(MISA/IFEX) – The government of the United Republic of Tanzania has suspended the opposition-aligned Kiswahili newspaper “Tanzania Daima” for three days for publishing a picture deemed offensive to President Benjamin Mkapa. The government claims the photograph and its caption were misleading and intended to belittle, defame and create public disaffection against the president and his […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The government of the United Republic of Tanzania has suspended the opposition-aligned Kiswahili newspaper “Tanzania Daima” for three days for publishing a picture deemed offensive to President Benjamin Mkapa.
The government claims the photograph and its caption were misleading and intended to belittle, defame and create public disaffection against the president and his government.
A government statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office on 2 December 2005 said the penalty was imposed under section 25 (1) of the Newspaper Act No. 3 of 1976. It said the penalty would serve as a lesson to other media institutions.
In addition, the weekly entertainment newspaper, “Amani”, has been suspended for 28 days on the grounds of ethical violations. The suspensions of both publications came into effect on 3 December.
The offending photo, published in the 6 November edition of “Tanzanía Daima”, was taken as the president was attending one of the Globalisation Commission meetings in Geneva. The picture bore an allegedly offensive caption which, according to a government statement, was intended to belittle the president and arouse public disaffection with him and his government. The photo caption read as follows:
Judge: “Your Excellency Mkapa, this is the third time I am seeing you in this court facing the same charge – failure to service your debts. You deserve the death penalty.”
Mkapa: “Don’t you give discounts to your regular customers?”
In his defence the “Tanzania Daima” editor said he downloaded the photograph from the Internet and decided to use it because he thought it would be interesting to the newspaper’s readers.
With regard to “Amani” newspaper, the government said it had warned the newspaper’s management on several occasions over the need to abide by professional ethics.
Nonetheless, in November the paper published a story headlined, “Another big shot dies in a guest house”, which announced the death of the Chief Economist in the Disaster Management department of the Prime Minister’s Office in a lodging in Morogoro while attending a seminar.
In its November 17-23 edition, the paper allegedly appears to link the death with a certain woman who appeared in a photograph. The government claims the story was injurious to the deceased’s family.
