March 6-8, 2008 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania  | | Mr. William Bird, from the Media Monitoring Project, with participants. |
Since the onset of multi-party government in Tanzania, the media and information environment has been slowly shifting – the role of the media is increasingly seen as a watchdog on government institutions and a voice for popular concerns. However, much of the legal basis in support of open information is still rooted in legislation passed during the 1970s. Now with the media and access to information bills to be considered by parliament, the legal foundation for the media’s right to tell and the public’s right to know is under debate. The overarching objective of the workshop is to strengthen good governance capacity in Tanzania through an improved access to information environment and strong media law. The specific objectives of the workshop were:
To highlight the role of freedom of information (FOI) laws in shaping accountable and transparent governance in Tanzania To assess the strengths and weaknesses of proposed legislation on media and access to information To identify the key implementation issues that needed to be addressed when the laws are enacted To devise an action plan to support the passage of media and FOI laws To provide local oversight and watchdog institutions with guidance on funding opportunities
This workshop was organized by WBI with support from CommGAP To see the agenda click here (145 kb pdf) To see final report click here (148 kb pdf)
Materials Edet Ojo. Regional Perspectives on Media and FOI laws in Africa (125 kb ppt)
Andrea Figari. Access to Information, Media and Accountability in Tanzania (189 kb pdf)
William Bird. Why Media Monitoring Matters for Democracy and Good Governance (60 kb ppt)
News Coverage
Mengi Calls on the Media to Strive for Mastery of Trade, Objective Reportage (46 kb pdf) The Guardian. March 7, 2008 Prof. Kabudi Calls for Enhancement of Media Work (88 kb pdf) ThisDay. March 7, 2008 Journos Told to Avoid Divisive Reportage (29 kb pdf) The African. March 7, 2008 |
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