Table of Contents
Greener Journal of Journalism, Advertisement and Mass Communication
Vol. 2(1), pp. 10-16, January, 2026
Copyright ©2026, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Journal DOI: 10.15580/gjjamc
Journal website: https://gjjamc.gjournals.org
1Department of Journalism and Mass Communication: St. Augustine University of Tanzania
Email: janethmesomapya18@gmail.com
2Academician, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, St. Augustine University of Tanzania. Email: brittorajendran@gmail.com
Type: Research
Full Text: PDF, PHP, HTML, EPUB, MP3
DOI: 10.15580/gjjamc.2026.1.012426013
Accepted: 23/01/2026
Published: 31/01/2026
Keywords: Newspapers’ Framing Framing theory, Petroleum Exploration in Tanzania, Media analysis, Daily News and The Citizen, Tanzania
Janeth A. Mesomapya
E-mail: bapropsk@gmail.com; janethmesomapya18@gmail.com
Petroleum exploration continues to play a significant role in shaping national development agendas in many resource-seeking countries, including Tanzania. As global demand for energy persists, the country’s pursuit of oil and natural gas resources has intensified, reinforcing its ambition to strengthen the energy sector as a foundation for long-term economic transformation (Muhongo, 2013). Over the past decade, the discovery of substantial offshore natural gas reserves has heightened expectations for industrial expansion, poverty reduction, and improved fiscal stability (Mgaya, 2014). Within this context, the news media serve as a principal channel through which information about the petroleum sector is communicated to the public, thereby shaping national debates, public perceptions, and policy conversations surrounding extractive industries (Ireri et al., 2019).
Newspapers remain particularly influential in Tanzania’s media landscape, providing authoritative coverage of political, economic, and policy-related developments. Because petroleum exploration is both technically complex and politically sensitive, the way newspapers frame exploration activities significantly shapes how citizens interpret potential opportunities, risks, and governance issues (de Vreese & Lecheler, 2012). Framing determines not only what information is presented, but also how issues are contextualised, prioritised, and emotionally coloured. As Entman (1993) argues, media frames guide public reasoning by defining problems, diagnosing causes, offering moral evaluations, and suggesting solutions. Analysing news framing therefore provides valuable insight into the broader public narratives shaping discourse on the petroleum sector, especially in countries such as Tanzania where development expectations around natural resources remain high (Becken, 2014).
Tanzania’s emerging petroleum industry is guided by several legal and policy instruments, including the National Natural Gas Policy (2013), the Local Content Policy (2014), the Petroleum Act (2015), and the Oil and Gas Revenues Management Act (2015). is guided by several legal and policy instruments, including the National Natural Gas Policy (2013), the Local Content Policy (2014), the Petroleum Act (2015), and the Oil and Gas Revenues Management Act (2015). These frameworks emphasise economic development, transparent revenue management, environmental protection, and community participation. However, as these policies continue to be implemented, public understanding of their provisions largely depends on how newspapers report sectoral developments and interpret policy directions. Newspapers therefore function as intermediaries between policymakers, industry actors, and the public, shaping expectations about the sector’s potential and informing debates surrounding governance, local content, and environmental stewardship.
Despite the sector’s strategic significance, existing research shows that Tanzanian media coverage of petroleum and natural gas has been inconsistent and often event-driven. Limited journalistic expertise in extractive-industry reporting, combined with the sector’s technical complexity, has contributed to narrow coverage focused on official announcements, investor engagements, and ceremonial events. As a result, environmental concerns, community experiences, and governance challenges tend to receive less sustained attention. These gaps highlight the need to assess how newspapers construct narratives around petroleum exploration and whether these narratives present a balanced understanding of opportunities and emerging challenges.
Framing theory provides a valuable analytical lens for examining how media shape petroleum-related discourse. According to Bateson (1972) and later Goffman (1974), frames guide audience interpretation by emphasising particular aspects of reality while minimising others. Entman (1993) further explains that framing involves selecting and highlighting specific elements of an issue to define problems, diagnose causes, evaluate moral implications, and propose solutions. This is especially relevant in Tanzania, where extractive industries intersect with national development goals, political priorities, and public expectations. Research from other countries demonstrates that media frequently adopt economic and developmental frames when reporting on oil and gas exploration, often downplaying environmental or governance concerns (Becken, 2014). Similar trends have been documented in African contexts, where newspapers typically frame extractive industries as pathways to national prosperity (Ireri et al., 2019).
