| Time scribes were specialised | Send to a friend |
| Wednesday, 22 February 2012 10:53 |
|
The Political Platform Correspondent Mwanza. The responsibility of media in shaping modern politics in the contemporary societies cannot be overstated despite the fact that politicians are increasingly intruding into the fourth estate. All charismatic leaders, including those of the calibre of Adolf Hitler or the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, succeeded because they knew how to use the media for realising their political ambitions. Parliament without press is nothing but a secret club of politicians, who meet to debate sensitive issues concerning the livelihood of the people, Okigbo (1994) argues. The local media, for instance, has played a pivotal role lately in toning down the political fire the government had early this year ignited on the process of writing a new constitution. Members of Parliament on the main opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) walked out of the House in protest of the government insistence on tabling the Constitutional Review Bill 2011 for the second reading. Owing to several changes incorporated in the bill, which was also published in Kiswahili for the first time, the MPs maintained that the draft law should have been read for the first time during the 5th Parliament session. The majority of Tanzanians, who were closely following the debate through the media, separately raised their voices, prompting President Jakaya Kikwete to open the State House doors to Chadema, activists, religious leaders and other stakeholders for dialogues. During the 6th Parliament session early this month, the government had to table another bill seeking to amend the Constitutional Review Act, which MPs on the majority Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ticket, in particular, had passed. Despite the lawmakers on the CCM ticket railing against the replacement of district commissioners with district executive directors in paving the way for people to give their opinions on the components of the new constitution, the amendments sailed through in the House. The political temperature, which kept gaining momentum and threatening national harmony as the debate on the process of rewriting the new constitution heated up, has subsided at last. The debate was actually developing into a conflict between the government, CCM and opposition parties with minority representation in the house on one side and Chadema, activists and religious leaders on another. Scholars Sarah Bodner, Ron Fisher and Luboslav Kmet, among others, admit that conflicts will be there to stay in societies, as people differ in various ways. What matters the most to them is the way various clashes are handled. A conflict is a catalyst for growth of any person, group or an organisation, Fisher argues, stressing that a community cannot progress without clashing in one way or another. But the media, which serves as a tool for amplifying or resolving conflicts, should be wary of politicians, lest the latter abuse them as was the case with Radio Collins during the 1994 Rwanda genocide or Kas FM during the Kenya post-election violence between 2007 and 2008. Unlike their counterparts in the West, Politicians in the third world countries often are after short-term results. Most of the local politicians, for instance, emphatically focus the ongoing debate on the rewriting of a new constitution on 2015 as if the year would be the end of Tanzania. Peace journalism or reconciliation journalism as El-Naaway and Shawn Power (2011) of Aljazeera English term it is an important vehicle for dealing with such short-sighted politicians. Peace journalism directs actors, including politicians, towards resolving instead of escalating conflicts. It is confined in the art of bringing two parties onto a negotiation table. Vladimir Bratic and Lisa Schirch (2007) insists that the role of media is to serve as a bridge by create a positive relationship among the conflicting parties. But it calls for educated, knowledgeable and flexible journalists for the media to effectively create a constructive public discourse to that effect. To what extent can the Tanzania media set a public agenda in motion? Paschal Shao, a tutorial assistant with Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (Saut) laments that the local media lacks the culture of setting political agenda for the public. “Most of the local journalists have become politicians too with some of them sharing offices with politicians in posh hotels. The local media has turned into a battle ground for heavy weight politicians so to speak,” he observes. Conflict resolution journalism has a long way to go in the country, as the career calls for specialty journalists to understand politicians with their true colours, he says. Unless the local media sets agenda ahead of the rewriting of a new constitution after the amendments of the Constitutional Review 2011, politicians will hijack the debate and stir up conflicts. Deodatus Kazinja is a political analyst based in Mwanza. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - 0714631108 Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
Latest News
Most Read
Gallery
Comments
RSS feed for comments to this post