It looks as though the Fourth Estate is in trouble again. The government’s recent suspension of Mwananchi and Mtanzania newspapers has ruffled all the right feathers and breathed new life into the never-ending discussion about press freedoms.

Undoubtedly this is a despicable move on the part of government, and as always the timing is off — if there is such a thing as a good time to tread on the press.

Arguably, there is: When you suspend newspapers in times of relative peace and contentment it is easier to claim to have done so for professional reasons. Otherwise, it just looks like tyranny. That said, let’s consider the complex state of our press.

Any avid consumer of media products has to admit that it is a bit of a dodgy industry, a quality that is not unique to us. After all, the media is a reflection, in part, of the society that’s producing it. We’ve got our share of the good and great, as well as of the bad and the opportunist selling soft pornography under the guise of reporting on celebrities. It’s a consumer choice paradise.

There is a tedious phrase that tends to crop up whenever the issue of liberty is raised, something along the lines of “with freedom comes responsibility.” While I appreciate the sentiment, it is wishful thinking with a dangerous edge to it.

Freedom isn’t a reward for good behaviour to be snatched away at any time like an annoying rattle by a frazzled parent. Besides, I thought that this is what a judiciary was for: To arbitrate in situations of foul play?

What’s interesting is that the recent ban seems a bit tentative. It’s almost as though the government were testing the waters of censorship to check just how alert the pro-press lobby turns out to be.

Tickling us a bit to see how strong a repercussion the occasional ban here and there will elicit. Which makes the whole endeavour ominous.

I can’t help but suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg. Two newspapers today, tomorrow who knows how many and for how long? The media is slowly being herded into a tight corner, one little foray into censorship, one journalist attack at a time.

So gently, in fact, that we’ll probably find ourselves at some point distracted enough to fight the momentary battle and ignore the bigger picture of the war on freedom of speech.

At the moment, for example, here we are all rounded up and thoroughly focused. Although the press is capable of fixating on more than one controversy at a time, we have all been distracted right now by this event and what it means.

Aside from the media’s indignation, for your average modern citizen, nothing says “Despotism happening over here!” like a government banning popular newspapers willy nilly.

There is very little that a newspaper ban can achieve in this era of the Internet and mobile phones except botheration. While the industry makes noise about being treated in a cavalier manner, we citizens are in a foment of conspiracy theories.

The “missing” news stories and commentary have simply moved from print to the electronic grapevine, which is a wilderness all its own.

Speaking of the online world, we’re in need of a public conversation about formality, quality and etiquette on the part of our public institutions. I only raise this because I had to visit the government blog… yes, blog… to find out the details of the current newspaper ban.

I have been known to defend my government’s press creatures because I like pedantry and a certain amount of reverence in the handling of written Kiswahili — both harder qualities to come by than they should be. TBC, Habari Leo et al: Their stories are never going to be groundbreaking.

But they handle these generally uninteresting stories in a most beautiful, grammatically correct, reassuringly stuffy kind of way and I like them for it. The government’s online presence is a different matter altogether.

Since we’re pretending to hold each other to account about our general use of media, I really must protest the decrepitude of the government’s online efforts. To begin with, that blog is a crime against design and the very idea of blogging. And things only gets worse with every website.

Seriously? In 2013? Sometimes I think it’s the government that needs to be put in the naughty corner for a time-out with such behaviour. Quality, old chaps, standards. Ban things if you must (it doesn’t really work) but at least hire a 20-something to handle you online, my sweet befuddled political dinosaurs.

Elsie Eyakuze is an independent consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report, http://mikochenireport.blogspot.com.

E-mail: [email protected]