Given these dynamics, examining the framing of petroleum exploration in Daily News and The Citizen is essential. As two influential national newspapers with different ownership structures, they offer potentially divergent perspectives on petroleum issues. While Daily News, as a state-owned outlet, often reflects government development priorities, The Citizen a privately owned newspaper may adopt broader or more critical viewpoints. Analysing their coverage provides insight into how different media actors contribute to public understanding of petroleum exploration.
This study therefore investigates how Daily News and The Citizen framed petroleum exploration between June and August 2023, a period marked by renewed policy emphasis and sectoral activities. The study specifically examines the dominant frames used, the tone of coverage, and differences between the two outlets. By doing so, it contributes to ongoing discussions about how Tanzanian media construct narratives around extractive industries and how such narratives influence public perceptions of petroleum exploration. The findings underline the importance of balanced, informed, and critical media reporting as Tanzania positions the petroleum sector as a key driver of national economic transformation.
Statement of the Problem
Despite the strategic importance of petroleum exploration to Tanzania’s economic future, existing evidence suggests that media coverage of the sector remains inconsistent, event-driven, and narrow in its thematic scope. Newspapers often focus on government announcements, investor engagements, or ceremonial milestones, with limited attention to environmental risks, community concerns, governance issues, or the long-term socio-economic implications of extractive activities (Katunzi & Siebert, 2015). As framing theory posits, the media’s choice of dominant narratives significantly shapes public perceptions by highlighting certain aspects of an issue while minimising others (Entman, 1993). If Tanzanian newspapers consistently emphasise economic optimism at the expense of critical perspectives, the public may form an incomplete or overly positive understanding of petroleum exploration. Furthermore, there is little empirical research assessing how Tanzanian newspapers construct such narratives, particularly in the period following renewed exploration interest and legislative reforms. This gap in scholarship limits the ability of policymakers, journalists, and civil society to evaluate whether current reporting promotes informed public discourse or reinforces narrow development-centric frames.
Framing theory provides the conceptual basis for this study by explaining how media shape public understanding through processes of selection, emphasis, and interpretation. Bateson (1972) first introduced the concept of frames as cognitive structures that help individuals interpret information, while Goffman (1974) expanded this idea to explain how people organise everyday experiences. In media studies, framing refers to how journalists highlight certain aspects of a story while downplaying others, thereby influencing how audiences interpret events. Entman (1993) articulates four framing functions problem definition, causal diagnosis, moral evaluation, and treatment recommendation demonstrating how media narratives implicitly guide public reasoning. This theoretical lens is relevant for analysing petroleum reporting because exploration activities involve technical, economic, political, and environmental dimensions, making framing central to shaping public meaning. Subsequent scholars, including de Vreese and Lecheler (2012), highlight that framing is especially influential in contexts where audiences possess limited prior knowledge, as is often the case with extractive-sector issues. Druckman (2001) further explains that audiences rely on media frames when issues are complex or ambiguous, meaning that the tone and emphasis of newspaper coverage can significantly shape public attitudes toward petroleum exploration. In resource-rich developing countries, framing often reflects dominant political agendas, especially when media institutions operate within environments of strong state influence or limited technical expertise. Therefore, examining frames in Tanzanian newspapers provides insight into how national narratives about petroleum exploration are constructed and circulated.
Global empirical studies show that media coverage of extractive industries tends to prioritise economic narratives. Becken (2014), analysing peak-oil reporting, found that news outlets often frame oil-related developments in ways that align with market optimism while overlooking long-term environmental implications. Similarly, studies in other countries reveal that newspaper coverage frequently emphasises investment potential, national development, job creation, and technological progress, thereby reinforcing state and corporate agendas. These patterns suggest that economic framing may dominate reporting even when environmental or community issues are equally relevant. In Africa, Ireri et al. (2019) demonstrated that Kenyan newspapers framed oil exploration predominantly as a development opportunity, using success-oriented narratives that mirrored government perspectives. Governance, environmental risks, and community concerns received significantly less attention. This finding aligns with broader observations that media in emerging petroleum economies often lack the expertise or resources required for investigative or critical reporting, resulting in episodic coverage that relies heavily on official sources.
Empirical studies within Tanzania are relatively scarce but reveal similar tendencies. Katunzi and Siebert (2015) observed that Tanzanian journalists often struggle with the technical complexity of oil and gas reporting, leading to superficial and event-based coverage. Research by Mgaya (2014) and Muhongo (2013) further suggests that national discourse on petroleum development is dominated by political and economic narratives, leaving environmental sustainability and community engagement underexplored. These gaps in empirical literature underscore the need for continued assessment of media framing in Tanzania to determine whether current reporting practices support informed public debate.
