SECTOR 4

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:

3.7 (2010 = 3.3; 2008 = 2.3; 2006 = 3.2)

4.10 Journalists and other media practitioners are organised in trade unions and/or professional associations, which effectively represent their interests.
There are no trade unions for private journalists. State journalists belong to
their own union namely the Researchers, Academicians and Allied Workers
Union (RAAWU). This is for those working for the Daily News and the
Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC).The Tanzania Union of Journalists
(TUJ) used to exist years ago for the state and private media, but it collapsed
due mismanagement.
In May 2012, journalists asked the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s
Tanzanian (MISA-Tanzania) chapter to look into resuscitating the TUJ within
the next year. As private media journalists are very poorly paid and work in
appalling conditions (more than two-thirds of all working journalists are not
fully employed but work as freelancers), there is a sense of urgency in reestablishing a union to fight for their rights.
It was mentioned that the media is divided when it comes to wanting union
support. Some journalists fear that by joining a union they will jeopardise their
jobs.
“It’s a matter of survival.”
There are various professional media associations in Tanzania which exist largely
to defend, not the interests of journalists, but the rights of the profession,
including MISA-Tanzania, the Tanzanian Media Women Association (TAMWA),
the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) and the Association
of Journalists Against AIDS (AJAAT).
In terms of professional media bodies, the most significant development in
the last two years has been the concretization of the Tanzania Editors’ Forum,

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AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER TANZANIA 2012

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