DAILY NEWS Reporter in Zanzibar
WHEN launching the ‘Yearbook on Media Quality in Tanzania report-2022’, in Zanzibar last week, the principal researcher Mr Abdallah Katunzi of the University of Dar es Salaam School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said during his study he asked several editors if they had experienced any threat and interference in the course of implementing their work, and the response was No, at least not in the past one year.
Absence of interference in editorial and intimidation of journalists and increased access to information indicate increasing media freedom in the country as expressed by editors and media owners who were asked to comment about the current state media freedom in the United Republic of Tanzania.
The ongoing review of several laws and policies that govern the media industry on Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, regular meeting between top leaders and media such as the monthly engagement of President Hussein Ali Mwinyi, and the lifting of a ban on newspapers and radios shows a landscape of positive development of the media, with media stakeholders urging the government to do more to guarantee the flourishing of press freedom in the country.
The positive signs from the new government have slightly improved the country’s global press freedom ranking. The 2022 Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders shows the standing of the country has improved by one position from 124 to 123. This positive step comes against a background of the country’s downward spiral in the ranking from 2016 to 2020, which saw the country slump by 53 positions within five years.
Moreover, the Media Institute of Southern Africa–Tanzania Chapter (MISA-TAN), in their 2021 regional report, acknowledged that the media environment in the country has considerably improved since President Samia took office, noting her administration’s willingness to hold talks on reforming media laws and regulations, reducing the regularity of suspending newspapers as well as the hefty fines imposed on what the state deemed to be errant broadcast stations and online content providers.
During the event ‘Yearbook on Media Quality in Tanzania- the state of journalism reporting in Tanzania (2022)’ held at the Golden Tulip Hotel Airport in Zanzibar, the Deputy Minister for Information, Communication and Information Technology, Eng Kundo Mathew promised to maintain and strengthen relations with the media.
“Be free in your services. The government also welcomes constructive criticism because it will help build our country, including fighting malpractices such as corruption and violation of human rights and Gender Based Violence (GVB),” Mr Mathew said.
Zanzibar Minister of Information. Youth, Culture and Sports Ms Tabia Maulid Mwita was among the key speakers at the event, where she said civic space in the Islands has been growing, an opportunity for journalists and the media to practice responsible and constructive journalism.
“Let us thank both Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan and Dr Mwinyi for their efforts to improve media freedom in the country, but you have to observe the laws and regulations or risk being banned as we have indefinitely closed Swahiba FM radio for violating laws,” the Minister said.
Presenting a summary of their finding from the study on the state of the media quality, Mr Katunzi said there is a significant increase in quality in 2022 relative to the quality performance reported in 2019, “In fact, the performance in many quality criteria for all media types has improved in terms of multiple sourcing, reporting from more than one perspective, explaining root causes.”
Nevertheless, the researcher explained, these improved performance levels still need further enhancement for tangible benefits to materialize as some areas remain entirely low-key and need drastic changes, and that in this regard, there are still fewer pieces than 2019 offering opinion and viewpoints (11 percent), and hardly any media pieces showing opposing viewpoints in the same unit (below two percent).
“Moreover, few media units (below four percent) express arguments critical of the government. This neglected area should be a source of grave concern and one that requires attention from all and sundry in the media fraternity. The positive development occurred mainly on TV newscasts and programmes,” he revealed.
Further, he explained that multiple sourcing reporting with more perspectives, manifested in 2022 mainly in both TV newscasts and programmes, and that a notable increase in performance is also evident in radio news, albeit on a lesser scale than on TV.
According to the findings, in radio programmes, the performance level has stabilised with no notable upward movement, but in contrast, newspapers exhibited a minor positive development while apparently some TV and radio stations improved their quality of journalistic reporting at a time when the print sector stagnated.
He argues, “Media houses’ dwindling economic sustainability undermines their efforts to improve reporting as staff numbers have, sometimes, fallen to the bare-bones, and also failure to enforce reporting standards on the part of reporters and editors proved to be another stumbling block as some basic journalistic requirements went unheeded, and such professional neglect cannot be solely blamed on the economic difficulties the newsrooms currently face.”
Despite all these shortcomings, the country has witnessed a dynamic development in the quality of reportage in both print and electronic media. “Paradoxically, some media houses that had trumped others in 2019 ended up in the lower echelons in 2022 regarding media quality ranking.”
Mr Katunzi said some local radio stations, for example, did not perform as they had done previously, partly because of economic challenges, which resulted in the “brain drain” of good reporters to other media houses and greener pastures, “This challenge particularly continues hitting smaller radio stations hard.”
He said nevertheless, internal challenges in media houses continue to play a significant role as in the bygone years and that lack of commitment to in-house training in newsrooms still undermines the quality of reporting.
“In addition to contributing to non-adherence to editorial guidelines and the sheer absence of a learning culture in some media houses, these internal challenges can be overcome faster than business models can engender; their resolution could instantaneously boost media houses’ reportage quality levels,” he said.
Mr Katunzi explained that quality in general summarises the performance of media outlets in different quality categories in one broad-based index, and that in this regard, the average quality index has improved from 27 percent in 2019 to 31 percent in 2022 and that the leading media houses in 2022, based on nine indicators, were Jamhuri, Mwananchi, Radio Free Africa, TBC1 and Hits FM.
He elaborated “Compared to 2019, both Jamhuri and Mwananchi have retained their position among the top five media houses in the country on this parameter. On the other hand, Radio Free Africa, TBC1, Clouds FM and Hits FM have made significant gains progressing from the tail-end in the 2019 ranking to the lofty ranks of the top five. Some local radio stations have also dropped within the ranking.”
Prof William Anangisye- Vice Chancellor University of Dar es Salaam and Dr Mona Mwakalinga- Dean UDSM-School of Journalism and Mass Communication addressed the gathering attended by media stakeholders, promising to maintain research aimed at improving media quality in the country, which is important in development.
Netherlands Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Wiche de Boer and Switzerland Ambassador Didier Chassot commended the media and presidents Samia and Mwinyi for the positive development of the media in the country, promising continued support,
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