Strengthening domestic accountability, through support to civil society, media, and oversight institutions is at the heart of Swiss Cooperation’s Governance Concept in Tanzania. The proposed Media Fund project, elaborated jointly by five Development Partners, and planned to be financed through a basket funding mechanism, shall contribute to an independent media sector that gives voice to different parts of society, provides a forum for exchange, and works as a watchdog and thus complements the domestic accountability portfolio of Swiss Cooperation.
Democratization and reforms since 1992 have attracted private investment into the media industry, witnessing the establishment of new publications, radio and television stations, a handful of media organizations and training institutions. While media in the developed world generate their major income from advertisement, in a country as poor as Tanzania, advertisement revenues are still relatively low; Due to limited means, media houses are reluctant to invest into the capacities of journalists. The current legal framework, even though under review, hampers the work of journalists and Tanzania’s media are rated only partly free. Journalism currently remains much a social responsibility. However, emerging investigative and public journalism has achieved some successes in analysing policy making at the national level, demonstrating the “power of the pen”; The proposed project for a Media Fund shall boost the role of media in assuring domestic accountability, taping into the momentum of these recent successes.
The various factors missing for media to effectively operate within Tanzania cannot be tackled by a single project. The proposed intervention thus foresee a package of interventions centered around the financial support to journalistic initiatives, complementary to other ongoing support to the sector. A competitive and demand-driven grant making mechanism open to individual journalists, media agencies and civil society organizations involved in media work to produce publishable pieces of investigative journalism or build capacity in this area, is at the centre of the planned Media Funds activities. All grants will be negotiated in collaboration with an editor or media house where the journalist is employed or affiliated to, to allow time for the journalist to pursue the grant and publish/broadcast material produced. Alongside a comprehensive capacity building facility, aimed at those awarded grants, involving training courses, coaching, conferences and networking forums is foreseen. In order to mitigate the insecurity journalists and media houses are facing, often turning into an impediment for investigative and public journalism, a legal defense fund for journalists, combined with an insurance scheme, is foreseen; Finally, an award scheme for media excellence to acknowledge specific contributions to Investigative Journalism in Tanzania is planned. The fund builds upon and complements development achievements such as the regional press clubs and the Media Council of Tanzania.
The Media Fund shall provide resources and incentives to encourage the production of quality investigative and public journalism. Recent developments have shown that the model character of quality journalism in Tanzania works. Success in publishing well researched stories as a result of the media fund support, will encourage media companies and journalists to invest more capacities and means into research themselves, and ultimately demonstrate that quality journalism does pay. However, experience has shown that the establishment of a well-functioning media sector with its necessary institutional infrastructure needs time and a long-term commitment.
