Editor, Allow me to express my frustration—I am sure that is shared with many parents—about the way some vernacular tabloids publish pornographic content at will. This particular case concerns an article (or whatever name one can call it) in one of the tabloids with obscene pornographic images which I found insulting to our culture, and which is highly harmful to young people. Even other items under specific sections are not appropriate to the Rwandan culture and I wonder why they are allowed to publish them. As you may know, children grow up practicing what they see and take as normal. Given the way children and youth have easy access to the internet, I am worried we may be grooming children who will grow with corrupted morals. For the interest of protecting our culture, and specifically children, the Government should implement and enforce regulations and laws that govern how contents on websites are regulated and deemed safe for the public. Much as it is difficult to monitor what websites publish due to the nature of the Internet being borderless and transcends geographical boundaries, still there should be alternative forms of regulating the vernacular websites in question. Can the Government or some regulatory body not switch off these websites? I know that in some countries there have been attempts to limit the availability of pornographic content on the Internet by governments and law enforcement bodies. For example, the US Government introduced the Communications Decency Act 1996 (‘CDA’) and the UK police attempted to censor Usenet discussion groups allegedly carrying child pornography in the summer of 1996. In China, they have even gone a step further and banned some social media websites because they are deemed to transmit contents that are not appropriate for their culture. Why can’t we borrow a leaf from these initiatives and prevent the problem before it gets out of hand? However, before a long term mechanism is introduced something should be done about those tabloids so that they stop publishing pornographic content. Before I rest my case, let me take opportunity to appreciate some media websites that have contents which educate, inform and entertain society. As we continue to celebrate Kwibohora20, let’s get rid of issues that may take back what has been achieved so far. Somebody needs to do something! Franklin Gakuba Murangira, Nyamata,
