Press independence can be defined as the freedom of
communication and expression through mediums mainly print and electronic media.
Uganda’s media industry dates back to pre independence era.
According to Sewanyana (2007), first media outlets in
Uganda were newsletters owned by missionaries; these included Mengo Notes fist
published in 1902 under Church Missionary Society, Munno published in 1911.
Other newspapers included Agafa e Mengo owned by Buganda kingdom, Uganda Herald
first published in1912, Matalisi first published in 1923 among others.
In the same way, cracking media freedom
dates back to the same era. Newspapers were subject to restrictions imposed by
the colonial authorities, including the Newspapers Surety Ordinance No. 9 of
1910 and the Press Censorship Ordinance No. 4 of 1915 which penalized
publication of information regarding British military activity. This crack down
went on until independence.
The 1962 independence brought a short
lived press freedom. Sewanyana (2007) further
states that the first shot against media in post independence era was in 1966
when Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) government under Milton Obote deported Ted
Jones, Uganda corrspondant for two Nairobi based publications, The Kenya Weekly
News and The Reporter as well as Billy Chibber,
a reporter for Daily Nation. The government also closed Ssekanyolya, a
pro-Buganda kingdom newsletter that had been a thorn in the fresh of the
colonial government. This was during the Kabaka crisis.
In 1970s when Amin came to power, media
was also vulnerable to the dictates by government as well as murder of several
journalists such as Clement Kiggundu, editor of Munno among others.
In 1986, NRM came to power after the famous
bush and its greatest contribution to media independence was liberalisation of
broadcast media in 1993 which had been owned by state since 1950s when UBC
radio then called Radio Uganda was launched. However, this government has also
followed bandwagon of predecessors in wielding press independence.
Many factors both direct and indirect are
affecting press independence. They include the following;
Parliament of Uganda continues to pass bill that constrict
media freedom further. At its promulgation, the Constitution of Republic of
Uganda (1995) at least provided for media freedom. For example, Article 29(1) (a)
guarantees the right to free expression, which includes the freedom of the
media. Article 41 (1) gives every
citizen the right of access to information in the possession of the state.
Article 43 (1) states that these and other fundamental rights shall be enjoyed
as long as this does not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others, or the
public interest. Article 43 (2)(c) goes
on to say that any such limitations(including media freedom) should only be
those acceptable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society,
or what is provided in the Constitution (Friedrich 2012). However, since 1995 parliament
has been enacting Acts which have been narrowing media freedom in one way or
other. Press and Journalist Act (1995) section 8 establish Media Council which
is empowered to licences and journalists and evoke such licences. The
implication of this Act is that journalists cannot express themselves freely
when they know that their licences can be easily terminated. Uganda
Communication Act (2013) establishes Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) and
this commission is authorized to licences and revoke licences for media
outlets. This Act indirectly limit media freedom since owners of media outlets can
stop journalists from covering stories of public interest that can lead to
revocation of their licences. Regulation of the Interception of Communications
Act (2010).This limits journalists’ ability to gather information as it
threatens the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. Similarly, the Computer
Misuse Act, Electronic Transactions Act, Electronic Signatures Act all allow
the authorities to seize electronic communication and thus could compromise
journalists’ sources. Section 9 (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (2002) also makes
it a criminal offence to publish and disseminate news or materials “that
promote terrorism”, without precisely defining “terrorism”. Anyone convicted of
this and other offences under the Act can be sentenced to death. With these
Acts, press is not independent in decision making.
The
state has been at fore front in curbing media freedom using different security
agencies such as the policy, army, Internal and external security
organisations. Last month Daily Monitor reported stories about denial of
opposition access to radio stations in Kabale and Kasese as they continue to
sensitise Ugandans about electoral reform demands. In
Kabale, Maj Gen Muntu and opposition activist Bishop Zac Niringiye were pulled
off a talk show on Voice of Kigezi by
police, hardly 30 minutes into the programme and two other local FM stations
were ordered not to host the opposition politicians, whom the police claimed
would incite the people against the government (Muhereza & Rumanzi, 2014).
