Mobile telephony has also taken off in the count and most adults own at least one mobile phone line. Figures from the TCRA as at December 2014 showed that mobile penetration was 67% of the population. Also, in the past few years, access to the internet has increased with the result that as at the end of 2014, 11 million people had access, comprising 3.4 million via organisations and institutions and 7.7 million households. There were 239,000 internet cafes as at December 2014. But the internet is still largely inaccessible in rural areas, due to lack of electricity and poor infrastructure. There is no law prohibiting media concentration and monopolies or crossownership. Men continue to be much more visible in the Tanzanian media than women. They are mostly the sources for stories, the authoritative voices that get heard and newsmakers, especially political sources, tend to be men. The media is, therefore, still not gender-sensitive. Minorities – in terms of ethnicity, language and religion – are also not fairly represented in Tanzania. Homosexuality is criminalised under the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act of 1998 and as such, it is a socially taboo topic and homophobia is common. As a result, homosexual issues are ignored by the media. The government is the biggest advertiser in the country, followed by mobile telephone companies and breweries, but some media outlets that are overtly critical of the government or those that publish outspoken opinions get little or no advertising from the state. The advertising market is too small to support the many media outlets in Tanzania. Community radio stations are often owned by local governments, while community television stations are either owned by a faith-based organisation or a local government. Community based organisations struggle to source sufficient funding to be involved in this sector. There are no legal provisions guaranteeing the independence of the two public broadcasters: the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) and the Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). In addition, since their boards are appointed by the President and the Minister of Information, they are not independent. The two state broadcasters are also not considered to be adequately funded, particularly due to political interference in their budgets. Most reporting in Tanzania is not considered to be of a high professional standard. With up to 80% of the country’s journalists working as freelancers who earn very little for the media work they do, many will only write reports about organisations or events if they are paid to do so by their sources. Even those AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Tanzania 2015 9