Media is a development partner and not enemy of government
Today, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) are having round-table talks; with either party optimistic there will be a meeting of minds.
This follows an impasse occasioned by UCC’s unilateral decree on May 1, 2019 that six television and seven radio stations suspend 39 staff that included producers, heads of news, and heads of programmes on account of breaching broadly vague minimum broadcasting standards.
The Makerere University Department of Journalism and Communication welcomes the move to de-escalate a situation we should not have been in at first consideration. While the Department acknowledges that media practitioners have a concomitant obligation to act responsibly, we also reaffirm our commitment to promote independent and fact-based reporting. This is our mandate as journalism and communication trainers.
As the UCC was issuing a directive for suspension of dozens of journalists, several global media practitioners, including several from Uganda were in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to mark the 26th global staging of World Press Freedom Day.
Our Department at Makerere University was specifically invited by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (Unesco) and the African Union Commission to co-host a global conference on May 1, 2019 on the “safety of journalists”.
The conference that attracted hundreds of participants from all corners of the planet emphasised, among other things, that an unconstrained media is indispensable to a robust democracy. It also noted that media practitioners have become of great utility in a digital age where disinformation is peddled on online spaces teeming with toxic divisive narratives.
At the AU headquarters, the Department was also invited by the African Union Commission and Unesco to provide input to discussions on the ‘role of media in promoting good governance through the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)’.
The point of emphasis of the roundtable was that the media have a critical role to play in promoting the APRM principles of accountability, integrity and inclusivity. It was noted that the media represents a strategic ally for the APRM in terms of achieving its goals that include observance of human rights such as freedom of expression and of the media.
Yet, as these important events were taking place at the AU headquarters, contributors kept invoking the example of how media practitioners in Uganda continue to be targeted with violence by State actors, contrary to international, regional and national instruments for the protection of press freedom that the country is signatory to.
It was noted during discussions that while Ethiopia had moved 40 places from 150th to 110th in the World Press Freedom Index, Uganda had instead dropped eight places from 117th in 2018 to 125th in 2019. These are obviously not good statistics for a country where President Yoweri Museveni has been known to call into radio and television stations, as well as writing long ‘missives’ in newspapers to express his views.
That is the spirit that should be cherished by all State functionaries, particularly Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), the Uganda Police Force and the UCC that have been cited in reports for harassment of journalists.
As a training institution for journalists and other media personnel, we implore the UCC to go into today’s round-table talks cognisant of the fact that Uganda keeps plummeting in several human rights indicators, particularly freedoms of expression and of the media, a record not to be proud of that evokes a great deal of soul-searching.
We also want to remind all government functionaries that journalists are partners in development and not enemies of the State. While they have the mandate of holding those in power to account, the key consideration is to educate the public so they can make informed decisions about those who govern them.
Dr Tayeebwa is the head of the Makerere University Department of Journalism and Communication.
