Tanzania The external and internal changes have contributed to positive change. The external forces –mostly donors are forcing government to open up space. Internal forces – tolerance, opposition parties, media/civil society coalitions. 3) What are the main obstacles for (further) positive change? • Lack of resources financial and technical. Most of the reforms/ changes are donor supported; • Not everyone is on board in the Government as well as in the public. There is resistance by certain conservative people who do not want to accommodate changes; • Some of the changes are externally engineered and do not have the local support; • Problem of infrastructure; • Absorption capacity of the reforms differs quite a lot. If you are not well informed you may be left behind while if you are ahead, you will be frustrated by those pulling you back. • Poor quality of manpower/lack of professionalism; • Monopoly/media concentration is getting tighter; and • Fragmentation of media owners who do not speak with one voice. 4) If negative changes: who or what has been the main cause? • “High mortality rate” of media outlets mostly caused by a weak economic base; • Degradation of moral standards in which the media has contributed; • Standards have fallen in the profession even though they are more graduates joining the profession. This may be due to theoretical training rather than practical training emphasized by the training institutions; • Media houses bought by politicians for example Habari Corporation caused a major upset in the media scene when it was sold to a politician. It was the only media owned and 38 African Media Barometer - Tanzania 2008