SECTOR 4 of one government ministry compelling the council to advise the complainant to seek redress elsewhere. The MCT has been trying to encourage media houses to appoint their own ombudsman to handle complaints. The New Habari Corporation has one but he has now been appointed editor of a newspaper belonging to the group. 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: 3.8 (2010 = 2.9; 2008 = 2.9; 2006 = 3.4) 4.2 The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. There was consensus that the standard of reporting in Tanzania is not fair, and many times is also inaccurate. Newspapers tend to publish articles slanted in favour of the owners of the newspapers, be they private individuals or government. The most common complaint towards newspapers is from people who feel they have been misquoted. It was noted that, surprisingly, there tends to be more mistakes made in the Kiswahili media, than in the English media. “We have a serious problem with some of the people entering the (journalism) profession nowadays. Many of them cannot survive without a press release, but even so they often misspell the names of people and organisations. Not enough care is taken, especially by young graduates joining the newsroom.” Mention was made of the fact that in some newsrooms, especially within smaller, new newspapers, there are no sub-editors to act as gatekeepers, filtering out errors. This may be to cut costs, while some editors feel that with new publishing technology, this role is not vital. “The ignorance of the public contributes to bad reporting in Tanzania. They don’t know they have the right to complain or they think it is too much hassle, so they don’t bother. Others feel that if they want justice, they must bribe somebody to get it, rather than use the MCT’s complaints body.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER TANZANIA 2012 51