{A LOCAL Kiswahili weekly tabloid, ‘Mawio’, has been banned – permanently. According to a statement issued by the government in Dar es Salaam, the newspaper “has been publishing provoking news stories that have all the ingredients of inciting violence in the country’’.}
Announcing the ban, the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye, said the decision to ban ‘Mawio’ permanently follows a Government Announcement number 55, issued on January 15, 2016.
“The decision applies to both printing of the newspaper and online publications. This is according to the Newspaper Act of 1976 and the electronic and Postal Communications Act of 2010,” Mr Nnauye pointed out.
He told reporters that the government was forced to take the decision after the tabloid embarked on a series of news articles that had all the indications of inciting violence in the country.
“The decision to deregister ‘Mawio’ also follows efforts by the Registrar of Newspapers between June 2013 and this month to plead with the newspaper’s editor to revise and change the style of writing news and features stories, which proved futile,” he explained.
He added that the registrar had on eight occasions tried to reason with the newspaper owners and management to change their news writing style, which was not considered.
“We have no choice but to take this action in the nation’s best interests,” he explained. Mr Nnauye emphasized that the government’s main responsibility is to maintain law and order in the society, urging other media houses to adhere to journalism ethics and professionalism.
He added that his commitment to cooperate with the media industry should not be mistaken for leniency to those who will go against the media laws, stressing that his priority is to ensure the law is adhered to as media houses execute their duties in building the nation.
“Recent news articles in ‘Mawio’, which had all the ingredients of inciting violence, include that in which they declared Mr Seif Sharif Hamad as the new President of Zanzibar and another that had a headline that showed that Zanzibar was about to shed blood,” he explained.
He commended other media houses, including ‘Daily News’, ‘HabariLeo’, ‘Mwananchi’ and ‘Mtanzania’ for upholding ethics and professionalism, noting that the ‘East African’ has also made a comeback in the country after showing readiness to adhere to the country’s laws. “I highly commend these newspapers because they are very cooperative.
They always publish apologies and adhere to directives given to them. The ‘East African’ is also on the newsstands now. This is because they have implemented what we directed them to do. This is the kind of cooperation we need,” he explained.
There have been instances that show how media can incite violence in a country, leading to bloodbath and setbacks to developmental efforts, regionally and globally.
Memories linger of the violence that followed the 2007 general election in Kenya in which the media was identified as one of the perpetrators of the violence.
More than 1,000 people died in the mayhem. Another is the Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, where it is believed that the media had a significant part to play, in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
Source:Daily News:[Weekly tabloid ‘Mawio’ banned permanently->http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/home-news/46117-weekly-tabloid-mawio-banned-permanently]
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