Ugandan Media Pushed To The Edge

This staff editorial from the independent (non-state controlled) Ugandan newspaper The Monitor might very well be taken as a cry for mercy from impending backlash by the Yoweri Museveni regime - regarding this report published earlier in the week. That a climate of fear can be maintained by the ruling regime, with little more than back-channel expressions of concern by the western powers that prop up his hold on power, is quite frankly an egregious slap against independent media in Africa. So, what's at stake anyway? The Monitor puts it quite plainly:

We know the risks. We have been arrested, beaten, prosecuted, jailed, denied access and advertising revenue, and shut down.

In an era when Newsweek cannot even decipher that an indecorous report, properly sourced or not, will result in a multi-national body count - perhaps it should come as no surprise that the western media has no particular interest in this story. One thing can be predicted with certainty: the Euro-American media smugness and responsive recrimination against their own governments - when the machete of hate once again do their worst in Africa. Even as independent African journalists risk everything on the frontlines of democracy in Kampala, their pampered colleagues in New York and London blather on (endlessly) about Saddam's skivvies. Some things never change. Obviously no clues were caught from Rwanda - Class of '94.

Don't Blame the Messenger
The Monitor (Kampala)
Posted to the web May 20, 2005

The local media's recent reporting on increasing donor and international concerns about the pace and direction of Uganda's political transition have triggered off predictable responses from the country's officialdom.

Many in government have blamed the media, both in public and in private, for having an anti-government agenda.

When we reported recently that a World Bank-commissioned study that recommended aid cuts to Uganda had warned that the country could be plunged into civil war if President Museveni pressed for a third term, some said it had exposed our lack of patriotism. Others said we want to see the country plunging into anarchy.

While the media's critics, including those in government, sometimes have a point, they often get it wrong. Certainly, they have got it wrong this time.

These are not our views or opinions. They are the views of individuals or institutions that have played a part in this country's recent journey.

We are simply messengers. Sometimes we carry messages that both the sources and receivers do not wish us to carry.

But we cannot abdicate our responsibility to inform the public and bring them the day's intelligence.

We know the risks. We have been arrested, beaten, prosecuted, jailed, denied access and advertising revenue, and shut down. Yet we prod on. Why?

It is our responsibility to provide the public a channel through which they can acquire information and also engage in public debate about the major issues of the day.

There is a point in the life of news organisation when you must ask: What is the value of the news that we report? What is the goal of our journalism?

Decisively answering these questions does not contradict a fundamental tenet among independent journalists never to have preset conclusions about a story.

Instead, these questions bring good and intelligent practices to our functions as news media.

Our goal goes beyond meeting our reader's expectations; past the news event, to informing our readers about why this news is important, and about its likely consequences or resolution.

As a wise man once said, we do not tell people what to think. We tell them what to think about.

Urbane Follow-up: Particularly given the dynamics of the situation, that was an incredible editorial. I hope it wins The Monitor a Pulitzer. This is precisely the reason that the 1970's Amin-Obote horrors will not be repeated. Those tyrants shut off Uganda from the rest of the world. Independent media, if supported, are the guarantors that will not happen again. African journalists know the risks. Do we? As for the Pulitzer, I won't hold my breath. As for the people of Uganda, I will continue to pray.