Tanzania: Catholic Media Urged to Build Peace in Africa

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Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

3 October 2008
Posted to the web 6 October 2008

Dar es Salaam

Catholic media professionals have the moral responsibility to use the unprecedented power of the media to help build peace in Africa, said Tanzanian Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Philip Marmo.

The minister said the critical role of the media as watchdog should be emphasised, with particular reference to the need to protect children, women and the marginalized who are often the victims of conflicts or bad governance.

"While playing this role you should endeavour to be impartial, truthful, and accurate in your media practices," he said.

Marmo was opening a one-week seminar on the role of Catholic media and peace building, on Tuesday. The seminar, organised by SECAM-SIGNIS - Africa, was attended by about 40 participants from across Africa.

"Be socially responsible when referring to issues of indecency, obscenity, violence and blasphemy. You have to provide information that will make people take the right decision about how to respond to conflicts," the minister said.

He also pointed out that Catholic media professionals had a duty to assist their church leaders to fight corruption, greed, ethnocentrism and negative partisan politics, which more often key factors hindering peace building on the continent.

The opening ceremony, held at the Tanzania Ecumenical Centre (TEC) in Dar es Salaam, was also attended by Augustino Shao, Bishop of Zanzibar, on behalf of the President of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, SIGNIS World President, Augustine Loorthusamy, Fr. Francois-Xavier Damiba, Secretary General of SECAM and the SIGNIS Secretary General and Director of SIGNIS Service, Rome, Fr. Bernardo Suato.

Archbishop Claudio Mario Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at the Vatican, sent a message that was read on his behalf by Fr. Janvier Yameogo. Recalling the challenges faced by Africa, the archbishop said they cannot be met only from outside the continent; they must be taken up by Africans themselves.

Loorthusamy, the president of SIGNIS World, said the theme of the seminar was significant since it was also the underlying theme of SIGNIS working for a global culture of peace. "We live in a violence prone world where peace is becoming an elusive commodity. We live in a climate of fear. There is a culture of insecurity."

The conference organizer, Benedict Assorow, Director of Communications at SECAM, explained that the main objective of the seminar was to help the participants develop and encourage the use of media, particularly radio for peace building and good governance.

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