Journalists need your prayers and courage

Let’s be nice to each other this Easter weekend. It should not cost you a fortune and too much energy. The world can be a bad place, but we can lessen the pain. Try to smile when you lock eyes with a stranger. Chances are you will get a smile back. That is a heart-warming thing.

For those who drive or ride bikes, just remember there are other road users. There are no points earned by being a jerk. Respect traffic rules. Where there is no guidance of traffic rules, use common sense — for example, you may let that person trying to join the road from the side to do so. It will take away from you only five seconds or less. And, for you who has been granted a favour, acknowledge the other person’s considerate deed with a wave and a smile.

I set out to deliver an amateur Easter sermon, but then reality interrupted. I must now pivot and return to the brutality of our world — or more accurately the brutality of our governments against journalism.
The reason for the pivot is that as I was writing my sermon, on Thursday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) dumped its annual report on press freedom around the world. It contains plenty grim news.

The write-up announcing the report’s arrival is blunt: “The 2019 World Press Freedom Index … shows how hatred of journalists has degenerated into violence, contributing to an increase in fear. The number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media.”
The world is getting dangerous for journalists in places such as the United States (who knew), Venezuela, Russia, Vietnam, China, Turkmenistan, Eritrea, and North Korea.

This is what RSF says about Trumpland: “Never before have US journalists been subjected to so many death threats or turned so often to private security firms for protection. Hatred of the media is now such that a man walked into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, in June 2018 and opened fire, killing four journalists and one other member of the newspaper’s staff. The gunman had repeatedly expressed his hatred for the paper on social networks before ultimately acting on his words.”
Uganda has never fared well in these things, and so it dropped eight places from the 2018 rankings. It now stands at number 125 out of 180 countries. Reason?

“Acts of intimidation and violence against reporters are an almost daily occurrence in Uganda. The security services, which are the leading press freedom violators, often target journalists, arresting them arbitrarily and sometimes holding them incommunicado. Any criticism of the authorities can result in journalists being beaten, abducted or deprived of their equipment with impunity. Uganda’s president for 33 years, Yoweri Museveni, tolerates no criticism and often uses hate speech in his references to the media, as in a 2018 press conference when he called journalists ‘parasites’.

Charges of treason under the criminal code, which carry a heavy sentence, are often used to gag the media. It is not uncommon for the authorities to intervene directly to block the broadcasting of TV reports. The persecution was reinforced in June 2017 by the creation of a special team of State security officers and IT experts to scan posts on Facebook and other social networks for criticism of the government. During elections, the Internet is often disconnected or access to social networks is blocked.

The media are threatened with closure when they cover Opposition activities. A daily tax on use of social networks, the first of its kind in Africa, was introduced in 2018, further undermining journalists and media outlets.”
How about our good and not-so-good neighbours? Kenya ranks top at 100, followed by Tanzania at 118 (although President Magufuli’s government is fingered for presiding over “unprecedented attacks on the media”), South Sudan 139, Rwanda 155, and Burundi at 159.

We live in an awful neighbourhood for journalists. Maybe, this Easter Sunday, all the preachers can summon the courage and goodwill to speak up for respect of media freedoms in Uganda and the region.
In fact, all men and women of integrity and goodwill should have the courage to challenge those who make journalism risky, often deadly. As it is so accurately stated, journalism is not a crime.

Offending journalists need not be killed or maimed. They can be challenged, and redress can be found through a fair legal system. Surely, the world cannot be a better place when properly sourced and verified information ceases to flow freely.
Happy Easter.

Bernard Tabaire is a media trainer and commentator on public affairs based in Kampala.
[email protected]
Twitter:@btabaire