SECTOR 2 “Investigative journalism is almost buried in Tanzania, because the media laws are so restrictive and because there is fear. Most people don’t have the guts to do it… If those being investigated by a journalist don’t kill you, they’ll threaten to go after your family.” “When a story attacks top people in the government, it often won’t even surface. The editor-in-chief will use self-censorship for fear of the personal repercussions this may have.” Nevertheless, there are still brave souls in the media fraternity. A number of big corruption scandals have been broken by the local media, including the Tanzanian energy/escrow scandal, after which senior government officials, including Housing Minister Anna Tibaijuka and Attorney General Frederick Werema, were forced to resign. “Every day, these journalists put their lives on the line.” The Tanzanian Media Fund was established 2008 specifically to assist journalists to write investigative pieces on various topics, from corruption to maternal health. Through this fund, reporters were also sent to rural areas to cover stories. “When it comes to content, the electronic media has the biggest problem because of the costs involved in producing content. Broadcasters also generally refuse to pay for independent producers’ content and instead ask the producer to pay for it to be aired. So the independent producer must find funds to produce the content and broadcast it!” Because of these high local production costs, many television broadcasters purchase cheap content from other countries, such as telenovellas from South America. As such, there is very little local content being broadcast. Local TV stations do make some effort to broadcast local music, including the popular ‘bongo flava’ (Tanzanian hip hop music). Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.9 (2012 = 3.3; 2010 = 3.2; 2008 = 2.3; 2006 = 3.1) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Tanzania 2015 39