General

In looking at the regulatory environment in Tanzania,it is important to note that the government of Zanzibar has a great deal of autonomy with respect to media law and regulation.

Media legislation in Tanzania has been described as among the most repressive in the SADC region (Louw 2004). Berger (2007) says, "indeed, it is surprising that the print and broadcast media there are able to operate without constantly falling foul of the extreme censorship or of the various laws with punitive punishments."

However, according to Berger (2007), in 2004, Reporters without Borders stated that press freedom in Tanzania was fairly healthy. The same year, the International Press Institute pointed to encouraging signs for Tanzanian journalists, and said independent media were gaining in strength. However, both reports expressed concern about Zanzibar (for instance, the government of Zanzibar banned the weekly paper, Dira, in late 2003 after the paper published repots criticising the President's children for using family influence in business deals).