Why we must talk about journalists

It has many times been argued that the Fourth Estate is a voice of the people and so should concentrate on speaking about injustices, difficulties and societal problems that the citizens face, rather than talk about issues that affect the media themselves, whether positively or negatively.

But it must be remembered that those who work in media are also citizens. They too face injustices and societal problems like any other group of people. This is why the media too should provide space and airtime to talk about their own and what needs to be done to improve, help and grow the industry. This is why Nation Media Group Uganda’s various news platforms have been keen on providing news about what is happening to the fraternity, including harassment and torture of journalists, press freedom matters, and their general livelihood.

One of the latest stories on this that Daily Monitor carried, run on Sunday, May 23 with the headline, “Western region loses 6 journalists in 12 months”. Each of these journalists lost their lives in different ways, some to accidents, others to illnesses and one in what is suspected to have been a crime of passion.

Their passing has left a gap in their families and the community as a whole. They were people who had mastered the art of getting information and relaying it to the public. They understood the importance of questioning those in authority, on speaking to people in society who many had forgotten or trampled upon. They had spent time and resources and possibly also risked their lives in one way or another trying to expose those in the wrong.

Their work had provided them and their families a living but had also very importantly provided people information with which to make decisions as concerns their business, education, political and other such choices.

This is why we mourn with their families because we know how much they did. We know the work they put in and how it helped change people’s thinking in one way or the other. We appreciate the time they put into others, grooming them to become journalists too.

So even as the country deliberates on the next choice of the Speaker and deputy Speaker of Parliament; on the new Members of Parliament; on the medical interns who are on strike; and the Covid-19 pandemic and the upheaval it has caused and continues to cause; let us remember that the journalists have been at the forefront of all this business, bringing the news, helping analyse the situations and providing context for the audiences.

Let us appreciate their role even more and continue to support the work they do because it must go on.

Our commitment to you

We pledge:

To be accurate and fair in all we do.

To be respectful to all in our pursuit of the truth.

To refuse to accept any compensation beyond that provided by Monitor Publications Ltd. for what we do in our news gathering and decision-making.

Further, we ask that we be informed whenever you feel that we have fallen short in our attempt to keep these commitments.