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Media Ethics and Journalism in Tanzania

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Newsmaking Cultures in Africa

Abstract

Media ethics scholars have been debating the value of using normative versus culture-specific approaches for formulating and understanding media ethics. However, few studies have examined how the colonial history of a developing country influences its ability to enforce normative principles of media ethics. This chapter provides a review of various stages of media evolution in Tanzania and their role in shaping ethical guidelines for its journalists, and offers suggestions to refine ethical guidelines for media operating with limited resources and restricted press freedom. I argue that postcolonial countries such as Tanzania require a hybrid form of ethical framework, where universal values of providing unbiased reporting have to be balanced with the need for monetary help from news sources to complete the given reporting assignment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Swahili media publications founded and produced by Africans.

  2. 2.

    Ujamaa (a Swahili term for ‘familyhood’) was a social and economic policy of village cooperatives based on equality of opportunity and self-help, established in the 1960s by Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania (see Göran 1980).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA

    Ammina B. Kothari

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  1. Ammina B. Kothari
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Writing and Journalism, Falmouth University, Penryn, United Kingdom

    Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara

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Kothari, A.B. (2018). Media Ethics and Journalism in Tanzania. In: Mabweazara, H. (eds) Newsmaking Cultures in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54109-3_11

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