Editors call for review of media licensing rules

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Editors’ Forum (TEF) has called upon the government to change registration and annual media licences issuance procedure saying the move hindered business investment.

The call was made yesterday by TEF Chairman Deodatus Balile during the opening of a three-day media laws advocacy training programme debating on the Media Services Act and areas that needed to be repealed.

Funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Tanzania, the programme is being held in Dar es Salaam where editors convened to discuss media laws that have proven to be a challenge to the industry.

Mr Balile said according to the law, an investor would not invest a lot of money in a business whose licence is for a short term, as it hindered business operations, thus affecting the industry.

“The licences of telcos are valid for 15 years, that is why you can see investors not worried about investing in the sector. So, we see here in the media industry that licences should not be renewed every year,” he suggested.

He said as TEF, they find it unjust that the law doesn’t recognise citizen journalism. This, he said deprived citizens’ right to information.

“Our call is that once we are registered, then we need to be given licences that lasts a long time, of up to 10 years instead of one year,” said Balile.

Commenting on the topic, the Netherlands Ambassador to Tanzania Wiebe De Boer said a free and fair media space in Tanzania will enable the industry to become the country’s effective Fourth Estate.

“Freedom of the press is important to the overall development of Tanzania because it encourages transparency and accountability,” said Boer.

He urged journalists to join forces with other stakeholders to advocate legal reforms that will liberate the media space.

Former TEF Chairperson Theophil Makunga said journalists needed to devote more effort when pushing an agenda that affects their very existence, saying often times, the media had focused much on promoting other people’s causes while neglecting their own.

According to Ancentius Mwesa, a journalist, annual licence issuance had contributed in scaring investors from investing in the media industry. He believes that the government will soon do away with the practice.

“We believe the government will soon do away with this practice since it has already expressed the intention of promoting businesses and boosting the country’s economy and promoting the growth of the media industry,” he said.

Another journalist, Ms Stella Aron, said she believed that the amendment of the Media Services Act will be made based on the interests of the nation because President Samia Suluhu Hassan was also a believer of the freedom of information and promotion of democracy.

“We do not want to be favoured or victimised, if the laws are amended, we will make huge strides in promoting freedom of information and the media industry,” she said.

However, the government has maintained that it will engage the media in reviewing the media laws, which include the Media Services Act, 2016, Cybercrimes Act, 2015, The Statistics Act, 2015, and the Access to Information Act, 2015.