SECTOR 1 1.4 The government makes every effort to honour regional and international instruments on freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Although the Tanzanian government has ratified every regional and international instrument on freedom of expression, it rarely implements these by incorporating them into local laws and regulations; thus it fails to honour these instruments. One example is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects all forms of expression and the means of their dissemination, and which the Tanzanian government has signed. In Tanzania, publications have been banned for speaking out against the government and the ruling party, thus the state does not honour this international instrument in practice. In addition, the African Charter on Broadcasting stipulates that broadcasting licences should be allocated transparently by well-funded independent regulatory bodies. This is not happening in Tanzania, where the granting of licences appears to be politically motivated and the commissioners of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) are “riddled with political and economic corruption”. In the rare case where it does enact laws to protect rights related to these regional and international agreements, these rights are not guaranteed and can be taken away by other laws. This is the case with the Whistleblower and Witness Protection Act of 2015, which is ostensibly aimed at protecting those exposing corruption within the government. The Cybercrimes Act, however, makes it a criminal offence to publish information deemed incorrect by the state, meaning that whistleblowers could be charged. “The criteria of these international and regional instruments is very clear, with regard to registration requirements, operation restrictions and resolving disputes. But in reality, we are in a bad situation. There is no real public broadcaster in Tanzania. And are commercial broadcasters doing what international guidelines stipulate? Also, community media has no support.” On a more positive note, mention was made of the opening up of the media sector in the past two decades. “Before 1992, there was only one radio station and a handful of media outlets in Tanzania, but today there are so many TV and radio stations and newspapers. We have not reached the ideal, but there has been a dramatic shift.” Other panellists criticised this praise, saying that one should not be blinded by the numbers of media outlets: what was important was the diversity, the quality and the freedom of the media. “In this country, if you criticise someone in power, you’ll be shut out of business.” While the African Charter on Broadcasting divides the regulatory landscape into the three tiers of public, commercial and community broadcasting, no law in 18 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Tanzania 2015