managing Director Dunstan Tido Mhando meanwhile said that, alongside assuming its new name, the corporation would work for a transformation of its radio and TV programmes.
The move would include the launch of 11 FM radio stations in different parts of the country.
He said that TBC, which brings together the former Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD) and the national TV network (TVT) would now operate as independently from the government as possible ``mainly by developing its own sources of income``.
``We also intend to expand our services to as far afield as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda by 2015,`` added the long-serving radio and TV presenter.
The TBC chief said that TVT will now be known as TBC1 and RTD as TBC-Taifa, while there would also be TBC International broadcasting in English for 12 hours daily and in French for two hours.
What has been popularly known only as RTD was established in 1951, named Tanganyika Broadcasting Services in 1955 and renamed TBC in July 1956.
The radio station contributed a lot to the struggle for the liberation of a string of African countries, among them Angola, Comoros, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The colourful launch was held at the TBC headquarters in the city`s Mikocheni area and attended by an array of dignitaries, including media owners and senior executives.
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