Leah Mwainyekule publishes new research on Tanzania’s media history
Dr Leah Mwainyekule has published a new article examining Tanzania’s postcolonial media history through the experiences of journalists and media practitioners. Published on 8 October 2026 in Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, “Beyond the Archive: Oral Histories of Tanzanian Journalists and the Trajectory of Postcolonial Media” explores how practitioners have navigated political change, state regulation and the growth of digital platforms.
The study draws on 18 qualitative interviews with Tanzanian journalists and media contributors, bringing together perspectives from different generations and professional backgrounds. Conducted in Kiswahili and English, the interviews consider experiences across five presidential administrations, from Julius Nyerere to John Magufuli, with participants’ accounts analysed alongside historical records, scholarship and media legislation.
The article examines how opportunities for reporting and criticism varied between administrations, highlighting the importance of political leadership as well as formal legal protections. Some veteran journalists recalled opportunities to investigate wrongdoing within state-owned and ruling-party newspapers under Nyerere, while accounts of later periods describe the expansion of private media, close relationships between politicians and editors, and renewed restrictions on reporting.
Mwainyekule argues that oral histories can supplement accounts based primarily on archives and policy documents, revealing how journalists experienced and responded to changing conditions in their everyday work. Drawing on postcolonial theory and Afrokological approaches, the research foregrounds practitioners’ knowledge and considers both their capacity to act and the constraints they faced.
The study also discusses how social media has widened participation in news and public debate beyond professional journalism, alongside questions about regulation and ethical practice. Its historical scope ends with the Magufuli administration, as the interviews were conducted before President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office.
The article is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
Read the full article: “Beyond the Archive: Oral Histories of Tanzanian Journalists and the Trajectory of Postcolonial Media”, https://www.westminsterpapers.org/article/id/2075/
Photo by Antoine Demare on Unsplash
