Carolyne Nakazibwe
5 January 2003
opinion
Kampala — Information state minister Basoga Nsadhu on Thursday announced that the Media Council would start vetting reporters and other journalists employed by media houses.
He said scribes without any journalism qualifications and therefore without practicing certificates would be automatically weeded out.
"If you are not a bona fide member of the profession, then you have no business in the profession. We want to deal with people who are competent and professionals," Nsadhu told a cabinet press briefing.
The journalism profession in Uganda is one which is full of people who can write, take photographs and broadcast, without the minimum academic qualifications in the field if any.
With an increase in media houses (172 in all have been licensed), employers are infiltrating other professions for labour, which has not been a welcome move in government.
Nsadhu's latest outburst follows a series of events that have left media proprietors on their toes, wondering whether the combination could be the end of freedom of the press.
Last year, Parliament passed the Anti-terrorism Act 2001, which bars the media from giving publicity to persons listed by government as terrorists.
Before that, Uganda is one of the few countries still using the law of sedition against journalists; a law whose yardstick has been generally described as vague and a simple measure to control the free press.
Before his promise to sweep media houses clean of "masqueraders", Nsadhu had stirred a debate of his own when he announced that public debates by FM radio stations were illegal and therefore banned.
A popular mode of radio talk show had erupted in the country, started by Radio One, which broadcast live every Saturday from a bar and night club (Club Obbligato) a show called Ekimeeza (the big table).
Because of the influence and popularity that came with the show, other leading stations started their own versions at different bars around town, causing hot debate on topical issues, most of them political.
CBS FM, Radio Simba, Radio Two and a few others upcountry jumped into the frenzy to match the competition.
On Dec. 19, Nsadhu announced that these shows were illegal and had to stop forthwith. Journalists and the public interpreted this as a means by government to stop public dialogue on issues that affect the regime.
They felt the move was meant to shut up the opposition, which had taken advantage of the shows to push their points home.
So when Nsadhu came out again on Thursday, talking about sieving people who work in the profession, the industry cried foul.
If this were enforced, the most affected lot would be artistes, DJs and radio reporters, the biggest bulk of which have qualifications in fields that have nothing to do with the media, but have found an entertaining way of earning more money by competing on radio shows.
"It is a very unfortunate statement. We will get the qualifications because he is in power. I have already got information about the courses and if it requires a leave of absence, I will take it, but nothing will stop me from reaching out to the people," Charles James Senkubuge "Siasa" of Radio Simba said.
Senkubuge hosts the radio's morning show Binsanga Wano and he was recently voted among the top radio presenters by sections of the media.
Senkubuge, an actor with Bakayimbira Dramactors and a graduate in Philosophy and Literature, said he didn't think lack of qualifications was the problem in the media. He said it was not like unqualified journalists had committed more blunders than graduates in the profession.
"But we will do it. Although I would love to hear one thing from the honourable minister; where did he get his certificate in being a minister?"
The Monitor Publications' out-going Managing Editor Charles Onyango-Obbo echoes Senkubuge's sentiments.
"Why is it that the media are the only private enterprise who are told by government who they can employ?" Obbo told Sunday Monitor. "It is coming at a time when government is taking an undemocratic and illiberal line against the press. So this is more like a control move, not a regulatory one."
Obbo said the media house could no longer be defined as a house of journalists, since some people are employed because of their special skills, that journalists don't have. Cartoonists, comedians, doctors, all bring something different from the traditional media characteristics.
He said even the Press and Journalists Statute 1995, is already out dated, because the media has changed.
Just five years ago, The Monitor Publications' administration had earned itself a name in the fraternity as the media house, which was strict on journalism qualifications before recruitment. That has changed.
"We recognise that things have changed. We have researchers, help columnists like Dr. Vincent Karuhanga Journalists remain the backbone of any newspaper, but increasingly they aren't the only players in the business," he said.
CBS FM's Programme Manager Abbey Mukiibi also said what Nsadhu is suggesting is not applicable in the newsroom, and is not right.
"Let government be flexible with things," he said.
However, Abu Kawenja, another actor who doubles as a journalist at CBS FM, threw his weight behind the minister in pushing those without qualifications back to school.
"The trend is that whoever enters the profession is accepted. Let the industry have professionals, there are many masqueraders," he said on phone yesterday. Although many of his colleagues lack the necessary pips, Kawenja who presents the station's morning show Bwakedde Mpulira said they should strive to get the qualifications.
Kawenja has a Music Dance and Drama degree and is currently pursuing a postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communication.
The statutory National Institute of Journalists of Uganda (NIJU), also supported the minister on qualifications, but rubbished his threat to ban ebimeeza.
"NIJU encourages journalists to train. The problem is that the same government is closing down training institutions like the journalism school at Uganda Management Institute. It is frustrating, you want professional people and you go ahead and close the training institutions," NIJU President Nabusayi Lindah Wamboka told Sunday Monitor. Nabusayi, however, said for government to call for a ban on ebimeeza was "an empty threat" which is sending out mixed messages for a government that boasts of a free media and freedom of expression.
The regulatory body - the Media Council - has itself been turned into a laughing stock over the last seven years. Nsadhu says it has not achieved anything yet because the industry was being given a chance to grow, but practitioners say it is a problem to do with government control and lack of funding for the body.
Following Thursday's developments, the East African Media Institute (EAMI) - Uganda Chapter has frowned at the idea that the ministry is expecting the Media Council to carry out the cleaning exercise and other penalties.
"The Media Council has never worked and I don't see it working now. It has never served its purpose since it was put in place (in 1995)," EAMI President David Ouma Balikowa said.
Ouma said Nsadhu's threats couldn't be serious if he was talking about using the same Media Council, which is statutory and its members appointed by the government.
Ouma said the council couldn't as yet receive and act upon any complaints against journalists, because the public had no faith in it and saw it as government.
So far, cases that would otherwise have been handled by the Media Council, like sedition and publication of pornographic material, have been handled by government in courts of law.
"We proposed an independent Media Council to be constituted by the public and people with respect. This council would set up the ethical code of conduct to bind all media houses and practitioners," Ouma said.
The proposals for the Media Bill are still in draft form, but Nsadhu said it would soon be tabled before cabinet.
The Bill if Okayed, will bring together all the laws governing journalism and combine the Media Council with the Broadcasting Council, to decide matters on the profession.
The proposal also lowers the requirement for one to be a journalist from a Journalism degree to a diploma.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