The same happened in Kasese, Police raided Guide
Radio and stopped a talk show in which Forum for Democratic Change
president Mugisha Muntu was being hosted. Rwenzori regional police commander, Mr Thomas
Kasimo, who led the team, claimed Gen Muntu was inciting violence. He further
told media reporters that he had instructions from above to order halt of the programme
(Kahungu and Ninsiima 2014).
Apart
from using state agencies to suppress media independence, president Museveni
has been threatening media outlets and individual journalist. Freedom House
(2013) in its Freedom of Press-Uganda Report termed president’s threat to press
freedom real and proliferating. In December 2012, he threatened to close radio
stations that hosted critics of his government. The threat came after a
controversy surrounding the mysterious death of Cerinah Nebanda, a ruling party
legislator who was very critical of the administration. In the same year
President who was visibly incensed by Charles Onyango-Obbo’s articles on UPDF operations in Solmalia
that were
published in the East African newspaper wrote a damning
opinion in the New Vision describing Obbo as a pathetic liar, charlatan,
evil man and one of the greatest enemies of the NRM party. He further labelled
Obbo a quisling traitor “always grovelling in the dust for that sponsorship,
(Museveni 2012). Obbo moved to Nairobi in 2003 and he is now working as Nation
Media Group’s executive editor for Africa and Digital Media.
While
documenting his life and experience at Daily Monitor, he noted:
I will only mention that I am still
keeping count, and so far the number of times that Ugandan journalists combined
have appeared in court, are still fewer than the number of times I did when I
was Editor of the Monitor (
Obbo, 2012)
With
such threats from president journalist can easily leave out stories that can
put them at loggerheads with the president.
The state/government has compressed press
independence further through closing down media houses majorly for political
reasons. This instigates fear among different media houses and individual
journalists who desist to publish or air out stories that would lead them into
squabbles with the state hence curbing press independence indirectly. An editor
can intentionally refuse to assign a reporter to cover a story and when a
reporter or freelance journalists report such stories; editors bash them out deliberately
through gate keeping process. In May last year, government raided Daily Monitor
and Red Pepper claiming to be looking for a letter written by renegade Gen
David Tinyefuza. The letter alleged that President Yoweri
Museveni was grooming his son to succeed him and those who opposed this risked
assassination. These papers in addition to Dembe FM and K-FM affiliated to
Daily Monitor where shut down for eleven days under the pretext of searching
for the letter after government claimed that the director general, Internal
Security Organization, to whom the letter was addressed, as well as the
officers to whom the letter was copied never received it hence reasoning that
it was only the Daily Monitor and Red Pepper in possession of the letter. They
were re-opened after President Museveni and the management of Nation Media
Group, which owns the Daily Monitor met in Addis Ababa. Among others, they
(Daily Monitor) agreed to be sensitive to and not publish or air stories that
can generate tensions, ethnic hatred, cause insecurity or disturb law and order
(Byaruhanga 2013). Daily Monitor was also closed in 2002 and 1998 for
publishing political stories respectively. However in 2003 government snubbed
public outcry to shut down Red Pepper, a local tabloid. On 15th may,
hundreds of Christians took to the streets to protest publication of
pornography and obscenity by the paper. The match stated at the Constitutional
Square and ended at parliament where Christians who were joined by then
Archbishop of Church of Uganda Mplanyi Nkoyooyo presented a memorandum to then
speaker of Edward Ssekandi calling for immediate ban and closure (Mwesigye
2003).
It is
important to note that Penal Code section 166 provides that:
(1) Any
person who
(a) for the purpose of or by way of trade or
for the purpose of distribution or public exhibition, makes, produces or has in
his or her possession any one or more obscene writings, drawings, prints,
paintings, printed matter, pictures, posters, emblems, photographs,
cinematograph films or any other obscene objects, or any other object tending
to corrupt morals;
(4) A
court may, on the application of the Director of Public Prosecutions, a state
attorney, a public prosecutor or a superintendent of police, order the
destruction of any obscene matter or thing to which this section relates,
whether any person may or may not have been convicted under the provisions of
this section in respect of such obscene matter or thing and ban the producer
(Penal Code Act, 1995).
