The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, announces the creation of the IPI Tanzania National Committee, which will bring a powerful new voice to the fight for press freedom and independent journalism in Tanzania.
IPI National Committees are national-level associations of IPI members, who are media professionals and media-related institutions that share a commitment to quality, independent journalism. The IPI Tanzania National Committee has been created in close cooperation with the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF), the country’s leading association of independent editors, which has also joined the IPI network as an institutional member. The Media Council of Tanzania, another IPI institutional member, is also represented on the Committee.
The IPI General Assembly approved by unanimous vote the creation of the Tanzania National Committee at IPI’s 2019 World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this month. Deodatus Balile, TEF acting chairperson, addressed the General Assembly on the media freedom situation in Tanzania and the importance of IPI’s presence there.
In April, IPI carried out a press freedom mission to Tanzania in partnership with TEF and the local office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The visit was a response to Tanzania’s press freedom crisis, which has seen the introduction of repressive media laws and arbitrary suspensions of media outlets by the government.