Tanzania Information Services director Assah Mwambene speaks in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | correspondent
By The Citizen Team
Posted Wednesday, October 2 2013 at 00:00
Posted Wednesday, October 2 2013 at 00:00
In Summary
Meanwhile, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the banning of the two newspapers.
Dar es Salaam/New York. The government yesterday stepped up its crackdown on Mwananchi newspaper by banning its website.
The follows its decision to ban Tanzania’s largest
selling newspaper by 14 days last Friday for allegedly publishing
confidential government information and inciting Muslims.
Elsewhere, an international press freedom group
added its voice to the growing chorus of criticism of the government’s
ban on Mwananchi and Mtanzania, which has been shut for 90 days for
allegedly publishing seditious articles.
Government spokesperson Assah Mwambene directed that Mwananchi stops using its website to update or publish news stories.
He said Mwananchi was publishing online to go around the ban.
Mr Mwambene also ordered New Habari Corporation,
publishers of Mtanzania, to immediately stop publishing Rai newspaper
daily, saying it had not been given permission to do so. Rai was
published weekly, but the company began publishing it daily after
Mtanzania was banned.
“Rai is a newspaper that is supposed to be
published weekly. Mwananchi is not allowed to publish online using the
‘Mwananchi’ name,” said Mr Mwambene, adding that a three-day ultimatum
had been issued to the two media houses to comply with the directives.
He said the Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority was aware of the government’s decision on the Mwananchi
website, and warned of drastic action, including permanent closure of
the newspapers, if the directives are ignored.
Meanwhile, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the banning of the two newspapers.
“The government could have taken their grievances
against Mwananchi and Mtanzania to the Media Council of Tanzania, an
ombudsman, rather than summarily suspending the publications,” said Mr
Tom Rhodes, a Nairobi-based consultant to the committee.
“We call on authorities to allow the papers to
resume publication and to reform the laws that allow these suspensions,
which are not in line with international standards of press freedom.”
Tanzanian authorities rely on “an arsenal of
anti-media laws such as the 1976 Newspaper Act” that gives the
Information Ministry broad discretion to ban publications, the group
observed in a statement on Monday.
Citing a rise in physical attacks on Tanzanian journalists, the
committee had earlier urged US President Barack Obama to speak out
against a “highly restrictive media environment” during his visit to
Tanzania in July.
However, Mr Obama ignored the group’s request.
At a July 1 joint press conference with President
Jakaya Kikwete in Dar es Salaam, the US leader praised Tanzania’s
respect for democratic rights
“Tanzanians continue to work to strengthen their
democracy,” Mr Obama said. “Parliament, opposition groups, civil society
groups, and journalists are all doing their part to advance the good
governance and transparency upon which democracy and prosperity depend,”
he added.
Separately, the Dean of the Faculty of Mass
Communication at St Augustine University Dr Joseph Matumaini, told The
Citizen that the banning of Mwananchi and Mtanzania was a “rash”
decision.
He said the State was putting its own interests before those of the public.
Reporting by Beatrice Moses and Abela Msikula in Dar es Salaam and Kevin J. Kelley in New York
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
