Mozambique president calls for impartial public television

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Mozambique president calls for impartial public television

8:08 CAT | 26 Feb 2016

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday called for impartiality in the mass media, in order to ensure that the media reflects the reality of events.

Speaking at a Maputo gala celebrating the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the public television station, TVM, Nyusi stressed that the media should take a responsible position towards the need to defend peace, unity, harmony and well-bring in the country.

The defence of the best interests of the country, he added, was often not in line with sensationalist journalism.

“We cannot encourage the television that belongs to all of us to erect political and social walls”, he said. “Instead, it should build bridges across which will pass all Mozambicans, enjoying how good it is to live in harmony and far from the phantoms of division”.

For Nyusi, TVM should be a channel through which all Mozambicans circulate. It should be “a window of transparent glass which transmits the certainty of the facts narrated, and a door through which denunciations of what is incorrect enter, and good practices set out, contributing to the development of Mozambique”.

Nyusi believed that, in order to promote public order and tranquillity, TVM cannot serve political factions. Instead, it must promote impartiality, rigour and objectivity in the content that it broadcasts”.

“We cannot encourage the television of all of us to serve as a political or ideological weapon against the followers of any political party”, he urged. “We would not like TVM to be the tool through which the country begins to be cut into pieces”.

TVM is not a stage for disunity, but instead should promote dialogue, he added. It should not prioritise “irresponsible sectors” of society who abandon their responsibility for the future of entire generations.

The public television station, Nyusi said, “cannot be an apologist for discrimination among Mozambicans, whether on the basis of political party beliefs, religion, race, or worse still, region or tribe, because this fragments our society”.

“We Mozambicans can solve our differences”, the President insisted, “and TVM should be the resource through which viewers obtain the objective reality of the facts”.

Nyusi concluded his speech by encouraging TVM to promote and stimulate organized debate in order to help create an informed, serious, critical and patriotic public opinion.

In the past, TVM has been regarded as heavily biased in favour of the ruling Frelimo Party, which is part of the reason why TVM has been losing audience share to younger, independent stations, notably Soico Television (STV).

Source: AIM