MCT marks 25 years since its inception

The President of the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), retired Judge Thomas Mihayo and Executive Secretray, Kajubi Mukajanga.

The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) on June 30, 2020 marked 25 years of service to the media in the country since its establishment on June 30, 1995.

It is a milestone in the history of the media industry for the Council which was established by media practitioners in the spirit of self regulation.

Over the years the Council has made great strides. From the humble beginning of running training courses for practitioners of the budding media, conducting mediation and arbitration, the Council has grown in strength and scope to extent of facilitating media to spearhead demand for good governance: transparency, accountability as a result of independent and investigative journalism.

Increased compliance rate of MCT’s arbitration decisions is a record achievement of the Council. Nine out of every ten decisions complied with its ruling which is a big credit given that arbitration of complaints is one of core functions of any media self-regulatory mechanism. Among the beneficiaries of this pertinent service of the Council include cabinet ministers and other government functionaries. Regional and district commissioners and others, have continued to seek MCT intervention.

MCT has also taken media self regulation to the newsrooms by giving expert support to media houses to draft in-house self regulatory and peer oversight mechanisms such as style books, internal codes of conduct, and editorial policies.

Either the Council has been able to engage and bring together editors and journalism trainers to agree on effective preparation of trainee reporters, and incorporating values of self regulation and practical monitoring of ethical reportage in journalism foundational training. Thematic guidelines and training manuals have also been published and made available.

Quality media monitoring and training programmes through regional press clubs whose journalists have benefited from is another plus attained by the Council.  About 70% of reportage of local content in the mainstream media comes from upcountry journalists, and MCT involvement together with partners like UTPC has been crucial.

Another major output by the Council is the   Dar es Salaam Declaration on Editorial Freedom, Independence and Responsibility (DEFIR) which emphasizes the duties and obligation of media practitioners and other stakeholders, NOT their rights. This was prepared by MCT Think Tank on Freedom of Expression and Media Issues led by distinguished Professor Emeritus Issa Shivji.

During the period the Council has also been able to set up the Coalition on the Right to Information (CORI) Campaign which brings together 12 CSOs to fight for the right to information legislation and a progressive media regulatory legal framework.

The Council has also supported and nurtured organizations such as the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC) to a point where it had a fully fledged secretariat, a functioning Board, and operational financial, administrative and human resource systems. The UTPC is now a major player in the Tanzania media sector in its own right. The other media organization whose establishment was assisted  by the Council and nurtured is the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF).

As more media outlets and training institutions were established, a need for a Standardized journalism training curricula arose and as custodian of media development in the country, the Council took up the challenge. It set up bench-marks and worked on standardized journalism training in the country up to Ordinary Diploma level.

The National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) validated the curricula for NTA levels 4, 5 and 6 and adopted the same as national curricula. Twenty three journalism colleges have been granted permission to use the curricula after meeting MCT and NACTE requirements.

The Council which has an office in Zanzibar is also engaged in efforts to realize a new media law for Isles.

A landmark court decision at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is another plus for the Council which in collaboration with its partners, successfully challenged sections of the Media Services Act. An intended appeal by Government has not been successful and MCT is now undertaking a massive effort to train editors, journalists and media trainers on what the court decision means. This includes other successful court battles like the ones challenging the ban of a number of newspapers.

MCT has also been able to engage and bring together editors and journalism trainers to agree on effective preparation of trainee reporters, and incorporating values of self regulation and practical monitoring of ethical reportage in journalism foundational training.

Since 2012, the Council established an online press freedom violations register to record violations and when serious violations are committed it is mandated to conduct investigation and make its report public.

All the achievements by the Council has been made possible by its members who now number over 200 –  which are journalism training institutions and media outlets and also  with the support of development partners.

The first President of the Council was Professor  Geoffrey Mmari, the second was Prof. Issa Shivji, the third was the  late Justice Dr. Robert Kissanga and the  incumbent President is retired Judge Thomas Mihayo.

The founding Executive Secretary was Anthony Ngaiza and the incumbent Executive Secretary is Kajubi Mukajanga.