To Chris Conybeare                                      10/2/2010

Secretary General

World  Association of Press Councils

Report on the Media Council of Tanzania for 2009

The 2009 was quite important for the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) for it made landmark achievements.

The achievements include the setting-up of  a Think Tank (TT) on Freedom of Expression and Media Issues. The group constitutes eminent persons who will be meeting regularly to deliberate on media issues and chart the way forward. During their first meeting, they dealt with the question of editorial independence.

The TT draws members from Tanzania (three) one Kenyan, and one Ugandan and an American Citizen – a journalism scholar who lectures in a number of African Universities including the St Augustine University (SAUT) in Mwanza Tanzania.

For the first, the MCT in collaboration with other media associations organised the Journalist of the Year Awards (JOYAT) that recognizes and rewards demonstrable excellence in journalism from broadcasting, photography, and print.

The Council continued to spearhead the push for the realization of media friendly legislations, including lobbying for the Right to Information Bill. The government is still dragging its feet on the matter.

The MCT also organized training for senior media managers in Tanzania last year.

Other activities that the Council was engaged in during 2009 was research undertaking on media issues and the publications of a number of reports such as the  State of the Media for 2008 and  professional media training manuals.

Likewise, MCT implemented print media monitoring activities and published and distributed reports to all of its stakeholders.

In addition, MCT conducted the first ever Civic Elections Media Monitoring during September 2009. Report is now out.

Kajubi Mukajanga

Executive Secretary

Media Council of Tanzania (MCT)