THE government has tabled the long-awaited Media Service Bill 2016 in effort to bring Tanzania closer to international legal standards and best practice that governs the right of freedom of expression.
After it was tabled yesterday, House
Speaker Job Ndugai said the Bill was ready for discussion by both
parties and it was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee for
Constitution and Legal Affairs.
Information, Culture, Arts and Sports
Minister Nape Nnauye told reporters here that the law will give more
credit to journalists and empower them to execute their duties as
professionals. “This is our Bill.
It’s vital that we deliberate on best
practices to improve it than pointing accusing fingers at one another,”
said Mr Nnauye. He pointed out that the Bill is meant to make journalism
a much more respected profession.
The information minister said there will
be more ways for civil societies and media practitioners’ to air their
opinions which seek to improve the law. “Your participation is vital,”
he emphasised.
The Act, which parades provisions for
professionalism in the media industry, also creates frameworks for
regulation of media services and other related matters. The Act will
mainly be applied in Tanzania Mainland.
Section 8 of the law forbids an
individual to publish, sell, offer for sale, import, produce or
distribute print media in any manner unless such a person is licensed.
On accreditation of a journalist, the law prescribe that a person shall
not practise as a journalist unless that person is accredited.
A person found practising as a
journalist while not accredited will upon conviction be liable to a fine
of between 5mil/- and 20mil/- or imprisonment to between three and five
years or both.
The draft legislation which was tabled
here yesterday, comes just a week after the National Assembly passed the
Access to Information Bill, 2016 - a victory to whistleblowers and
media.
Opposition parliamentarians, the media
fraternity and civil societies had been expressing concern over
government delays to table the crucial Bill, making it difficult for
journalists to perform their duties free from what they described as
‘draconian’ laws Service (Maelezo) newly appointed Director, Mr Hassan
Abbasi, said the draft law seeks to effectively establish three
institutions which will regulate the industry.
“This law strives to make journalism a
full-fledged profession,” Mr Abbasi said. He explained that the three
institutions include information department, accreditation board and
independent media council.
The information department will continue
undertaking its chief duties as the government information centre, he
said. However, some duties will now be apportioned to other
institutions.
“This includes registration of
newspapers and issuing of press cards which will now be under the
Independent Media Council and Accreditation Board respectively,” the
Director of Information Service explained at a press conference in
Dodoma.
He went on to note that the Information
Service Department will also assume duties as an overall media
fraternity regulator. Continued from
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