IS TANZANIAN MEDIA LAGGING BEHIND?

Dear Friends,

I think some of you have watched a documentary produced by Nation Group on Loliondo's faith cure.It is a well done job that shows that Tanzanian journalists have a long way to go before becoming professionals.

THE INTERNET WORKSHOP WAS FUBILOUS

Today I have completed a five-day training internet workshop, and I must admit that it has added some value in my journalism profession. There were a lot of things that I did not know about the internet, especially how to extract data from the work, using google to translate a document from one language to another, and operating a website. I have also managed to open a blog that I hope it will be useful to my profession.

I am pretty sure that the knowledge I got from this course will benefit my colleagues in office at the DAILY NEWS.

I say KUDOS to MISA-Tan and VIKES, the finnish Foundation for Media, Communication and Development. Speacial thanks to Peik Johanson and Maggid Mjengwa who were our resource persons.

CLIMATE CHANGE CALLS FOR MEASURES TO REDRESS SITUATION

http://wwf.panda.org/
Weather events caused by climate change such as droughts and floods cost Tanzania about 2 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which translates to approximately 600bn/- every year, a new report has shown.

Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID) on behalf of Development Partners Group (DPG), the report, titled “The Economies of Climate Change in Tanzania,” estimates that the

costs will double in the next 20 years.

Tanzania's daily, 'the Daily News' recently quoted the Minister of State in the Vice-President Office (Environment), Dr Terezya Huvisa saying that climate change was not just an environmental issue but an economic and social issue as well.

The paper adds that climate change has a great impact on Tanzania’s ability to develop and therefore needs to be tackled for the benefit of the people, that is why the country should act now to adapt to present and future impacts of climate change.

To manage the climate change Dr Huvisa says there is a need to improve management of natural resources and develop a national climate change strategy by helping key sectors like agriculture,

energy, water and coastal zones adapt to climate change.

Head of DFID office in Dar es Salaam Darren Welch says that climate change will increasingly hit poor people hardest and roll back hard-won development gains in areas such as poverty reduction, growth as well as health and education.

“It (climate change) affects people’s ability to cultivate enough food and get enough water. While climate change is undoubtedly a massive threat, the study also illustrates some opportunities and the need to take action to adapt the situation,” Mr Welch says.

Commenting on the climate change impacts in Tanzania, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) recent report says that Kilimanjaro glaciers and snow cover have been retreating (55% of glacier loss between 1962 and 2000.

The reports says that the spatial extent of Kilimanjaro’s ice fields has decreased by 80%, suggesting that if current climatological conditions persist, the remaining ice fields are likely to disappear between 2015 and 2020.

"Loss of ‘cloud forests’ since 1976 resulting in 25% annual reductions of water sources derived from fog, affecting annual drinking water of 1 million people living in Kilimanjaro" says the report WWF says that deep tropical lakes, are also experiencing reduced algal abundance and declines in productivity because stronger stratification reduces upwelling of nutrient-rich deep water.

Primary productivity in Lake Tanganyika, says the report, may have decreased by up to 20% over the past 200 years, and for the East African Rift Valley lakes, recent declines in fish abundance have been linked with climatic impacts on lake ecosystems.

"The 1997-1998 coral bleaching observed in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea was coupled to a strong ENSO (an indication of the potential impact of climate-change induced ocean warming on coral reefs). In the western Indian Ocean region, a 30% loss of corals reduced tourism in Mombasa and Zanzibar and resulted in financial losses of about US$ 12-18 million" the report says.

Mangroves and coral reefs, the main coastal ecosystems in Africa, will likely be affected by climate change, while endangered species associated with these ecosystems, including manatees and marine turtles, could also be at risk, along with migratory birds.

One of the best solution in sight is the East African Community (EAC) intention to set up a climate change fund that will mitigate weather-related disasters in the region.

Although overdue, the measure is welcome taking into account the fact that vagaries of weather have been hitting East Africa for so long.

Tanzania's private english Daily , the Citizen says in its editorial of March 7, 2011 that drought, floods, landslides and hailstorms have been occurring intermittently, while downpours have swept away homes and crops, killing or injuring people or leaving economies in disarray with damaged infrastructure.

"Drought has scorched crops and caused starvation or deaths to people and livestock" said tha citizen's editor. The newspaper says that environmentalists have warned that drought will increase in Eastern Africa, with food deficit areas likely to increase.

