Barriers and Obstacles
Barriers to Media Access and Use
It is also insightful to profile non-users: those who do not use television and newspapers and those without access to these media. Often, such groups are the same and thus it is instructive to know about the challenges faced in reaching these people.
For the purposes of this report, non-users are defined as those who have never used a given medium. Figures 1, 2 and 3 profile those who said they had never used radio, television or newspapers.
Figure 1, 2 & 3
Figures 1-3 show that rural residents and women are more likely to be non-users than their more urban and male counterparts. In terms of income, both use and non-use trends show a great disparity between the fourth (highest) income tier and the bottom three income tiers. Access and use increase sharply from Tier 3 to Tier 4 (see charts above) and these respondents are least likely to face obstacles to use (refer to Figures 1-3).
Figure 4 lists the common obstacles hindering access and use of television. Common deterrents to television and newspaper use are closely linked to issues of media access. For instance, problems with electricity and not having a television set at home are the principle deterrents to use (see Figure 4).
Figure 4
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Lack of Available Electricity Sources Poses an Obstacle for Access to Broadcast MediaClose to half of all Tanzanians who say they have never watched television cited “problems with electricity” as one of the reasons for non-use. Lack of stable sources of electricity at home has an impact on the ability to access media and communication devices, and is disproportionately a problem in poorer and more rural provinces. Those in rural locations have much lower access to main power grids than those living in more urban locations (see chart below). Respondents with Tier 1, 2 and 3 income levels are more likely not to have access to electricity in their households. On the other hand, those with Tier 4 income levels are most likely to have consistent access to the main power grid, and therefore more likely to rely on it primarily to power their media and communication devices. As a result, those with high incomes (and in turn more stable electricity sources) are thus more likely to have access to media.
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Newspaper readership is highest in the more developed regions of Dar es Salaam and Rukwa province, where circulation is also higher. The BBC and AMDI report suggests that readership is also high in the urban regions of Arusha, Moshi, Mbeya, Zanzibar and Mwanza. Outside these urban centers, circulation is very poor, and our respondents’ self-reported reasons for non-readership corroborate this.
The largest proportion of non-readers cites non-availability in their area as the prime reason for non-readership. Notice how, “non-availability” is a bigger problem in rural areas (Figure 5). On the other hand, urban non-readers are more likely to say they are “not interested” or “do not have the time.”
Most of the national newspapers such as Nipashe, Majira and Mwananchi publish in Kiswahili , which is spoken and read by most people in the country. As a result, “cannot read” or “too difficult to understand” are not primary reasons for non-readership.
Figure 5