Dar es Salaam – Emergency assistance for journalists facing attacks is not consistently followed by remedies for victims and accountability for perpetrators, media leaders have warned, calling for stronger protection and greater independence if journalism is to fulfil its role in national development.
The concerns emerged during an October 29, 2026 national dialogue at Four Points by Sheraton Dar es Salaam New Africa, organised by UNESCO with the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, the Coalition for the Right to Information and the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs. The meeting marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed on November 2.
Speakers described fragmented responses to threats, difficulty following cases through to their conclusion and legal arrangements they said constrained editorial independence. A government representative defended the authorities’ cooperation with media organisations and said legal reform was continuing, while acknowledging that the public might not receive sufficient information about action taken.
Kenneth Simbaya, executive director of the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC), drew a distinction between helping an affected journalist and ensuring that those responsible were dealt with. He said an EU-supported mechanism provided legal, medical and psychosocial assistance, but interventions remained fragmented and sometimes stalled.
“To what extent are we ensuring that it is done holistically?” Simbaya asked, explaining that a journalist might receive support without obtaining a remedy for an assault or confiscated equipment. “There is a gap. That is where we need to improve.”
Unfinished cases
The discussion, moderated by The Chanzo’s editor-in-chief Khalifa Said, opened with a question about the last occasion participants could recall a crime against a journalist being followed by justice. Several struggled to identify a recent example, returning instead to the killing of Channel Ten journalist Daudi Mwangosi in 2012.
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Christina Musaroche, head of the communication and information sector at the Tanzania National Commission for UNESCO, clarified that the case had resulted in a conviction. A police officer was sentenced to 15 years for manslaughter on July 27, 2016, an outcome also documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Musaroche said her commission had not received an official, conclusive response on the case of journalist Issa Ngumba. The Radio Kwizera reporter was found dead in January 2013, although the relationship between his killing and his journalism has not been established.
“We have not received an official response that the case has been closed and what the judgement was,” she said.
Salome Kitomari, managing editor of Nipashe, said the problem was not an absence of incidents but the difficulty of pursuing them to a conclusion. She questioned why journalists, employers and professional organisations sometimes fell silent after assaults or the seizure of working equipment.
“Incidents exist, but moving forward to the next steps is where the challenge lies,” she said.
Ernest Sungura of the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) said police appeared most frequently in the council’s records as a source of threats to journalists, followed by district and regional commissioners. He recognised the police’s lawful arrest responsibilities but criticised situations in which their powers were used against reporting that exposed wrongdoing.
“If I, as a journalist, have helped expose wrongdoing, shouldn’t you value me more and cooperate with me more?” Sungura asked. He said exposing an offence should bring cooperation with investigators rather than become a reason to arrest the reporter.
Evody Kyando, acting assistant director in the Directorate of Information Services, said his department received complaints from journalists and their employers and contacted the relevant authorities. Coordination included police spokespersons at national and regional levels, he said.
Kyando suggested that some action might go unrecognised because the public was not told what had happened after an incident. He also urged journalists covering police operations to wear clearly identifiable press jackets, arguing that officers might otherwise struggle to distinguish them from other people.
Said challenged identification as a sufficient answer, citing cases in which journalists had identified themselves and their employers had contacted police, yet difficulties persisted.
Hidden harms
Kitomari said journalist safety could not be measured solely through visible injuries. Psychological harm and online harassment could affect mental health, personal relationships and the ability to continue working.
Women, she said, faced particular forms of humiliation in which responses to their reporting targeted appearance or private lives rather than the substance of their work. Pressure directed at a woman’s partner or relatives could also have consequences shaped by social expectations.
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“I may publish content online, and the public’s reaction will turn to my personal life and my appearance,” she said, contrasting that experience with the treatment of male colleagues.
She cited UNESCO research to illustrate the scale of online abuse. The UNESCO–International Centre for Journalists global survey found that 73 per cent of women journalists responding had experienced online violence; the figure describes an international survey, not the prevalence among journalists in Tanzania.
Kitomari called for protective policies within newsrooms and across the sector, including reporting systems that did not expose complainants to further danger. Cooperation among employers, journalists’ associations, editors and public authorities was needed, she said, rather than expecting one intervention to resolve every threat.
Independence disputed
The debate also questioned whether the conditions under which journalists worked matched the role assigned to them in Development Vision 2050. The official vision identifies free and independent media as important to information and accountability, while acknowledging that professional and structural constraints limit public discussion.
“When you look at journalists’ independence, we are not doing very well,” Sungura said. He argued that laws governing the sector needed further changes to enable journalists to carry out that development role independently.
Sungura sought explicit constitutional protection for journalism and questioned the statutory Independent Media Council, arguing that the existing MCT could provide professional self-regulation. The Media Services Act retains a Journalists Accreditation Board and a statutory council, distinct from MCT.
“Our first point of reference should be the Constitution, and then other things should follow,” he said.
Kyando responded that legal protections did not require journalism to become a formal arm of the state. He also rejected the suggestion that government oversight necessarily made independent reporting impossible.
“The government is not an enemy of journalists’ freedom,” he said. “The government believes in journalists’ freedom.”
Pressed about powers to suspend publications and control accreditation, Kyando maintained that freedom operated within legal and constitutional limits. If stakeholders believed the law granted inappropriate powers, they should seek amendments, he said.
Sungura countered that media organisations had already challenged the Media Services Act at the East African Court of Justice. In its March 28, 2019 judgement, the court found several provisions inconsistent with the regional treaty’s commitments to human rights and democratic governance and directed the government to bring the law into compliance.
Kyando pointed to changes already made and defended the pace of further reform. The 2023 amendments removed the information director’s responsibility to coordinate government advertising and revised offences and penalties, including provisions concerning criminal defamation.
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“Nine have been worked on, and the others are in the process,” he said, responding to criticism of incomplete implementation. He did not give a completion date during the discussion.
Simbaya said journalism’s development contribution required systems enabling reporters to work without fear, alongside a professional obligation to produce accurate information useful to the public. Kitomari added that retaining experienced journalists was essential to sustainable news organisations.
“No media organisation can be sustainable without the right workforce,” she said. “We need to retain experienced journalists with institutional memory and knowledge of the sector so that we have a strong sector.”