Under
this section, government could have banned Red Pepper or convicted the owner
though this did not happen. Had it been a political issue, as usual, state
would have responded by shutting down the paper even before public outcry. Currently,
Entaasi, a weekly runyankole tabloid affiliated to Red Pepper is notorious for
publication of pornographic and obscene materials, however the state is
noiseless about the issue though they shut down newspapers which publish or air
out controversial political stories.
Increasing
corporate media ownership in Uganda is a threat to press independence. As the
media landscape continue to experience a growth boom, also the interest of
investors both domestic and foreign is increasing for example, according to Lugalambi,
Mwesigye and Bussiek (2010) state-owned
media giant, Vision Group, is the market leader in the newspaper sector and its
shares are some of the best performers on the Uganda Stock Exchange. It is
spreading its wings over radio and TV. In August 2008 it acquired Radio West,
which has the largest audience in western Uganda, In 2009 Vision Group launched
Bukedde TV, which joined Bukedde FM. It also owns TV west affiliated to radio
West in Mbarara, Urban TV, X-fm among others. In the print media Vision Group
own New Vision- Uganda’s leading daily, Bukedde- a Luganda daily, Orumuri,
Rupiny, Etop, among others as well as Magazines. The Nation Media Group owns
the leading independent newspaper, Daily Monitor- a major TV station NTV, KFM
radio and Dembe FM. The Vision Group and NMG between themselves control the
biggest share of the public space in which the national discourse is conducted.
The implication of this corporate media ownership is that Vision Group which ‘state
is owned’ cannot publish or air out stories critical to the NRM government while
Nation Media Group’s Daily Monitor which has endured a hostile relationship
with the government after it was temporally shut down for 10days last year and
in 2002 can easily kill stories critical to the government.
In relation to ownership, the state is still
own the ‘public broadcaster’- UBC radio and TV. According Lugalambi, Mwesigye
and Bussiek (2010), UBC TV has one channel while UBC Radio transmits programmes
on five channels; Red, Blue, Butebo, Star FM and Magic FM. The three main
channels (Red, Blue and Butebo) comprise a national network of 18 FM- and
MW-based radio stations. Except for Star FM, which broadcasts exclusively in luganda,
the Red, Blue and Butebo channels use 23 different languages grouped by region.
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) Act (2005) was passed in aiming ‘to
introduce a viable, independent, and professionally run public broadcaster
accountable to the public is yet to bear fruits nearly 10yrs after this Act was
passed. Can UBC, be a public broadcaster when its board of directors is
appointed by the government?. Daily Monitor (2014) reported that former
minister and Jinja Municipality MP Igeme Nathan Nabeeta was appointed UBC board
chairperson last month. It ought to be remembered that UBC is governed by a
board of directors appointed by the minister of information. Section 7(2) of
the UBC Act states that the directors shall be appointed by the minister of information from among prominent Ugandans
of proven integrity by virtue of their qualifications, expertise and experience
in the fields of broadcasting, technology, media law, business management,
finance, and journalism’. So can this board employ journalists critical to the
government? The answer would be no. With government still owning UBC radio and
TV, we ought to forget objective reporting from the public broadcaster.
Commercialisation
is another hindrance of media independence; liberalisation of broadcast media
in early 1990s led to explosion of radios and TVs. Today, we have more than 270
radios and about 40 TVs registered by the Uganda Communication Commission and
influence of advertisers is general cutting across from corporate and
individually owned outlets. It is the desire by these media owners to maximise
profits which result into reduced investment in training and remuneration for
media practitioners, research and quality production with more concentration on
entertainment and marketing. However, the ultimate impact of commercialisation
is dependency by these media outlets on adverts of earn profits because
‘advertiser is the king.’ These advertisers have their interests which
sometimes can be against editorial policy. Since the owners are interested in
maximising profits, they fore go their editorial policies and succumb to the
interests of advertisers. Rhodes(2013) argued that advertising correlates to
media censorship and he use a prominent example of Nation Media Group which own
among others Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, K-FM and Ddembe FM in Uganda and others
broadcast and print outlets in Kenya and Uganda. Nations Media Group is the
most successful and largest independent media house in East and Central Africa.
