A Profile of Journalists in Post-Independence Tanzania

Abstract

Based on a survey of 139 journalists, this study provides an attitudinal profile of Tanzanian journalists at an interesting time in Tanzania's political evolution from a one-party, socialist, controlled press system to a multi-party, capitalist, relatively free press system. Tanzanian journalists rate western journalistic functions - accuracy, analysis, investigation and entertainment - highly, and they place considerable importance on the public affairs benefits of their jobs. At the same time, their Tanzanian conceptions of the role of the press - portraying the country positively, using traditional media, ensuring rural coverage and thinking of news as a social good, all for national development - are also important to them. Their years of socialization under ujamaa and a one-party state are evident even as the western concept of the press is gaining ground. Apart from this duality in their views, these journalists are also consonant in their opinions, with demographic and workplace-related variables scarcely having any effect. They also exhibit the `Lake Woebegone effect', rating almost all the functions and benefits higher than average.