The Citizen quotes the EAC secretary general Ambassador Juma Mwapachu calling for necessary steps to be undertaken to mitigate drought and provide timely climate early warning information, as well as sector-specific products to minimise the impacts of climate change.

"We would like the bloc to react quickly and correctly to such realities and threats, mobilise resources and send right information to East Africans" says the editorial.

 

All in all the most affected sector in Tanzania is energy, which has forced the introduction of power shedding, thus affecting delivery of goods and services countrywide.

Recent report published by the government-owned newspaper 'the Daily News' quoted the Parliamentary Energy and Minerals Committee that has underscored the need for the government to seriously promote sources of energy other than water to enable the country to have a reliable electric supply.

Power generation at Mtera and Kidatu dams is set to decline further owing to decreasing water levels. The situation has been attributed to rainfall decrease in the country's southern highlands.

The fall of water levels in Mtera and Kidatu dams, which are the major hydro electric power generating centers, is said to be the consequence of severe climate change which is expected to cause the decrease in rainfalls.

THIS RESIGNATION POSES CHALLENGES TO UNFAITHFUL LEADERS

  
The Germany's Defence minister Karl-Theodor Guttenberg, who resigned recently over his PhD status was a popular politician. 

It was found out that about 5% of his PhD thesis on phases of the constitutional development of America and the EU (still on Amazon but sadly out of stock) had been lifted straight from other books and websites without appropriate accreditation.
 
Guttenberg was Germany's youngest-ever minister for trade when he joined Angela Merkel's cabinet in 2009, aged only 37; that his aristocratic family's fortune is estimated at €400m (£339m); that he has no fewer than 10 first names.
Since entering the world of frontbench politics, Guttenberg has hardly been out of the German news, not always for the wrong reasons. He was the first German politician to spell out in public that Germany was "at war" in Afghanistan, rather than just "engaged in a mission" – encouraging some commentators on this side of the Channel to splutter about a revival of Prussian military values. But he also took the radical step of getting rid of Germany's compulsory military service, a move that some argue may lead to the eventual abolition of the country's national army. 
In many ways the most fascinating nugget of information is not what Guttenberg did once in power, but that out of all possible sins, he would be brought down by a PhD thesis.
There has been much sniggering about the fact that German politicians get sacked for plagiarising their PhDs while Tanzanian politicians don't even get sacked for corruption allegations.
 
Many PhD students get into a position like this, where they suddenly realise that the work they had started as a sideline, perhaps as a means of supporting their research, has taken over their academic work (I know, because it happened to me). For many this is the point at which they realise they can no longer justify taking up academic resources, where it makes more sense to abandon the PhD altogether. Why couldn't Guttenberg have just done the same?

MISA-TAN INTERNET TRAINING AT IFM

Today we began our second day internet course, whereby we covered different issues, including how to quickly translate a text from one language to another. Most participants were not aware of this transfer, and they think that it will help them in their respective works, especially when translating a certain documents from one language to another.

We are ten journalists from different backgrounds. The discussions we had this morning were very interesting, taking into consideration challenges that face print media in a poor country like ours. Most of us have resolved to remain professional, so that our product in the market may sell like hot cakes.  If we have nose for news, definitely there is nothing that will let us down. We are now breaking for lunch, and I will post another commentary before the day ends.

Ciao and write to you later.

Let me inform you that this interesting course has been organized by MISA, in conjunction with one Finnish group.

MEDECO: MEDIA AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY LAUNCHED

MEDECO: MEDIA AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY LAUNCHED: "Dear Friends, I, Deogratias Mushi in conjuction with other senior editors like Vicky Ntetema and Josephat Mwanzi have launched a media orga..."

MEDIA AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY LAUNCHED

Dear Friends,

I, Deogratias Mushi in conjuction with other senior editors like Vicky Ntetema and Josephat Mwanzi have launched a media organization known as Media and Development Consultancy (MEDECO), which is aimed at incorporating development aspect in the media. We look forward to working with all of you, and please feel free to contact us for any ideas. Our offices are currently located at Mikocheni area, Dar es Salaam.

DEOGRATIAS MUSHI
SECRETARY GENERAL
MEDECO
P.O. BOX 9033
DAR ES SALAAM