SECTOR 2 The media landscape, including new media, is characterised by diversity, independence and sustainability. 2.1 A wide range of sources of information (print, broadcasting, internet, mobile phones) is accessible and affordable to citizens. There is a wide choice of media, particularly print media, in Tanzania, but it is not necessarily affordable to the majority of the population. Nevertheless, in the past 15 years there have been a lot of improvements in communication infrastructure, transport and electrification, which have improved citizens’ access to broadcast and print media, as well as mobile phone communication and the internet. Print In June 2015, 854 newspapers, magazines and journals were registered with the Registrar of Newspapers. The majority of these publications are privately owned. The government owns four newspapers: Daily News, Habari Leo, Zanzibar Leo and Sunday News. At an average cost of Tsh1 000 (US$0,44), newspapers are out of reach for most of the 44.9 million citizens, 68% of whom live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day, according to Unicef statistics. The long distances and poor road infrastructure in Tanzania also results in the delay of newspapers reaching commercial centres timeously, while there are many outlying areas that the print media never reaches at all. “Even on Zanzibar, you won’t get the newspapers before noon, while in Kigoma you are reading yesterday’s news.” As an indication of the great distances involved, the far north-western parts of the country are 1,800km away from the capital Dar es Salaam, which is 560km north of Mtwara near the south-eastern border. The penetration of newspapers remains low, with one possible reason being that “people living outside the capital cannot relate to a Dar es Salaam newspaper”. In an effort to address these shortfalls, Mwananchi set up a printing press in Mwanza in 2014, from where the newspaper is distributed to the regions, instead of only from Dar es Salaam. This means that newspapers take one to two days to reach the far northern parts of the country, compared to the four or five days previously. Mwananchi has also tried to improve accessibility by bringing out different editions for rural areas. 28 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Tanzania 2015