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Acting CEO). The case is still ongoing.
But one of the landmark cases involving newspapers for year 2012 was
the indefinite ban of the local weekly,
MwanaHalisi newspaper, by the government for publishing a story on the
alleged kidnapping and torture of the
Medical Doctors Association president,
Dr. Stephen Ulimboka.
In its three publications – no.302
publication of Wednesday, July 11-18,
2012, no.303 of Wednesday 18-24, 2012,
and no.304 of Wednesday July 25-01,
2012 – it ran a story concerning the kidnapping and torture of Dr Ulimboka. The
article alleged that the person in question was a government agent.
In 2012, the Ethics Committee of the
MCT sat three times for arbitration of
complaints.
The MCT successfully mediated four
complaints at its level, including two
from an accomplished businessperson, Ali Mufuruki, who filed complaints
against ITV and Channel 10 television
stations. Others successfully mediated
were those filed by SUMATRA versus Taifa Letu, and one by a prominent lawyer,
Ms. Hawa Sinare, versus MwanaHALISI
newspaper.
According to its annual report last
year, MCT handled 28 complains in 2012,



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including those which were determined
at the Ethics Committee level, Secretariat level and others which were filed
and later formally withdrawn or just not
pursued, by complainants, for loss of interest or other reasons.
Differences between government/
political leaders and journalists are directly linked to whatever they write.
There are those who write what the leaders want and there are those who stand
by their profession. Those who say anything that doesn’t find favour in the eyes
or ears of those in power are hated.
“Press violations are widespread and
sometimes they are committed with the
aid of fellow journalists”, says Fredrick
Mgoi, Kwanza Jamii’s News Editor in Iringa region. He says his paper gave the
Development Directors in the region a
free page to write their information on
any development plans, projects accomplishments etc but they declined.
“When we published a story on how
they underperformed and the possibility
of them being fired, they became furious. We had a Deputy Editor who went
behind our backs and apologised to the
Directors saying that it wasn’t him who
wrote the story. It was later on that we
learnt of his involvement in soliciting
adverts for other newspapers from the

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