The mass media, multipartyism and democratization in Tanzania: the case of Uhuru and Majira in the 1995 general elections

This study provides an analysis on the performance of the mass media in the era of economic and political liberalization with a focus on the 1995 general Elections campaigns. The aim is to determine the extent to which the mass media play their role in the democratization process. Two newspapers-CCM owned Uhuru and privately owned Majira have been used as case studies. Following the economic and political liberalization which began in the mid-1980s, the mass media have since played a key role in creating awareness in society and particularly in spearheading the building of democracy in Tanzania. But, on the other hand, it is felt that, present operation of mass media in Tanzania leaves much to be desired in that the focus has been on personalities, sensationalization of news, and bias while overlooking serious issues which really matter to society as a whole. This dissertation contains five chapters. The first chapter is essentially an introduction which gives background information on the study and the methods (research methodology) used to gather data. Chapter two is a presentation of literature review. The theoretical perspectives and the conceptual framework of the study are presented here. Chapter three traces the development and operations of mass media in Tanzania. Chapter four presents the findings of the study and.