Tanzania gov’t bans foreign content

The Tanzanian government has banned local TV and radio outlets from broadcasting foreign content without government approval as part of a crackdown on press freedom.

The ruling comes via a directive published by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority under the Electronic and Postal Communications amendment.

The directive also means that foreign correspondents and journalists from TV news channels or any other media will no longer be allowed to be in the country without being accompanied by a government official.

Introduced by Tanzanian Information Minister Harrison Mwakyembe, the new directive also prohibits the broadcast of content on coronavirus without the approval of a state official and includes significantly stricter oversight of social media use.

It is currently unclear how TV international news broadcasters such as CNN, the BBC, Sky and broadcasters from other African nations will be able to work with or around the regulations, or how Tanzania’s government plans to regulate or approve the massive amount of foreign content broadcast daily on such outlets.