‘Free media must stand together’

With the government proposing new measures to further restrict freedom of the media in its Press and Journalists (amendment) Bill 2010 now before Cabinet, Sunday Monitor’s Risdel Kasasira spoke to Makerere University political science don, Prof. Aaron Mukwaya. Read on:-

Why do you think government has brought a bill that seeks strong punishments for media houses and journalists that publish materials that are deemed to be prejudicial to national security, stability and unity at this time?
But in a modern age, there are many forms of media which are hard to gag. If they think they can control information flow by introducing prohibitive measures against the traditional media, they are mistaken.

Will they control the Internet? Will they ally with telecommunication companies to listen to peoples’ conversations?

The other thing is; the media has been a victim of itself. People, who are in charge of the media at the state level, have been in the media and when the decisions are being made, these people are consulted and they recommend such prohibitive laws and whatever these people say, government will listen. But there is lack of solidarity in the media fraternity. The media has failed to reorganise itself in order to resist such bills.

When there is a problem between Daily Monitor and government, others keep quiet. When CBS is closed, others keep quiet. Even when such a bill comes, there is no solidarity. Many journalists are not trained and you may find that 90 percent of journalists are not aware that this bill is there. That’s why some government officials have a low opinion of journalists and the president likes these weak journalists. But if we had a strong media fraternity, government would listen.

Secondly, it’s the right of government to produce bills; the argument should not be why the bill has been brought, the media should not ask these questions. You must present what you think is good because you can win the argument.
Don’t just sit and lament. Don’t wait for government to bring the bills and you are trapped. But now that it has happened, resist it. If all the news outlets in Uganda, decided to run stories on the bill on the front-page for a week, government can be forced to amend or withdraw. But what do the media do? They publish these stories and they are not given prominence.

If this Bill is passed into law, don’t you think we are most likely to see critical journalists going to prison?
In my view, the media should bring a blue print and propose how they want the media to behave, when it comes to issues the government calls national interest and security. If you demonstrate without proposals, it won’t help
The government is coming up with such Bills because of fear of incidents like Kasubi. That is why the government comes up with such Bills. It may not be interested in arresting journalists, but to create fear among the them. But if it the Bill passed the way it is, yes, they will be arrested.

What do you make of the Bill’s intention to give the minister of information powers to appoint a disciplinary committee for the media?
Already there is a question of electoral reforms and they have now brought the bill on the press. For them, what matters is not getting media satisfied, but the donors. Because they know that by accumulating these bills, others will be submerged and be forgotten. In many countries using a parliamentary system of democracy, that’s what a minister is supposed to do.

But here, we have no confidence in our ministers that they can make independent decisions. That is why I was saying that in your blue-print, you must describe how you want the minister to be. But if you don’t principally state what you want, things won’t work out. You must present conditions required for a minister to make independent decisions. If you look at this bill critically, it has many similarities with that of Kenya. So, we are more of less copying what has been going around.

These proposed licensing conditions appear to be targeting independent journalists...
And without mincing my words, most of the media houses in Uganda are either foreign or controlled by foreign enterprises or personal. The minister may want to make money out of the new media houses coming up. However, it will increase corruption because if you know you have done a lot that annoys government, the process to renew your license will be longer and expensive. The Bill is coming up because of things which are cumulative like the question of reforming the Electoral Commission, registration of voters, questions of security.

With the above background in mind, how should government relate with the media?
In any form of relationship, there is need to recognise that the two parties are important to each other in a democratic dispensation. The media must understand what the national interests are. But government thinks the media is not aware of this. The media should also have a sense of solidarity. That is extremely important. A modern media must have capacity to advise and warn government. It should also predict things which will happen.

The media must also be consistent in whatever it is doing. Sometimes I have read good stories published, but you don’t know how they end up. For example, a newspaper comes out with a good story on Monday and they stop there. They do not make follow-ups. In the Western world, the media do follow-ups. You must put the government under pressure to do things. When the media reaches that level, it will be an independent and strong partner of government.

But the government looks at the media which is impoverished. You cannot have an independent media or journalists who are impoverished and you expect to have an independent media. The poverty element has affected the media greatly. Poverty is very critical when it comes to having an independent media. I know there are people in government who know the strength of the media, but they know your camp is incapable.

When government comes up with such Bill, you must resist it. You must mobilise. If it means writing about it everyday, do it. If Daily Monitor, New Vision, Bukedde, Red Pepper, Etop, Rupiny, TV stations and radios made it a point to publish and broadcast stories on the bill for a week, government can withdraw it.