In 2012, its revenue had increased by nearly 50% in five years to US$142.5
million and he noted that advertising trajectory in East Africa’s media has
rose to nearly five folds in East African press in the last five years. In
2012, press was awash with stories alleging of graft in prime Minister’s office
involving misuse of donor funds, he quoted Barbara Among, then foreign editor
of Daily Monitor saying ‘As editors, we insisted on covering the story despite
some objections from Prime Minister’s office’ while Don Wanyama, Daily Monitor’s
Managing Editor said that with the office’s budget, there was less report about
the scandal. Prime minister’s office oversees five ministries is one of the
biggest advertisers in Uganda.
Thus,
in his opinion:
Because advertising represent the greatest source of
revenue both government and non government agencies wield huge influence which
often allows them to control quietly what is published and what is not,
according to journalists and media analysts. Advertisers offer lucrative ads to
sweeten any coverage or threaten to stop ads if a paper writes critically about
them (Rhodes, 2013).
Hence, it is
imperative argue that advertisers are the biggest financial supporters of the
press and yet they are also the biggest suppressor of media freedom.
Most Ugandan journalists
are not trained hence lacking professional to make ethical decisions and these
journalists who are not trained are under paid. This under payment coupled with
lack of professional skills have facilitated the ever increasing bribing of
journalists leading to reporting of news subjectively rather than objectively.
Uganda Human Rights
Commission reported:
we
continues to observe and receive report on unprofessional tendencies which were
centrally to code of ethics and they included demanding of money in exchange
for publishing or airing stories and this was attested to by the public
announcements that were made by different media houses both print and
electronic notifying public that they don’t charge for airing or publishing
stories...( Kemigisha (2012, p.13)
Press and Journalist
Act (1995) had emphasised need for professionalism by defining who qualifies to
be a journalist on top of stipulating code of ethics. National Institute
Journalists Uganda was mandated to enrol members who are eligible however this
body is not functional hence proliferation of non professional journalists. The
body was supposed to enrol a journalist who is a holder of university degree in
journalism or Mass communication; or he or she is a holder of a university
degree plus a qualification in journalist or mass communication and has
practised journalism for at least one year. According to the Act, Media Council
established under section 8 was supposed to issue licences to journalists with
certificate of enrolment. With loopholes in both Media Council and National
Institute of Journalist Uganda (NIJU), local media should brace for more
talented than trained journalists who will be under paid and lacking professional
ethics hence easily bribed.
All in all, the media
independence is threatened when governments are in political crisis, so when
media report negative stories, authority from above steps in directly or
indirectly to desist further coverage of these stories though commercialisation
is also an emerging threat.
REFERENCE LIST
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‘Uganda's Daily Monitor reopens after police closure’ BBC, 30th May, viewed 5th April
2014, www.bbc.co.uk/../world-africa-22717291
Friedrich E S, 2012, African Media Barometer, FES Media
Africa Printing Press, Windhoek Namibia
Kemigisha
R2013, ‘Freedom of Assembly, Media Still
major issues of concern’ The Uganda Human Rights Commission Magazine, vol.
XIV, No. 2 p 13.
Kahungu T and Ninsiima E,
2014 ‘Police
raid Kasese radio, throw out Gen Muntu,’ Sunday Monitor, 30th
March, pg 3.
Muhereza R & Rumanzi P, 2014,
‘Besigye,Muntu clash with police in
Kabale,’ Saturday Monitor, 29th March, p.4
Museveni Y K, 21002, Mogadishu:
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April 2014, New Vision Archives database.
Mwesigye P, ‘Ban Red Pepper call
is plain Intolerance’ The Monitor, 15th May, viewed 5th
April, 2014
Lugalambi G, Mwesigye P and Bussiek P 2010, Public Broadcasting Africa
Series-Uganda, Compress Printers, Nairobi Kenya
Penal Code Act 1950 (Laws of Uganda), viewed 5th April, 2014,
www.ulii.org/../120
Rhodes T, ‘Advertising and
Censorship in East Africa’s Press’ Committee to Protect Journalists, viewed
3rd April, www.cpj.org/attack s-on-press...
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Expression in Defence of Media Freedom in Uganda, Report
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