VOL.15 NO.12 Dec 5, 2003

IBPP Research Associates: Tanzania The following article was posted on The Express Online at http://www.theexpress.com. (Unedited by IBPP) -----Distasteful news reporting -----by Abduel Kenge Doctors attending to President Benjamin Mkapa in Hirslander Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland have said that the President's illness is a common ailment among people of his age and does not threaten his life. That is good news, indeed. But since President Mkapa was flown to Zurich for further medical check-up and later a minor operation to take a tissue of his hip bone for laboratory diagnosis, the local media here has been reported badly on the whole medical process. I do hold highly the principle of not attacking my fellow journalists since reporters should not attack each other via their media, but enough is enough in this case. For once, let us criticise ourselves on how badly we have been reporting, distorting events and issues at the expenses of readers. First the leading English daily- The Guardian- on Wednesday, November 19 this year lead with a story headlined Mkapa's hipbone to be check in lab. You do not have to be a Briton to understand what the headline means. Mkapa would not have been alive if his hipbone had been sent to the lab for diagnosis. The intro cemented the editors and writers ignorance. The intro read, "Doctors attending President Benjamin Mkapa at Hirslander Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, have taken part of his hip bone for further laboratory check, a State House official said yesterday." How can one take part of a hipbone while the patient continues to live? The intro suggested that part of the hipbone had been removed, when in reality - and more accurately - a bone tissue/sample had been taken. Another Swahili weekly, Nasaha, splashed a headline "Mifupa ya Mkapa yapelekwa maabara" laterally meaning Mkapa's bones send to lab. Kiswahili is not short of words for properly reporting the President's illness. Tissue in Kiswahili is tishu according to the second edition of English-Kiswahili Dictionary issued by the Institute of Kiswahili Research, University of Dar es Salaam. The problem is that most Kiswahili newspapers lack these dictionaries. Another Swahili daily Majira on the front page last Wednesday had a blob that read: "Atolewa kipande cha mfupa mguuni" -- part of bone was removed from the leg. The African, an English daily's headline on front page read: "Surgeons removed part of Mkapa's hip bone." The intro said: "Doctors in Zurich have removed a part of President Benjamin Mkapa's hip bone for laboratory analysis, the State House announced in Dar es Salaam yesterday." Do these reporters and editors think the word tissue is too hard for a common person to understand? If so, this is high-class arrogance. Or more possibly, the reason for such distasteful headline is sensationalism, to sell newspapers. May be that is what the State House statement said and papers quoted the release without cross checking. But a smart journalist or editor could use his/her commonsense and realise that saying a part of the hipbone was removed from the President can cause real panic. It suggests that he was in real danger. The problem is that some Bongo journalists, and their editors are over spoon-fed. Once the statement is from Government offices, no one queries its merit. What I cannot understand is where are we journalists in Tanzania going? Journalism is a highly specialised field. Then why these type of frivolity? Maura Mwingira, Assistant Press Secretary to the President had to clarify in a statement after the distortion mounted. She said Tanzanians should not worry about the life of their President, because it was not true that part of the President's bone had been taken away for medical examination. "No bone was removed from the President's limb. What doctors did was biopsy (the removal and examination of tissue cells or fluids from the living body),'' she stressed in the statement. She had to do so because The Guardian paraphrased Mwingira by saying, "Mwingira, the Assistant Press Secretary to the President, said in a statement that part of the bone was taken last Saturday when the President was operated on, as doctors tried to determine exactly what the problem was with his health." True, English is not our mother tongue and most of the time we flip-flap here and there but we lack even common sense to understand that. It is very difficulty to remove a part of bone. This is what President Mkapa, journalist himself, calls the press in the country "frivolity journalism".

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