MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION

The Council recognizes the fact that with the now planned introduction of a governmental body to hear complaints, MCT role as an arbiter will be directly interfered with. The challenge will arise from the fact that some of the people who feel aggrieved by media will be looking for punitive measures which they know they will not get from the MCT Ethics Committee. Such people will therefore opt for the governmental body with the hope that individual journalists and their media outlets will be heavily fined or suspended or worse, banned. The challenge is how to defend the self-regulation mechanism against the new governmental approach.

The MCT will therefore make sure that its mediation services, from Secretariat level, and the arbitration at Committee level, are better known to the public, are fast, efficient, open, and demonstrably fair. Members should be involved in making this process known to the public. So far, MCT mediation and arbitration work has been effective because many complainants have shown that they do not necessarily want to make money through their complaints, but to have their day before a neutral and fair arbiter. They want their good reputation restored. They want a right of reply.

The service has been effective also because of the caliber and integrity of the people who sit on the Ethics Committee.

While the arbitration hearings will be open, the decisions of the Ethics Committee will also be published in newspapers and later will be compiled in a book. Additionally, it is expected that the Committee decisions will be used by journalism schools as case studies in training.

As recent as 2013 Tanzanian editors, in an Annual MCT/Editors Consultative Conference in Tanga, signed a document re-affirming their commitment to self-regulation. This was promptly followed by MCT member institutions doing the same during the 16th National General Convention (NGC). It is therefore clear which route the practicing stakeholders want. However, continued effectiveness of MCT mediation and arbitration will also depend on how members of the public respond to the establishment of a government body that will have mandate to hand down punitive measures including heavy fines and closure of media outlets.

While ensuring efficiency, objectiveness and transparency to keep our mediation and arbitration effective, the Council shall have to keep reviewing the strategy and making changes when necessary to align resources to effective interventions based on the obtaining situation on the ground.