Rescue journalists, pleads MP
Kondoa South MP Juma Nkamia urges the government to speed up the tabling of the Information Bill to rescue journalists from “exploitation” by media owners
What you need to know:
We need a law that will guide media owners and practitioners and make them understand and appreciate the value of journalists and their contribution. The proposed law seeks to clearly define remuneration and contracts for journalists.
Dodoma. The government should set standards that will ensure better pay and working conditions for journalists, an MP has suggested.
Debating the 2013/14 budget estimates of the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Mr Juma Nkamia (Kondoa South-CCM) said many media houses do not employ reporters on a permanent basis, adding that most journalists do not have legal contracts with their employers.
He said the government, through the ministry, should speed up the tabling of the Information Bill to rescue journalists from “exploitation” by media owners.
“This Bill should be tabled in this House as soon as possible so that we can discuss and approve it. This is the only way we can solve the myriad of problems journalists are grappling with,” said Mr Nkamia, who was a journalist with Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation before he was elected to Parliament in 2010. He said if the Bill was passed and signed into law, it would help to standardise remuneration for journalists as was the case with other professions such as engineering.
“We need a law that will guide media owners and practitioners and make them understand and appreciate the value of journalists and their contribution. The proposed law seeks to clearly define remuneration and contracts for journalists,” the MP said.
Mr Nkamia added that there was no professional body that fought for the rights of journalists in Tanzania, and dismissed the Media Council of Tanzania and Editors Forum as “mere NGOs”.
He, however, advised MPs to be careful when debating the Bill to ensure that press freedom was not suppressed.
“A similar law is cause for concern in India and other countries...we need to be careful so that we don’t put the media industry in peril.”
Mr Nkamia also said the Tanzania Information Service (Maelezo) should extend the validity of press cards to at least three years from the current one year.
“Maelezo should start issuing press cards that are valid for at least three years to save journalists unnecessary inconvenience,” he said.
