TANZANIA
By John Bwire, Deputy Managing Editor, Rai Newspaper
24 February 2003

Tanzanian journalism dates back to 1888 when German colonialists launched the Deutsch Ostafrikasche Zeitung in the capital Dar es Salaam. By year 1961, at Independence, Tanzania had 35 monthly and eight fortnightly newspapers.

Today, 115 years after the launch of the Deutsch Ostafrikesche Zeitung , there are over 15 dailies, over 20 weeklies, over 50 irregulars and three evening dailies. Certainly, this does not look a great ripforward since 1888. The total, however, is the biggest concentration of newspapers in the whole of East Africa.

The number also indicates that the media industry is a power to reckon with in terms of capital investment, manpower deployment and service provision, which are always hampered by the ever-rising costs of production.

Generally there is freedom of the press. But the mushrooming of independent newspapers has always made the government feel discomfort. In 1993 it had to introduce the Media Profession Regulation Bill which provided for a Media Council to consider and decide upon applications for registration of media professionals, to keep and maintain a register of media professionals and to regulate the standards of conduct and activities of media professionals and the practice of the media profession.

The Bill was met with resistance because it had ulterior motives. It was replaced with a council which was formed by the media itself, The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT).The MCT is a voluntary, non statutory and non governmental organization which was formed in 1995.

The MCT listens to complaints from the public about contents and conduct of newspapers and the electronic media and it operates a code agreed by the stakeholders eg respect for privacy, opportunity to reply, corrections, journalistic behavior and protection of confidential sources.

The biggest snag however remains to be the Newspaper Act of 1976, which is a modification of the colonial Newspaper Ordinance of 1928, meant to curb journalistic agitation for Independence.

The Act is restrictive. Among many things, it provides for a position of registrar of newspapers who has the power to refuse/cancel registration if it appears to him that such a newspaper is being, or is likely to be used for any purpose against or incompatible with maintenance of peace, order and good governance.

The Act is one of bad laws now under scrutiny for repelling. The Act is also being contested by media practitioners who are pushing for a new media policy now underway incorporating proposals from various NGOs that deal with media.