Society continued to meet for various strategic decisions. Such meetings culminated in the drafting of this bill. The Media Services Bill 2008 was officially launched for debate on November 23, 2007. Further consultations were slated for early 2008 for more input from the public and stakeholders. Both these bills are likely to be presented in Parliament in 2008. Constitution No changes were made to the Constitution in 2007. Once the Right to Information Bill is passed in Parliament in 2008, the Constitution might need amendments to accommodate the proposed guarantee freedom of expression, including freedom of scientific research. Other legislation The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Act in 2007 inter alia provided for a clause prohibiting journalists and other sections of the media to report and publish corruption cases under investigation. The Media Owners Association and other stakeholders strongly objected to this legislation, and so far little has been made to amend the distasteful clause. Defamation Defamation is contained in the Newspaper Act of 1976. Current consultations among stakeholders suggest that defamation should be dealt with separately from media laws. However, the Media Council of Tanzania, continued with its adjudication of different cases within the media fraternity. During the year under review, eight cases were filed by members of the public against various media institutions. They ranged from defamation and plagiarism to right of reply. The Council’s Ethics Committee met twice to deliberate and decide on three complaints that were referred to it. A photo journalist with Mwananchi Publications, Mpoki Bukuku, sought remedies through the Council when Willy Edward of Business Times Limited published photographs by the former in Dar Leo and Majira on the front page without permission or crediting them. The matter was adjudicated by requiring Dar Leo and Majira to publish an apology on the first page for publishing Bukuku’s photograph without his permission. Edward, on the other hand, was asked to write a personal letter of apology to Mr. Bukuku for taking his photographs without permission and causing them to be published under his by-line. Business Times Limited publishers of Dar Leo and Majira were asked to negotiate with Mwananchi Publications limited publishers of Mwananchi and The Citizen on compensation, and inform the Council accordingly. The respondents complied. One tabloid was brought before the council for defaming Mr. Taji Liundi, a Commissioner with Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS). Mr Liundi was complaining against a story written in the Kiu newspaper of October 26-28 with the headline “Taji Liundi ni Fuska”(Liundi is the ‘flirting’ type). The story in Kiu alleged that the complainant had been teaching girls as young as 14 on sexual matters in public. The story quoted a single source, a woman who claimed that her child attended one of Mr. Liundi’s ‘tutorials’. The newspaper thus condemned the complainant for his immoral So This Is Democracy? 2007 -102- Media Institute of Southern Africa