mwanakijiji
07-01-2010, 07:54 PM
Media owners are up in arms over the decision by some government ministries to exercise selective justice by denying private media houses advertisements, particularly those relating to the 2010/2011 budgetary estimates.
A statement issued in Dar es Salaam yesterday by the Media Owners Association of Tanzania, which had held an emergency meeting in the city specifically to discuss the matter, expressed disgust at the trend.
“MOAT is disgusted by the tendency by certain ministries that favour state-owned media outlets at the expense of private ones when issuing advertisements on the budget estimates and sometimes even ordinary advertisements,” read the statement, which was signed by MOAT Executive Secretary Henry Muhanika.
It named the ministries perpetrating the tendency as the Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office (Public Service Management), Finance and Economic Affairs, Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Livestock Development and Fisheries, and Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
“MOAT is appalled by this situation and is at a loss as to the motive behind the move because these ministries enjoy equal media treatment with the rest when it comes to the dissemination of newsworthy information of public interest,” said the statement.
“Similarly, MOAT believes that the trend sours the good relations the media and the said ministries have been enjoying,” it added.
Hamad Rashid Mohamed, Leader of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly, said when contacted for comment yesterday that he was not pleased with the government’s “openly discriminatory decision”.
He said the practice was wrong and unacceptable “because it denies Tanzanians and the larger public their basic right to information and is not in consonance with the spirit of the public private partnership policy the government has been so vigorously championing”.
“The government is preaching water while it takes wine. It is giving with one hand and snatching with the other. This does not serve the demands of transparency, good governance and respect for justice and fair play,” he noted.
House Parastatal Organisations Accounts Parliamentary Committee (POAC) Chairman Zitto Kabwe echoed the sentiments, calling on the government to create conditions that would guarantee all media houses and other institutions fair competition regardless of the nature of their ownership.
He said directing government advertisements to media outlets receiving subsidy from the same government was in blatant violation of the Public Procurement Procedures Act “and denying the public media this vital source of revenue is absolutely unacceptable”.
“Since 2007 we (Members of Parliament) have been arguing that state-owned print and electronic media should not get advertisements from state organs,” recalled the legislator.
He challenged MOAT to be more proactive and carry out a study to quantify the amount of revenue generated by the state-run media outlets at their expense “instead of protesting only after they are denied advertisements”
Information, Culture and Sports minister George Mkuchika would not pick up his mobile phone when this paper made attempts to get his side of the story. However, he has previously declared that it did not make sense for the government to give advertisements to media outlets fond of faulting it.
Information deputy minister Joe Bendera’s mobile phone was permanently not reachable.
Advertisements are commonly acknowledged as the lifeblood of media houses across the globe, without which none can thrive.
The Guardian
A statement issued in Dar es Salaam yesterday by the Media Owners Association of Tanzania, which had held an emergency meeting in the city specifically to discuss the matter, expressed disgust at the trend.
“MOAT is disgusted by the tendency by certain ministries that favour state-owned media outlets at the expense of private ones when issuing advertisements on the budget estimates and sometimes even ordinary advertisements,” read the statement, which was signed by MOAT Executive Secretary Henry Muhanika.
It named the ministries perpetrating the tendency as the Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office (Public Service Management), Finance and Economic Affairs, Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Livestock Development and Fisheries, and Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
“MOAT is appalled by this situation and is at a loss as to the motive behind the move because these ministries enjoy equal media treatment with the rest when it comes to the dissemination of newsworthy information of public interest,” said the statement.
“Similarly, MOAT believes that the trend sours the good relations the media and the said ministries have been enjoying,” it added.
Hamad Rashid Mohamed, Leader of the Official Opposition in the National Assembly, said when contacted for comment yesterday that he was not pleased with the government’s “openly discriminatory decision”.
He said the practice was wrong and unacceptable “because it denies Tanzanians and the larger public their basic right to information and is not in consonance with the spirit of the public private partnership policy the government has been so vigorously championing”.
“The government is preaching water while it takes wine. It is giving with one hand and snatching with the other. This does not serve the demands of transparency, good governance and respect for justice and fair play,” he noted.
House Parastatal Organisations Accounts Parliamentary Committee (POAC) Chairman Zitto Kabwe echoed the sentiments, calling on the government to create conditions that would guarantee all media houses and other institutions fair competition regardless of the nature of their ownership.
He said directing government advertisements to media outlets receiving subsidy from the same government was in blatant violation of the Public Procurement Procedures Act “and denying the public media this vital source of revenue is absolutely unacceptable”.
“Since 2007 we (Members of Parliament) have been arguing that state-owned print and electronic media should not get advertisements from state organs,” recalled the legislator.
He challenged MOAT to be more proactive and carry out a study to quantify the amount of revenue generated by the state-run media outlets at their expense “instead of protesting only after they are denied advertisements”
Information, Culture and Sports minister George Mkuchika would not pick up his mobile phone when this paper made attempts to get his side of the story. However, he has previously declared that it did not make sense for the government to give advertisements to media outlets fond of faulting it.
Information deputy minister Joe Bendera’s mobile phone was permanently not reachable.
Advertisements are commonly acknowledged as the lifeblood of media houses across the globe, without which none can thrive.
The Guardian