Prime
Conversation on media digital siege long overdue
Journalists in Kampala on May, 2022. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The issue: Press freedom
- Our view: ...instead of using online spaces to boldly call out corrupt public officials, most Ugandan journalists now choose to use them to discuss ‘low-risk’ subjects.
The canonical importance of Internet freedom to media work was widely recognised yesterday as Uganda commemorated World Press Freedom Day. Ideally, fast technologies that enable journalists to break news and report in real time from anywhere should have been a boon to those plying their trade in Uganda.
This, however, has hardly been the case. What can be stated firmly is that there is much to be concerned about. What with the assault on online speech in Uganda happening on such an unacceptable scale! Last year, Freedom House’s empirical evidence showed that global Internet freedom took a nosedive for the 11th straight year. The annual study titled ‘Freedom on the Net’ showed how urgently this needs to change to guarantee freedom of expression—and by extension a free press.
Uganda (-7) was one of the countries where Internet freedom deteriorated sharply as per Freedom House’s 2021 findings. It matched Belarus’s abjectly poor score, with only Myanmar (-14) faring worse on the index. It should be a stain on the country’s conscience that we are—one can successfully argue—part of the reason why the 2022 theme for World Press Freedom Day is “Journalism Under Digital Siege.”
Indeed, World Press Freedom Day in Uganda was not a time to celebrate it; but to show how little of it there is. Ugandan journalists on online spaces have found themselves under attack in a way that is unprecedented.
The move by Ugandan journalists to online spaces was something that they were supposed to have done to great profit. Yet after sharing their work across different social media platforms, Ugandan journalists have—to their dismay—been targeted with hate and cyber attacks. There is anecdotal evidence that suggests Ugandan female journalists are constantly body-shamed by trolls. In fact, the move to online journalism has made it that much easier for journalists to be targeted with curbs, abuse and hate.
That some of the blowhards with a talent for intimidation and a penchant for feathering their own nest online are government functionaries is such a disgrace. To compound matters, the move to online journalism has also seen state actors outdo themselves whilst carrying out digital surveillance.
Journalists who used to trust their instincts now second-guess themselves not least because it’s much easier to be surveilled while speaking to a source. This can either be whilst on a phone or even firing an e-mail away.
The sum total of all of this is a subtle form of self censorship. Today, many journalists have become too afraid to do their jobs. The sad thing about all of this is that the vast bulk of the said journalists are reluctant to admit to being the victims of cyberbullying. The cold truth is that instead of using online spaces to boldly call out corrupt public officials, most Ugandan journalists now choose to use them to discuss ‘low-risk’ subjects.
We believe it is about time we had an honest conversation about this subject matter. Short of that, journalism in Uganda will continue to be under digital siege.