This study adopted a qualitative research design to explore how Tanzanian newspapers frame petroleum exploration activities. Qualitative content analysis was chosen because it allows for an in-depth examination of meanings, patterns, and narrative structures within textual data, making it suitable for media-framing research where the focus is on how issues are constructed and represented rather than on measuring frequency alone. Data were obtained from eight purposively selected news articles published between June and August 2023 in Daily News and The Citizen. Keyword searches related to petroleum exploration were used to identify relevant articles from online archives, and purposive sampling ensured that only articles explicitly addressing exploration activities were included. Although the sample size was small, it reflects the limited volume of reporting on petroleum issues during the study period and is appropriate for qualitative analysis, which prioritises depth over quantity.
The analysis followed the principles of qualitative content analysis, beginning with open coding to identify recurring concepts and themes that appeared across the selected articles. These codes were subsequently grouped into broader framing categories including economic, environmental, technological, and governance frames through axial coding. Attention was also given to tone, narrative structure, and source attribution to understand how meaning was constructed within the articles. Coding procedures were reviewed to enhance consistency and minimise researcher bias, ensuring that interpretations remained grounded in the original textual content.
The study relied solely on publicly available newspaper articles and did not involve human participants, which meant that no formal ethical approval was required. All articles were analysed objectively, and care was taken to maintain accuracy and integrity throughout the research process.
The analysis of the eight selected articles revealed clear patterns in how The Citizen and Daily News framed petroleum exploration in Tanzania. Overall, the reporting was limited in volume, with only eight relevant articles appearing across the three-month period. Despite this low frequency, the content demonstrated consistent framing tendencies that aligned with broader national narratives on resource development. Economic framing dominated coverage in both newspapers, while environmental, technological, and governance dimensions appeared far less frequently. Tone analysis also showed a strong tendency toward positive or supportive reporting, reinforcing the portrayal of petroleum exploration as a national development opportunity.
Findings from The Citizen
The analysis of the five articles published by The Citizen demonstrated a strong preference for economic framing, with 100% of the sampled articles highlighting the sector’s potential for investment, job creation, national revenue, and technological advancement. These articles emphasised the anticipated economic benefits of exploration activities and often framed the petroleum sector as a catalyst for industrial growth and foreign direct investment.
Secondary frames also appeared in The Citizen, though less prominently. Technological framing surfaced in two of the five articles (40%), particularly where the newspaper referenced advanced exploration methods or innovations introduced by multinational partners. Additionally, environmental framing appeared once (20%), tied to the need for responsible exploration and environmental stewardship. However, this frame remained peripheral, suggesting that environmental risks and ecological considerations were not central to the newspaper’s reporting during the study period.
Tone analysis revealed that The Citizen maintained an overall positive outlook, portraying petroleum exploration as aligned with national development aspirations. This upbeat tone reinforced the economic narrative and presented the sector as forward-looking and transformative. Despite the presence of secondary frames, the newspaper did not extensively engage with governance concerns or critically assess potential risks, thereby narrowing the depth of public dialogue on the subject.
Table 1. Summary of Frames in The Citizen
Findings from Daily News
The three articles from Daily News displayed similar dominance of economic framing, with 100% of the articles highlighting exploration’s potential to drive national development, energy security, and economic growth. The newspaper consistently aligned exploration activities with government efforts to strengthen the energy sector and attract investment. Unlike The Citizen, however, Daily News incorporated a distinct social-inclusion frame, appearing in one of the three articles (33%), emphasising the need for petroleum development to benefit local communities and marginalised groups.
Notably, Daily News did not feature environmental framing in any of its articles (0%). This omission suggests a more singular narrative aligned with state-led development priorities, where environmental risks or regulatory concerns were not foregrounded in the reporting. Technological framing appeared minimally (33%), primarily in references to exploration capacity and operational processes.
Tone across all Daily News articles was highly positive, reinforcing government narratives and framing exploration as essential for national progress. The absence of critical or investigative perspectives further illustrates that coverage was promotional rather than analytical, focusing on benefits rather than challenges.
Table 2. Summary of Frames in Daily News
Comparative Analysis
A comparative analysis of the two newspapers reveals strong alignment in their reliance on economic framing, with both presenting petroleum exploration as a strategic opportunity for Tanzania. Across all eight articles, 100% employed economic framing, indicating that this narrative overwhelmingly shapes media discourse on the petroleum sector. However, some differences emerged between the outlets.
The Citizen demonstrated slightly greater frame diversity, incorporating environmental (20%) and technological (40%) perspectives. Daily News, by contrast, did not include environmental framing at all (0%) and maintained closer alignment with official narratives. The state-owned nature of Daily News may explain its stronger emphasis on national development and its limited engagement with potentially contentious issues such as environmental risk or regulatory gaps.
Tone also differed subtly, while both newspapers adopted positive portrayals, Daily News was more uniformly supportive of government-led initiatives, whereas The Citizen showed marginally broader thematic interest, though still within an overwhelmingly positive frame.
Overall, both newspapers presented a narrow view of petroleum exploration focused on economic opportunity, with limited attention to potential environmental challenges or governance concerns. This reinforces a development-centric narrative that may contribute to public optimism while sidelining critical debates essential for resource governance and sustainable development.
The findings of this study provide important insights into how Tanzanian newspapers construct public narratives around petroleum exploration. Overall, the analysis shows that both The Citizen and Daily News overwhelmingly relied on economic framing, presenting exploration as an opportunity for national development and prosperity. This pattern reflects broader tendencies noted in the literature, where media often privilege economic narratives over critical evaluations of risks and governance. The dominance of economic framing strongly aligns with Theodori and Jackson-Smith’s (2010) argument that public perceptions of extractive industries are frequently shaped by optimistic portrayals that highlight financial benefits while downplaying potential costs.
Dominance of Economic Narratives
The study’s revelation that 100% of the analysed articles emphasised economic opportunity reinforces Theodori’s (2008) findings that public perceptions of oil and gas activities are often linked to anticipated economic gains. In the Tanzanian context, the focus on revenue generation, investment, and job creation aligns closely with national development priorities, and newspapers appear to reflect and reinforce these objectives. This trend also resonates with Entman’s (1993) notion of selective emphasis, where media highlight specific attributes of an issue to promote particular interpretations, in this case, prosperity and growth. By prioritising economic frames, newspapers construct a narrative that positions petroleum exploration as inherently beneficial, limiting public consideration of alternative perspectives.
Marginalisation of Environmental and Governance Concerns
While The Citizen occasionally referenced technological or environmental issues, these frames remained peripheral, and Daily News excluded environmental concerns entirely. This imbalance mirrors Becken’s (2014) observations that media coverage of extractive industries often neglects environmental risks, producing a narrative that supports development agendas. The lack of environmental framing indicates that important issues such as ecological impact, land degradation, and long-term sustainability are not receiving attention proportionate to their significance.
Entman’s (2007) work on framing bias helps explain this pattern. According to Entman, media narratives often reflect the interests of dominant institutions. In this case, the tendency to sideline environmental critique suggests alignment with state-driven development priorities. Such omissions may prevent the public from fully engaging with the environmental implications of exploration activities, reinforcing a one-sided understanding of the sector.
Positive Tone and Reinforcement of Pro-Development Agendas
Tone analysis revealed that both newspapers employed overwhelmingly positive language, framing petroleum exploration as a forward-looking and nationally advantageous endeavour. This aligns with Ireri et al.’s (2019) discussion of media practices in East Africa, where optimistic narratives frequently overshadow critical reporting. By promoting success-oriented stories, newspapers effectively reproduce government messaging and contribute to public support for exploration projects.
From a framing theory perspective, the positive tone can be seen as part of Goffman’s (1974) social frameworks, where events are interpreted within broader societal narratives about development and progress. Similarly, Druckman (2001) emphasises that frames influence how citizens process information, meaning that consistently positive portrayals may encourage public acceptance while reducing scrutiny of potential risks. In this way, tone functions not merely as style but as a substantive framing device that shapes public understanding.
Limited Volume of Coverage and Implications for Public Understanding
The study also found that only eight relevant articles were published during the three-month period, highlighting a significant scarcity of reporting. This limited coverage suggests that petroleum exploration is not a sustained media priority, despite its national importance. Katunzi and Siebert (2015) attribute this to the relative youth of Tanzania’s oil and gas sector and the lack of specialised journalistic expertise. As such, newspapers may depend heavily on official events or announcements, resulting in episodic and event-driven reporting rather than continuous, analytical coverage.
From a framing theory perspective, this scarcity constrains the diversity of narratives available to the public. As Entman (1991) explains, framing operates subtly, often going unnoticed unless compared across multiple contexts. When media outlets produce only occasional reports, opportunities for comparative evaluation are reduced, limiting the public’s capacity to develop informed perspectives. The absence of sustained coverage may also hinder accountability by leaving critical governance and environmental issues unexamined.
