MCT Executive Secretary Kajubi Mukajanga.
Tanzania Media Council (MCT) yesterday announced new Think Tank on Freedom of Expression and Media Issues following the expiry of service term of the former country’s’ media leadership.
Announcing the new team MCT Executive Secretary Kajubi Mukajanga said the former eight member think tank served for three years which geared greater developments to media in Tanzania.
He said the last three years experienced great changes in the media development indicators that included live telecasting of the parliamentary sessions. Mukajanga said the former Think Tank were Professor Issa Shivji, Prof. Robert White from USA, Prof Palagamba Kabudi, Prof Penina Mlama from University of Dar es Salaam and Prof Saida Yahya Authman.
Others are Kenyan journalist Wangethi Mwangi, Jenerali Ulimwengu and Dr Peter Mwesige from Uganda.
The new team comprises Chairperson Prof. Penina Mlama from University of Dar es Salaam Jenerali Ulimwengu, and Prof. Ruth Meena, a professional teacher and iconic gender issues and human rights activist.
Also in the list are Ally Mohamed Uki, a law lecture from Zanzibar University, Prof Bonaventura Rolinwa.
Others are journalist Ndimara Tengabwage, and journalist Wangethi Mwangi from Kenya.
He explained that the most recent annual international report on the extent of freedom that journalists, media outlets and the citizenry enjoy has brought Tanzania in the limelight.
The 2013 World Press Freedom Index, which was released recently by Reporters Without Borders, shows that press freedom shrunk considerably in Tanzania last year.
The country ranked number 70 out of the 179 surveyed, representing a drop of 36 places from the previous year.
The findings come at a time when progressive media stakeholders are relentlessly pressing the government to repeal oppressive media laws and enact decent and friendly ones.
Of particular importance about the findings is the fact that they portray the situation on the ground and address the demand by media stakeholders for the enactment of Right to Information law and a Media Services Act.
The media industry and the laws governing it have long history in Tanzania. From colonial days to date, the country has not had laws that guarantee press freedom.
The laws governing the operations of the media during the German and British colonial administrations were drafted specifically to tame the media, reducing them to propaganda tool of the colonial regimes.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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