Beyond the Archive: Oral Histories of Tanzanian Journalists and the Trajectory of Post-Colonial Media

This article explores the evolution of Tanzania's postcolonial media landscape through practitioners' lived experiences. Drawing on oral histories from qualitative interviews, the study examines how media practitioners have dealt with shifting state constraints, regulatory change, and the growing prominence of digital platforms. Practitioner narratives illustrate both the agency and limits inherent in Tanzanian media history, exposing cycles of censorship, professional adaptation, and the growing influence of new actors through social media. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the person in authority determines how freely the media functions in Tanzania. Analysing through the lens of Post Colonial Theory, Afrokology Approaches, and Oral History and Critical Hermeneutics, these findings highlight the importance of supplementing archive reports with practitioner viewpoints, as well as identifying new potential and ethical issues in an era of increased media plurality.