Historical overview

The current state of media industry in the five East African Community（EAC）member states，namely Kenya，Uganda，Tanzania，Rwanda and Burundi^[1]，cannot be divorced from the historical milieu informing its antecedents.

The early colonial period（roughly the late nineteenth century），lay the foundation of modern East African media.Western-style print media industries emerged in the late nineteenth century as part and parcel of colonial socio-political control（Nyamora，2007；Sturmer，1998；Alowo，undated）.

Indigenous media sprouted in the 1920s in the region as part of the agitation for freedom from colonialism and the clamor for independence from Britain（Kenya，Uganda and Tanzania）and Belgium in the case of Rwanda（Alowo，2010 citing Mwesige，2004；Oriare and Mshindi，2008；Nyamora，2007；Sturmer，1998）.

When East African nations attained independence，they all nationalized broadcast media-radio and television（for instance Mukasa，undated）.All the four countries had television and radio stations run by governments except mainland Tanzania which had only a radio station until 1993.The post independence African governments appropriated colonially established media not just for a development agenda but as mouthpieces for the then emergent African leadership.

However problems associated with ethnic strife and power politics in the cold war era soon crept in and the media was not spared.The situation was particularly dire for media and indeed the rest of society during Uganda’s military rule in the 1970s and 1980s（Kakooza，2012）.

Curbs on the media establishments and journalists in Kenya were also evident from early post independence era well into the decade of the 1980s（Nyamora，2007）.In Rwanda，ethnic strife drew in the media from immediate post independence era all the way to the genocide in the mid 1990s.In Tanzania the situation was largely calm and rural media thrived throughout the 1960s and 1970s due to the socialist ideological leanings of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere（Mahanika，2011）.

Transformation

Major re-organization in East African media were witnessed from the late 1980s through the early 1990s generally known as the media liberalization era and defined by the breaking of government monopoly of the airwaves（AfriMap，2011；Mayonzo，Linda and Lopes，2012）.This was in the context of the so-called global wind of change set off by the collapse of communist rule in Russia and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the ascendency of neoliberal principles（Media Council of Tanzania，2009；Mfumbusi，undated；Rioba，2012）.

In Tanzania，socialism was abandoned in 1985 and the print media sub sector was opened up（Mfumbusi，undated）.Uganda blazed the trail with the first FM radio station in 1993.In Kenya，the first private TV went on air in 1990 followed by the first privately owned radio in 1995（AfriMap，2011）.In mainland Tanzania independent electronic media made an entry in 1994（Media Council of Tanzania，2009，Mfumbusi，undated）.

In Rwanda，media liberalization in 1992 had devastating effects as the first privately owned radio was used as a hate media mouthpiece leading to the1994 genocide in which an estimated one million Tutsi minorities and moderate Hutu were killed.In August 1994 Reporters Without Borders established Radio Agatashya to preach the message of peace in the Great Lakes Region of Africa（in Rwanda and Congo）.The British Department for International Development（DFID）supported the publication of The Rwanda Herald newspaper hit the newsstands around the same time but it folded in 2002，accused of the very incitement it sought to heal（Waldorf，2007）.

Policy and regulation

Overall，East African countries are signatories to most international laws and instruments on media（AfriMap，2011）^[2]as well as African and East African Community laws^[3].

It has been pointed out that the opening up of the electronic media sub sector was not accompanied by the necessary legal and policy framework.Indeed，as the various reforms to the regulatory authorities from the mid-2000s to date shows，policy and legislation seems to be playing catch up with practice（Nyanjom，2012 for instance）.

In Kenya a new constitution was promulgated in 2010 largely due to far reaching reforms motivated by the 2007 post election violence in which the media was accused of playing a negative role（AfriMap，2011；Media Council of Kenya，2012 for instance）.Because the Constitution is the supreme law，various past legislation were being reviewed to align them to the new Constitution.Currently Tanzania is also undertaking a constitutional review process that will have an impact on media laws and regulations.

In all the four countries，there are media councils comprising a wide array of stakeholders including journalists，editors，media owners，lawyers，the clergy and public spirited indi