was later released on the order of President Magufuli who allowed the song to be played in the media. PRINT MEDIA There was an onslaught against the media throughout 2017 in the form of warnings and suspensions, most of which fell under the 2016 Media Services Act. During June 2017, the Minister of Information, Sports and Culture, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe imposed a 24 months ban on Mawio’s print edition and articles posted online that linked two former presidents (Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete) to reports related to an investigation into allegations of misconduct in the mining sector. Publishers of Mawio were accused of contravening a presidential directive that was being issued at the same time that the newspaper was published and distributed. The minister’s statement cited Section 55 of the Media Services Act, which allows the minister to “prohibit or otherwise sanction the publication of any content that jeopardizes national security or public safety.” In September Director of Information Services, Dr Hassan Abbas announced the 2 years suspension of a weekly tabloid, MwanaHalisi, under Section 50 of the Media Services Act, which allows authorities to shut down media organisations that publish ‘seditious publications’. The ban was based on an article which authorities considered an insult to the president. Abbas further stated the newspaper had been warned many times for its content which authorities deemed “seditious”. Just ten days after suspending MwanaHalisi, another popular weekly tabloid Raia Mwema including its online ver- 110 So This is Democracy? 2017 sion, suffered the same fate and was banned for 90 days for publishing an article supposedly insulting the president. The government, according to the statement issued, insisted that the paper was entitled to fair comment; however the analysis had contained many unfounded quotes implicating the president. Four weeks later, a daily tabloid Tanzania Daima suffered a similar fate. A 90 days ban was issued for publishing a story that misquoted the Minister of Health and allegedly misled the public. Both the offline and online versions were suspended. During the period under review, publications were pushed to re-register in order to comply with the requirements of the Media Services Act. By 31 December 2017 a total of 168 publications including newspapers, journals and magazines had been registered. BROADCASTING On 2 January 2018, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) fined five television stations each between Tshs 7.5 million (USD 3375) and Tshs 15 million (USD 6750) for “offensive and unethical” broadcasting. The five TV stations,- namely Azam Two TV, Independent Television (ITV), Channel 10, Star TV and East African TV (EATV) - aired a press statement issued by the Legal Human Rights Centre (LHRC) on 30 November. In its statement the LHRC alleged that human rights violations took place during the ward councillors’ by-elections on 26 November 2017. Throughout the year Clouds FM was on the receiving end of most warnings and fines by authorities. In July 2017, the presenter of the ‘Najua