Situation of the Media in Tanzania Mainland
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i Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 1 Rationale...................................................................................................................... 1 Guiding Questions........................................................................................................ 2 Study Team................................................................................................................... 2 Methodology................................................................................................................. 2 Study Findings.............................................................................................................. 3 Conclusion................................................................................................................... 3 Recommendations......................................................................................................... 3 Preface........................................................................................................................ 6 Acknowledgements.................................................................................................... ... 8 Acronyms...................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1. Introduction and Background............................................................... ...................... 9 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................... 11 Purpose of the study ........................................................................................ ........... 11 Study Questions ........................................................................................................ 11 Scope and Study Delimitation ..................................................................................... 12 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 12 Study Limitation ......................................................................................................... 12 Structure of the report ................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 2. State of the Media in Tanzania Mainland .................................................................... 14 Local Human Rights and Media Organizations ...................................................... .. 14 International media and human rights watchdog organizations .................................... 16 Chapter 3. The Media and the Legal and Policy Bobby-traps ....................................................... 18 Constitutional Framework that supports Media in Tanzania ....................................... 18 National Policies and Media ......................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4. Analysis on the Impacts of New Legislations on the Media Industry ......................... 23 The New Legislations Impacts on the Media and Journalists ..................................... 23 The disappearance of Blogs and other Online Media .................................................. 23 The Punishment on ‘Defaulting’ Journalists ................................................................ 24 The Impacts of Hostile Legal and Policy Regimes on the Media ................................ 26 ii Journalists’ lacking assistance ..................................................................................... 27 Job security ................................................................................................................... 29 Access/Right to information and Freedom of expression ........................................... 29 Breach of Constitutional Stipulations .......................................................................... 30 Stakeholder Engagement in Media Law Reviews ....................................................... 31 Self-Regulated or Regulated Media ..................................................................... 32 Safety of Media Outlets Owned by the Government ............................................ 33 The Copyright Association of Tanzania (COSOTA) Royalty Payments ............... 33 Legal Counsels and Clerics Opinion ..................................................................... 33 Chapter 5. Analysis on the Survey Findings ........................................................................ 35 Regional Bureaus Operations ............................................................................... 35 Contributing Factors to Bureau Closures .............................................................. 35 Media and Job Security in the Current Legislative Dispensation ......................... 36 Factors Contributing to Reduced Media earnings ................................................. 36 Job Satisfaction (Journalists and Editors) ............................................................. 37 Policy, regulations and legislation ......................................................................... 38 Journalists and the Understanding of Media Regimes ......................................... 39 Suspension of Media Houses ............................................................................. 39 Chapter 6. Discussions and Concluding Remarks .................................................................. 40 Recommendations ................................................................................................. 43 Timelines of Media Related Events ...................................................................... 45 References ............................................................................................................. 47 Annex 1: Interview questions ................................................................................ 47 Annex 2: Likert Scale ........................................................................................... 48 Annex 3: Survey Questionnaires ........................................................................... 51 Annex 4: Study Design and Conceptual guidelines .............................................. 57 Annex 5: List of media and related laws ............................................................... 63 Additional Reference: [Perused Pieces] ................................................................ 64 Principal legislation .............................................................................................. 64 Subsidiary Legislation ........................................................................................... 65 iii Executive Summary Introduction Media is an important player in the generation, documentation and dissemination of in- formation within the society. Media also plays the critical role in the promotion of social change, democratic processes, and social accountability mechanisms. On the other hand, mass media enable voices of various sections of the society, especially that of the members of the society living in the margins, to be heard and their concerns considered at the decision and policy making platforms at the national level. Known as the fourth estate, the media works as the watchdog on the formulation and imple- mentation of social, economic and environmental policies on behalf of the members of the society. Among the many portfolios, the media also plays the oversight part on accountable governance and has the role to augment accountability and transparency mechanisms. How- ever, this has not always been the case in the Tanzanian landscape. Rationale In the last four years, since the president of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. John Pombe Magufuli, assented to the Media Services Act (2016), the situation in the Media landscape in Tanzania has found itself in a deplorable state. The situation has been caused by the enactment of what appears to be draconian communication and media policies, laws and regulations, which contradicts the Constitutional promise that every member of the society, “has a right to be informed at all times of various important events of life and activities of the people and also of issues of importance to the society”. This predicament stems from the discretionary and arbitrary use of power by government officials and agencies. This trend started at wake of the establishment of the Tanzania Com- munication Regulation Authority Act 2003 (TCRA). This was followed by the Cyber Crimes and the Statistics Acts enacted in 2015. Sequentially, the regulations that go with the said laws, over and above the enactment of laws that regulate broadcast and postal services and related media communication activities were released. The current media regulations require journalists to have diploma as the minimum qualifica- tion. This requirement, even though in order, does not take into consideration the hands-on experience of the majority a big segment of media practitioners in the country. Therefore, puts at risk employment of about three quarter (¾) of the media workforce and journalistic profession. The risks of media owners’ businesses being thrown to shambles notwithstand- ing. In 2017 new print media regulations were released requiring all media