Directors,” Mgoi said.
Critics say relations between the police force and the media are very crucial
to development since they are interdependent and, the fact that, they all serve
the same public.
2012 recorded tainting relations between members of the police force and
those of the media. Even though there
have been incidences of press freedom
violations in the country, these incidences had never reached the extent of
journalists being killed, as that incident
in Iringa region of the killing the of journalist, Daudi Mwangosi. The case is still
in court.
However, the situation has improved
for the better as journalists and the police are still working closely. This was evident during the killing incident involving
radio Kwizera journalist Issa Ngumba
from Kakonko in Kigoma region, as police officers accompanied/escorted the
MISA-TAN team and other journalists to
the scene of the incident.
Owners of the media houses are also
part of the press freedom violation. It is
not a strange thing for the owner to call
the newsroom and order the editor to
scrap a story or change the headline. A
story that might compromise the owner’s political aspiration or business con-

tract will hardly find a way in the newspaper or have air time, no matter how good
it might be.
Cases of journalists pursuing political
careers are also mentioned as a big threat
to press freedom. It is not strange that
several journalists have been elected to
political administration posts, while others are still vying to be elected for National
Executive Committee posts of major political parties, and critics argue that their
appointments are a ‘thank you’ from party
leaders, as their appointments are largely
dependent on what they have been doing, either during campaigns or at personal
level.
Right to assembly and expression of
opinions and views according to the law
is a guarantee to every citizen. Banning of
newspapers, taking editors and publishers
to court under insult and defamation laws,
attacking and killing of journalists is curtailing media freedoms and, thus, denying
people of their right to know, which is a
fundamental human right.
Media is the fourth estate of any government. Governments that have prospered socially and economically learnt the
good side of the media many years ago
and have made good use of it. We urge the
government to see that in another light
and make a positive move towards re



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