Vote with your shilling, expect ethical journalism

Odoobo C. Bichachi

What you need to know:

To the esteemed readers of this column and many of you that have shared feedback on our NMG-Uganda journalism over the last year, this is to wish you a happy festive season

To the esteemed readers of this column and many of you that have shared feedback on our NMG-Uganda journalism over the last year, this is to wish you a happy festive season. Just as a recap, I have dwelt at length in my columns on media ethics as the one thing that separates mainstream media from social media and tabloid journalism. Adherence to ethics has never been as important as it is today. It is for my journalist colleagues to pick lessons.  I also shared about the changing media landscape, dynamics, markets, audiences, etc driven by ever-changing communications technology and consumer taste. After all is said and done, we should recognise that without mainstream journalism/media, we will be consumed by the “infodemic” of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information that social media has engendered. So vote everyday with your shilling to buy a newspaper, follow news broadcasts or check online websites of established media.

Finally, I share some of your recent feedback directly below:

Plainsrus: I completely agree with your analysis of the President Salva Kiir incident. One, however, also has to think of the dilemma the mainstream media is facing these days. The mantra of publish or perish is very true these days. For one, the average “netizen” is not interested in editorials or ethics but facts as they evolve. Online has taken away people’s rights. Look at New Vision’s satire reporting of “Agataliko Nfuufu” and you will understand what I am talking about.

As examples, should the public be sensationalised about pig heads being dropped at the Parliament? Was that really worth publishing? Which brings us back to what is news and what is not. Do you remember when former US President George Bush threw up at a dinner in the lap of a Japanese Prime Minister? It was picked up by AP and published worldwide. Or President Biden falling off the bike because of his age. Were those two incidents ethical to publish? Shouldn’t we look at politicians as humans first, and leaders next? Maybe yes, no or “depends”. Please note that the word depends is loaded with so many variables, including the newspaper, the intended audience, timing, place, and many others. As an individual, I wish Kiir well, and a fast recovery.

William Kayondo: To say the emperor is naked? Yes the emperor’s nakedness should be exposed to show “your time is up, give way”. Why pretend everything is hunky-dory when all is not well. Why hang on?

Raymond Muzaaya: These days the weekend Take5 puzzles are often repeated, much to my chagrin after I have already made photocopies for my family enthusiast. Time, paper and emotional distress to say the least!

Francis Omara: I am based in Bweyale, Kiryandongo and sell newspapers. I am requesting to kindly have some copies of the Daily Monitor newspaper supplied to me daily. I am ready to pay for it upfront. Thank you.


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Was Mpoma Amin or Obote?

Apollo Wangalwa: Refer to your column, Mpoma is Amin, not Obote (Daily Monitor, November 25. The Koboko satellite was completed. It is probably the Ombaci one that was not.

Amin prioritised the Koboko satellite station [his home town] and it was completed in time to allow UTV “air” World Cup 1978 in Argentina live. Mpoma was delayed because he [Amin] wanted the earth station in West Nile first. When Amin was toppled in 1979, the Obote II government took up a Japanese technical and funding offer, and the Mpoma earth satellite station was then completed. Its first broadcast “project”, so to speak, was World Cup 1982 in Spain. It was officially opened in 1983.

The Japanese company that helped with building Mpoma was Nippon Electric Company, NEC. I got the NEC name because all the equipment containers and equipment at the site bore these details. You may need to dig here.

Raymond: Muzaaya: The Ombaci satellite station was never completed because even the little that had been built was destroyed/vandalised by the invading forces. The area was laid to waste, literally. This was not implied in your column.

Edward Ochwo: You are right, it was President Amin who built the Mpoma and Ombaci earth satellite stations. This was after the break-up of the East African Community in 1977 when Kenya switched off Uganda from accessing live broadcast through the earth station on Mount Longonot in the Kenyan arm of the East African Great Rift Valley. He vowed that Uganda would build its independent communications infrastructure and sourced grants from Arab countries to finance the projects. But the 1978-79 war would later destroy everything.

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