TCRA takes issue with obscenity on TV screens

BAK · 2010-05-10T02:07:00+00:00

MARC NKWAME in Arusha, 9th May 2010 @ 16:00, DAILY NEWS TELEVISION stations have been warned against showing obscene pictures of grisly mutilated human bodies in their news programmes. The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) said here yesterday day that it was working on a plan to stamp out cases of local Television Stations airing grisly videos. We have begun summoning proprietors of TV stations that show such pictures in their programmes and one station has already been issued with an official warning from TCRA, said the authoritys spokesperson, Ms Mabel Masasi. Members of the TCRA Content committee are on a familiarization tour of the Northern Zones stakeholders in Arusha where Ms Masasi said of late the local electronic media has been going beyond regulations by airing macabre pictures in the case of TV stations or using foul language when it comes to radio stations. The committees acting chairperson, Ms Maria Malimbunga Shonda, explained that in the wake of regular road carnages, TV stations have been covering the incidents with irrational gusto showing bloody scenes of accidents complete with pictures of severed limbs, beheaded anatomies and crushed children. Other than road carnages, TVs are reportedly showing pictures of murder scenes with butchered bodies of the victims, their surviving children and sometimes even the murder suspects themselves, things that even international stations like CNN, BBC or SKY would not dare show to public. All those scary scenes are usually aired during prime time between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm when most stations run their news programmes and it is during this period that families, including children are glued to their sets at home, she said, warning that even the younger generation is now being fed daily with garlands of macabre scenes on TV. Other committee members, Dr Willbard Lori and Dr Amos Mwakilasa also expressed concern that much of the content from the local electronic media outlets were dominated by pop music and superficial entertainment bouquet. We do not understand what happened to educational programmes and meaningful documentaries that once used to be aired by the former Radio Tanzania (now TBC-Taifa) from which we expected all mushrooming stations would borrow a leaf. Other concern as far as Northern Zone stakeholders are concerned are the phone-in programmes through which practically anybody who owns a telephone can call a radio station live and say anything including insults. Ms Masasi explained that TCRA has already directed all stations that run phone-in programmes to install delayer machines in their studios so that they can be filtering all calls being made to the stations before letting them on air.

Thread starter BAK
Start date May 10, 2010

BAK

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TCRA takes issue with obscenity on TV screens

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