Privacy of personal data is a serious matter of concern in Tanzanian print and digital journalism

Journalism as a professional field is guided by principles and a code of ethics, which will eventually have a local adaptation depending on the context wherein this practice is niched. In this regard, there are guiding principles and thresholds of, for example, political journalism, health journalism, economics journalism, international affairs journalism, and many others.

Journalism goes beyond informing and is ideally motivated by the pursuit of the good. Journalists write or report to inform and seek the greater good in that regard. It is contrary to the principles and ethics of journalism to seek to cause chaos, misinform, or harm the dignity of any entity, be it a person, a group, or an institution.

In addition, journalism is distinct and different from gossip in all parameters: content, intent, and function. As such, there should be a filter that segregates what can be journalistic coverage apart from what does not meet the standards of journalistic coverage. Obviously, in public media worldwide, many things are broadcast or published as journalistic works when they are not. Often, they are paid promotions and may favour one side over the other. Those are complex and exceptional cases.

Among the criteria for good journalistic content are accuracy, in both redaction and interpretation. This applies to both print and digital content. Not every content creator is a journalist. It is important that those who create content clearly identify the side they belong to so that the audience for journalistic content is not misinformed by ‘content’ which comes with an appeal of ‘news.’

Speaking about privacy and personal data of people, which we see all around the news outlets in the country, it is time we get the laws and rules straight for good. It is disturbing to notice that there are journalists who hang around courtrooms only to get some random cases to publish in newspapers and online, with personal data of suspects all out for public consumption.

Imagine being suspected of theft, and then before the court proves you guilty or innocent, your picture is all over the internet and papers, showing that you are a suspect or criminal. This kind of documentation is damaging, especially when a person is innocent. There are many instances where the full names, ages, and even addresses of those persons are published in the public media.

With my experience in many countries, I have lived and reviewed newspapers and online media; this practice is uncommon, unprofessional, and lacks grounds as an ethical journalistic practice. Cases can be published in the newspapers and on online media where there is a public interest, such as cases of public embezzlement, serious crimes and violations, and all other cases that have really evoked public concern. But we cannot publish names and pictures of suspects of petty crimes in reputable newspapers and online media outlets even before our courts convict them. 

In addition, there are many random pictures of minors being published by public media. We should have guidelines regarding publishing personal data of persons and a particularly expressed interest of the government to protect minors. The best model we can use in making our own laws in this regard is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is enforced all over Europe. Its complexity has covered many other related concerns in the protection of personal data and safeguarding of the dignity and privacy of persons.

The government, through the ministry responsible for journalism as well as the ministry responsible for social welfare matters (and all other relevant agencies), needs to join heads in addressing this matter for good. Journalists, especially those who only do journalism out of passion while having no professional training, need to be trained on the boundaries of journalistic practice and the ethical limits of coverage and publication. The goal is to safeguard dignity as well as the safety of all people.

The best test of our journalistic practice is on the good it brings home, not on the number of stories produced. The relevance of journalism is value-based. Popularity does not mean efficiency, meaning that even big media need to be trained on these important and indispensable groundwork skills and values. The output of journalistic practice, be it print, audio-visual, or digital, should be to build the society, not to stir hate, division, or criminalise people or groups. 

On the other hand, young people need to be educated to handle, fact-check, and disseminate information responsibly, with empathy, and with a wider picture of the consequences thereof. This is important, especially in these times where there is a lot of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, false news, etc.

We are evolving through a difficult age of extreme information manipulation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), complicated conspiracies, and numerous politicised newsrooms. This formation of character adds value to the quality of our country’s citizenry, especially in our young people.

Shimbo Pastory is a Tanzanian advocate for positive social transformation. He studies at the Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, the Philippines. Website: www.shimbopastory.com