Let us not break the hands that write our news stories

This week, I was privileged to read two first-rate articles before they were published. What can I say? These are the perks of being an editor. While truly impressive, the writing itself was not the issue.

It was the memories it evoked; of young, enthusiastic writers hungry to make their mark back in the day. A story well told goes right to the soul. Every time I come across someone who can make a well-crafted delivery, I relish the moment, thank the good Lord and make it a point to thank the writer when I can.

It was a bittersweet moment though this week as I appreciated gifted journalists on one hand while more stories crossed my desk, of journalists’ trials and tribulations in the present day. On Thursday this week, Daily Monitor reported disturbing news of the beating of journalists who were covering a demonstration by residents protesting a fortnight’s power blackout in Kayunga, Wakiso District. Among those beaten was a pregnant journalist.

Surely, the people who commit these acts are not only blind, but possibly defective in their reasoning. It is simply hard to explain.  With the frequency of these events, these no longer look like isolated incidents by rogue elements but perhaps more of atrocities encouraged from within the system. This comes on the back of many election-time transgressions by the security forces, including detention of scribes, drowning them in tear gas and inflicting a range of injuries.

After the February 17 flogging of journalists who were covering the NUP petition on missing persons, the army issued what we hoped was a half-sincere apology. The latest events are happening in the lead up to World Press Freedom Day tomorrow. On this day, some of our journalists will be nursing fresh wounds while others are still in recovery from past beatings .

This year’s theme for World Press Freedom Day is “Information as a public good”. This is probably not well understood by those who waylay the Fourth Estate, beat them and break their cameras. It would seem that to some people, a journalist carries the invisible tag of ‘Public Enemy Number One’ on their foreheads or as we have heard before, maybe they merely think of them as collateral damage as the State agents chase after their real targets.

In many instances, since there is usually video footage, it is easy to see that the journalists were not committing any crime except perhaps being in a place where they were not wanted but where duty required them to be. Some have argued, rather misguidedly in my view, that journalists should not think of themselves as a special lot who cannot be subjected to certain conditions. I say, we should all think better of ourselves.

No one deserves to be treated the way those journalists have been brutalised in the line of duty. The media is in an abusive relationship with the security agencies and as in other areas of life, there are those who would have the journalists simply ‘grin and bear it’. So accustomed are we to ill-treatment that it begins to look normal. Soon, beating journalists will not be news.

If we valued information more, we would cherish those who are involved in the daily struggle to collect and disseminate it. Writing is how we curate information and preserve our history. It is self-defeating to beat journalists in the morning and hope for a good news roundup in the evening.

Ms Nampewo is a writer, editor and communications consultant     
[email protected]