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Mwapachu commends Mengi for accepting to host...
2008-03-19 09:28:53
By Adam Ihucha
IPP Executive Chairman Reginald Mengi has won accolades from the East African Community for accepting to host a forthcoming regional media summit in Dar es Salaam.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu said his bloc was impressed by Mengi`s generous support, particularly his willingness to host the second EAC Media Summit scheduled for April 11 and 12.
``I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Mengi for agreeing to host the summit,`` Mwapachu said.
According to the EAC chief, the theme of this year`s media summit is `The role of the media in addressing the causes of conflict and instability and their prevention: The East African dimension`.
``The theme of the summit has been prompted by the political turbulence some of the EAC member states like Kenya, Burundi and Uganda have gone through in recent memory so we want the media to go beyond mere events reporting,`` he said.
Mwapachu said it was high time for the EAC media to report the potential dangers even before they occur so that the governments and public can take precautionary measures rather than the current situation where the media wait for something to happen and then report it.
He said the forum, the second of its kind to be organised jointly by the EAC and the East African Business Council, will bring together chief executives of media houses, media executives, publishers and editors from five countries in the region.
The chairman of the EAC Council of Ministers, who is also Ugandan First Deputy Prime Minister, Eriya Kategaya, and Tanzania's East African Cooperation Minister Dr Diodorus Kamala will take part in the summit.
EABC Executive Director Charles Mbogori said the lesson learnt in Kenya`s violence was that ``the media can break or make``.
``The media should report objectively and preach peace, contrary to what was happening in Kenya's media during the crisis where some of them apparently were blamed for fuelling clashes,`` he said.
The first media summit was held last year in Nairobi, where media owners and senior journalists from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania discussed wide-ranging issues on regional integration.
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