I Preface The media industry in Tanzania has gone through four major phases. There were the German colonial media established to serve communication interests (and needs) of the German administration. By the same time, missionaries tried to fulfil their tasks by editing a number of papers. There were the media of the British administration established as propaganda tool to support the colonial regime, and later the nationalists’ media established to agitate for self-governance and respect for human rights. There was the post colonial phase where the then socialist regime of independent Tanzania sought to „Tanzanianize“ the media - the aim being to curb opposition and foster development of socialistic principles. There was the transition phase where both economic and political changes world-wide had necessitated change in the operation of the media industry. This is the phase when a private and independent press was established in Tanzania. Martin Sturmer goes through all these phases and comprehensively brings together what we have not had in Tanzania before: A researched work of the whole media history in Tanzania. Understanding media history in any society is - in itself - understanding a society’s political, economic and social history. It is due to this fact then, that we in Tanzania - particularly in the media industry - find it plausible to have such a work at this material time. This publication will be very helpful especially to students of journalism, media organs, university scholars, various researchers and even the general public. Although various studies had been carried out by Tanzanian scholars about media history, they were not as vast in scope, rich in content and analytic in nature as this one. It is therefore a mirror in which the media industry will see itself to determine how - too old or - old enough it has turned out to be. It is through this publication that Tanzanians will be able to judge - objectively - why the media in the country today behave the way is does. Through this publication, scholars will be able to analyse the relationship between politics and media. Above all, through this publication you will know your own history. I recommend that the publication should be used as a reference text by journalism students in Tanzania. Ayub Rioba Tanzania School of Journalism (TSJ) II III Author’s Foreword The dissertation in hand is the outcome of rather time-consuming investigations abroad. Preparations for the project started in 1993 when I tried to write a thesis on the linguistic and cultural concepts of journalism education in the East African country. Then, discussions with media professionals revealed that one of the greatest deficits in the training of newspeople was the lack of a written media history. Still in Tanzania, I decided to withdraw my original plan and to design a study on the more relevant topic instead. In 1994 and 1996, I spent some months in the British Library Newspaper Library in London where most of the important Tanzanian print media are archived from 1916 onwards. In this connection, I owe the library many thanks for the permission to reproduce some of the publications’ front-pages for illustration purposes. Most of the empirical material was gathered during my stay in Tanzania in July and August 1996. Special thanks are due to Ayub Rioba, tutor at the Tanzania School of Journalism (TSJ) in Dar es Salaam. He backed the project unstintingly and established many useful contacts. I feel no less obliged to Mzee Idi Farhan from the Zanzibar Department of Festival, Art, and Culture for his invaluable contribution. When Mr. Farhan heard about my research, he wrote a manuscript on the development of the information sector on the island and handed it over to me the next morning. I also want to thank my friends Laetitia Umucyo and Nicolas Nshimirimana who gave me a warm welcome in Tanzania. I am also indebted to Dr. Graham L. Mytton, former head of the BBC’s International Broadcasting Audience Research (IBAR), for his substantial assistance in reviewing the manuscript. Last but not least, I have to give special thanks to Monika for her patience and painstaking proof-reading. The study was supervised at the Institutes of African Studies and Communication Sciences in Vienna by Professors Dr. Walter Schicho and Dr. Wolfgang Duchkowitsch. Martin Sturmer Salzburg, July 1998 IV V Table of Contents Preface..................................................................................................................I Author’s Foreword ..............................................................................................III List of Tables.................................................................................................... VIII List of Figures..................................................................................................... IX 1 Introduction............................................................................................1 2 African Mass Media Systems and Their Functions ...................................5 2.1 The State of Africa Communication Research (ACR).................................5 2.2 A Sociological Framework of Mass Communication: The System-Theoretical Approach ...........................................................6 2.2.1 Stability of Power ..................................................................................14 2.2.2 National Integration...............................................................................18 2.2.3 Social Change .......................................................................................20 3 Methodological Aspects ........................................................................27 4 The Press of German East Africa (1890 - 1916).....................................29 4.1 The Origins of the Tanzanian Print Media..............................................29 4.2 Government Press vs. Settler Papers.......................................................31 4.2.1 Portrait I: Willy von Roy and the DOAZ ................................................32 4.2.2 Other Publications in the Conflict..........................................................36 4.3 Missionary Papers..................................................................................38 4.4 The Newspaper Law of German East Africa ...........................................42 4.5 Press Register I ......................................................................................42 5 Tanganyika under British Administration (1916 - 1961)........................47 5.1 The Predominance of European and Indian Press Products during the Interwar Period .....................................................................47 5.2 The First Appearance of African Papers..................................................54 5.2.1 Portrait II: Erica Fiah and Kwetu.............................................................55 5.3 The Growth of the Swahili Press during the Second World War.............59 5.4 The Situation after 1945: Governmental Print Media as Political Instruments ..............................................................................60 5.5 The Rise of the Nationalist Press ............................................................65 5.6 Missionary Publications and Political Change........................................70 VI 5.7 Statutory Controls of the Tanganyikan Press .......................................... 72 5.8 The Establishment and Extension of Radio............................................. 76 5.9 Press Register II..................................................................................... 84 6 From Independence to Democratisation (1961 - 1996) ...................... 103 6.0 Prologue: December 9th 1961 ............................................................. 103 6.1 Assessing the Changes ........................................................................ 106 6.2 The Nationalisation of the TBC ........................................................... 112 6.3 Communication Policy in the Era of „Ujamaa na Kujitegemea“........... 117 6.3.1 Portrait III: Frene Ginwala and The Standard ....................................... 120 6.3.2 Redefinition of RTD’s Broadcasting Policy .......................................... 127 6.3.3 Centralisation of the Tanzanian Press.................................................. 137 6.3.4 Media as Tools in Adult Education...................................................... 141 6.3.4.1 Radio Study Groups............................................................................ 141 6.3.4.2 The Rural Press Project ....................................................................... 146 6.3.5 Training of Tanzanian Journalists ........................................................ 150 6.3.6 SHIHATA and the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) ........................................................ 157 6.3.7 The Role of Mass Media during the Kagera War.................................. 163 6.3.8 Press Gags and Broadcasting Regulations............................................ 165 6.4 Mass Media and the Democratisation Process..................................... 170 6.4.1 Legal Prerequisites .............................................................................. 171 6.4.2 Consequences for the Press Sector ...................................................... 177 6.4.3 Competition among Radio Stations ..................................................... 186 6.4.4 Television in Tanzania: