Tanzania president warns media who 'think they have freedom'

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has warned media owners in Tanzania that they don’t have as much freedom as they think, accusing them of exaggeration over an incident in which a sacked minister was threatened with a gun by a security officer ( see earlier entry ).

Headlines and the pictures of the incident have dominate today’s newspaper front pages.

Mr Magufuli said:

All the headlines and photos is about that story... It was just one person doing it, but it has been portrayed as if it was the government doing it or supporting it.”

He warned that such treatment of stories might incite violence among the public:

media owners be careful. You think you have freedom, but you don’t have it to that extent."