DailyNews Mobile Edition - Bunge to support parliamentary scribes

Bunge to support parliamentary scribes

Ms Pindi Chana

THE National Assembly has promised to set a budget in the coming financial year to improve the working environment of journalists reporting parliament sessions.

The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Constitutional, Legal Affairs and Governance Committee, Ms Pindi Chana, underscored the need to have funds to facilitate the media when it comes to covering sessions.

Ms Chana was giving her contribution as a member of the budget committee amid complaints by parliamentary reporters that they were working in unfriendly conditions while covering Bunge sessions.

"We will accommodate the issues raised here in the coming budget and that will include setting a special studio and ensuring other needs for journalists are easily met," she said.

Earlier during the workshop for the media and Members of Parliament, it was also raised that MPs need to learn and understand how the media functions and how to deal with journalists as professionals.

The Director of Information Services, Mr Assah Mwambene said during his presentation that the media has changed significantly since the re-introduction of multiparty democracy in the country some 20 years back, saying that was a challenge to the media outlets and MPs as part of the audience.

He said while MPs and other audiences would like to see their news timely released due to advancement in technology, they also have to be patient with media outlets like newspapers.

He said the government will introduce laws that will operate smoothly in the country and reporters covering parliament sessions will benefit from that.However, he said there were negative perceptions from few MPs on the operations of the media and some reporters and challenged them to follow stipulated channels if felt aggrieved.

Dr Faustine Ndugulile (Kigamboni-CCM) said serious media is needed in reporting parliamentary affairs and cautioned on the distortion of facts."We have problems with some facts as reported by some media outlets and things are even worse with the presence of digital social media," he said.

But on her side, Ms Faida Bakari (Special Seat, CUF) said the House should allocate enough facilities during its sessions for journalists to conveniently make their coverage.