Tanzania Standard Newspapers is the publisher of the daily broadsheet Daily News and its Sunday edition Sunday News, Habari Leo, a daily Kiswahili tabloid established in 2006, and Spotileo, a sports newspaper established in 2011. The company also owns and publishes five magazines.
Media assets
Publishing: Daily News, Habari Leo, Spotileo
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
The United Republic of Tanzania government in 1970 nationalized Tanganyika Standard Newspaper and established Tanzania Standard Newspapers Limited, a public corporation owned by the government.
Today, TSN is a private limited liability company owned by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania with 99% shares, and the publisher’s Managing Editor who is the chief executive officer and contact person who holds 1% of the shares. The government appoints the publisher’s managing editor and the board of directors (the company’s main governing structure).
Source of funding and budget
TSN has recently diversified its business to include online advertising, production of television documentaries, consultancy services, commercial photography and training. According to estimates from local journalists, the publisher also receives grants from the state; however, they account for less than 50% of the publisher’s budget. TSN does not release detailed annual reports.
In May 2023, Tanzania’s minister for Information, Communication and Information Technology, Nape Nnauye praised TSN for its major transformation as well as its performance. According to TSN’s Managing Director, Tuma Abdallah, the government has pumped over TZS 30b (US$ 12m) in supporting several projects implemented by TSN, including an investment into a modern commercial printing plant.
In the 2021-2022 financial year, TSN received a state subsidy of roughly TZS 14.3bn (US$ 6.1bn), according to budget documents from the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports.
Editorial independence
The publications run by TSN are known as government propaganda outlets. Daily News, for example, is known in Tanzania for its “egregious support of government lines,” according to a study carried out by CIMA, a media development organization based in Washington, D.C. According to local journalists, Daily News and Habari Leo newspapers are mandatorily read by all government ministries and departments, regulatory bodies and corporations.
There is no internal statute and no independent assessment/oversight mechanism in charge of validating the independence of TSN’s publications.
June 2024