Selective Use of Visual Framing
The visual elements accompanying the articles further reinforced economic narratives. Images primarily showed state officials, exploration equipment, and oil rigs—symbols associated with progress and investment. This supports Theodori and Jackson-Smith’s (2010) view that media shape public perception not only through text but also through visual cues that guide interpretation. The absence of images depicting affected communities or vulnerable environments suggests a selective representation designed to foreground development while omitting signs of disruption or conflict.
Overall, the findings support key principles of framing theory. Bateson’s (1972) idea of frames as interpretive boundaries is evident in the newspapers’ consistent emphasis on economic potential. Goffman’s (1974) differentiation between natural and social frameworks helps explain why technical or environmental concerns were overshadowed by developmental narratives. Entman’s (1993, 2007) work on selection, salience, and power is reflected in the newspapers’ alignment with dominant political agendas, demonstrating how framing privileges certain interpretations while marginalising others. Druckman’s (2001) insights show that such framing patterns have real consequences for public decision-making, especially in sectors where risks are complex and not immediately visible.
Collectively, the findings reveal that Tanzanian newspapers adopt narrow, development-centric frames that privilege economic optimism while minimising environmental and governance concerns. This coverage reflects established patterns noted by global and African scholars and demonstrates how framing can shape national discourse. As Tanzania continues to expand its petroleum sector, a more balanced media approach will be vital in promoting informed public engagement and sustainable resource governance.
This study examined how Daily News and The Citizen framed petroleum exploration in Tanzania during the period of June to August 2023. The analysis revealed that both newspapers overwhelmingly prioritised economic framing, consistently portraying petroleum exploration as a pathway to national development, investment growth, job creation, and technological advancement. This dominant narrative aligns with Tanzania’s broader political and economic agenda, where extractive industries are positioned as catalysts for long-term socio-economic transformation. While this positive economic emphasis reflects wider national aspirations, it simultaneously narrows public discourse by limiting attention to alternative perspectives.
Secondary frames appeared only minimally across the sample. The Citizen occasionally incorporated technological advancements and environmental concerns, while Daily News included elements of social inclusion. However, these frames were sporadic and peripheral, suggesting that environmental risks, governance issues, and community experiences remain underrepresented in mainstream reporting. The absence of sustained environmental or governance framing restricts the public’s ability to engage critically with the complexities of petroleum exploration and its potential implications for sustainability and accountability.
The study also found that newspaper coverage was limited in volume, reinforcing the notion that petroleum exploration is not a consistent focus within Tanzanian media. This scarcity of reporting, combined with the overwhelmingly positive tone observed in both outlets, indicates that journalism in this sector remains event-driven and strongly aligned with official narratives. Such patterns risk creating an information environment that highlights opportunities while overlooking potential challenges.
Overall, the findings demonstrate that Tanzanian newspapers present a narrow and predominantly optimistic view of petroleum exploration. To foster a more informed public discourse, there is a need for more diverse framing that includes environmental, governance, and community-oriented perspectives. Broadening the scope of reporting would contribute to a more balanced national dialogue on natural resource management as Tanzania continues to expand its petroleum sector.
Based on the study’s findings, several recommendations are proposed to strengthen media reporting, enhance transparency, and support broader public understanding of petroleum exploration in Tanzania. First, media organisations should prioritise capacity building for journalists through specialised training in energy, environmental communication, and extractive-industry governance to address the dominance of economic framing and improve coverage of environmental, social, and regulatory dimensions.
Newsrooms should also invest in proactive, investigative, and follow-up reporting to reduce reliance on event-based stories and diversify sources by including community voices, civil society perspectives, scientists, and independent analysts. Second, government ministries and regulatory agencies should improve information accessibility by simplifying technical documents, issuing timely updates, and institutionalising regular media briefings and joint workshops that equip journalists with the knowledge required for accurate reporting. Strengthening communication frameworks, promoting transparency, and providing open access to environmental assessments and community agreements would further support balanced media coverage and deepen public trust.
Third, academic institutions and civil society organisations should collaborate with media houses by offering short courses, policy briefs, community-driven insights, and evidence-based resources that enrich journalists’ understanding of petroleum-related issues and ensure that underreported environmental and social concerns receive adequate visibility.
Finally, future research should expand beyond the limited sample and timeframe of this study by including additional newspapers, regional and Swahili-language outlets, and other media platforms such as radio, television, online news, and social media. Extending the research period, incorporating audience studies, and examining the influence of media ownership and editorial policies would provide a more comprehensive understanding of framing patterns and their implications for public discourse and natural resource governance in Tanzania.
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