TBC Taifa

TBC Taifa is the original national service radio channel of Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam hence carries the original mandate of public broadcasting namely inform, educate, and entertainment. However, with the introduction of other outlets, the entertainment component has be given less importance.

In an interview, the Director of Radio Services stated that 75% of its programmes is about information and education and only 25% is entertainment.Therefore, the main objectives of TBC Taifa is to educate and inform the audience on major national issues such as government policies, vision 2025, the five year development plan and the ruling party - CCM - manifesto.

According to the Tanzania Media Measurement report by GeoPoll, with audience statistics for quarter of 2, 2018, TBC Taifa’s audience share is at XX.XXX% . This means it is ranked fourth among all radio stations, and the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation’s (TBC) most popular radio.

TBC is the only public broadcaster on Tanzania mainland. It is a public corporation established under the Public Corporation Act, 1992 to provide a public service broadcasting through radio and television. TBC is owned by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania through the Treasury Register, a department within the Ministry of Finance, that holds 100 percent of shares. The interest of the government is to use TBC to reinforce government’s efforts in nation-building. Consequently, the Government expects TBC to be its mouthpiece rather than speak independently and objectively.

One result could be the handling of sources: TBC Taifa heavily (70%) uses arguments of authorities as sources. This showed a media quality study commissioned by Media Council of Tanzania (MCT). It also claimed that only one out of four news items had a good structure. Not even half the program items focuse on the ordinary citizen, and the coverage focuses only to 8% on political issues.