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Tanzania: The Dilemma Local Journalists Are Facing
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
EDITORIAL
22 July 2008
Posted to the web 22 July 2008
Last weekend, police detectives stormed into the offices of the Kiswahili weekly MwanaHalisi and carted off a computer used by its managing editor, Mr Saed Kubeneya.
Mr Kubeneya said the four detectives were looking for a document linked to a bank employee whom they alleged leaked to the newspaper confidential customer information and records.
The police action evoked immediate reaction from the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) whose chairman, Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, had some pretty harsh words for the police force.
He told a press conference that it was unfair for the police to react so harshly to a minor allegation while taking no action against public leaders accused of swindling huge sums of taxpayers' money.
He was obviously referring to recent grand corruption scandals facing public figures. The economics professor may have a point here, but the police have their own ways of tackling crime. Maybe time is not yet ripe for them to deal with the grand corruption cases.
But the most pertinent question here is to what extent can journalists reveal information they get from sources? For, not all information classified as confidential is actually so.
There are several cases of information being given to the press on papers labeled 'Confidential'. Such include itineraries of senior government officials such as ministers.
One wonders why the safari of a minister - a public figure - should be kept confidential!
Not all 'confidential' information is confidential in the real sense of the word, although this must not be misconstrued to mean that journalists can publish information anyhow.
Of course, we also know, as journalists, that we have to stick to ethics, among them being balancing stories.
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It is thus very important for the state to provide the public with clearer definitions on information classified as confidential, because one can rule out a possibility of fraudsters capitalizing on the confusion to their advantage.
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