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afrol News, 4 September - The Tanzanian government has issued a stern warning against "unethical news media," saying such conduct has contributed to the fall of moral standard in the country. Several Kiswahili print media have already been banned or suspended. On Friday, August 20, 2002, the Prime Minister's Office warned in a statement that as from now the government will not hesitate to take punitive measures against any newspaper that would publish materials which go against professional ethics, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). - It is the hope of the government that all the news media organs, which have been publishing materials provoking numerous complaints from the public, will stop such conduct forthwith so as to uphold morality in our society, said the four-page Tanzanian government statement. The statement especially condemned tabloids that publish semi-pornographic materials and grisly photographs of dead people on front-page ostensibly to "inform the public" of what was happening in the society. It said the news media should respect people's privacy and must note that intrusion upon others' private life, if it should be there, should be fair and geared at provable public interest. It further said some newspapers had plunged into the intrusion of people's privacy with the flimsy excuse that the covered people were prominent, hence newsworthy. The statement added that the published news are more often one sided, exposing the ills of the so-called prominent persons as if such people never lead pleasant private lives. Ever since the advent of free market, there had been a proliferation of private media from a handful to over 400. However, a large number of the upcoming media houses are in the "yellow press", which in the cutthroat competition they opt to defy ethics. On 26 July 2001 the government of Tanzania therefore had banned nine Kiswahili local weekly magazines and suspended three tabloids for allegedly publishing indecent photographs that corrupt the society and thwart campaigns to combat HIV-AIDS in the country. The Kiswahili tabloids, which were suspended for six months were "Cheko" and "Zungu" while "Kombora" would serve a 12-month ban. The Kiswahili magazines banned by the government are "Mama Huruma", "Tafrani", "Chachandu", "Mizengwe", "Maraha", "Kula Vitu", "Penzi Kikohozi", "Uroda kwa Foleni", and "Simulizi Kutoka Chumbani". Tanzania has a functioning Media Council and Code of Conduct, although these are not active or adhered to due to functioning problems. The Tanzania chapter of MISA (MISA-Tanzania) is currently implementing a Media Freedom Monitoring Project which among other things, will look at the issue of ethics and professionalism in the local media. MISA in a statement says it "opposes any legislative attempt to regulate the conduct and practice of media practitioners." MISA's position was that "regulatory structures should be voluntary and freedom from both government intervention and control as well as the control of media owners."
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