Ayiga Ondoga
11 May 2008
Kampala — TWELVE editors from US media houses are in the country to assess various activities carried out by the government and the private sector in order to report accurately on Uganda and Africa in general.
The visiting editors are from Rocky Mountain News, Oprah Magazine, Yahoo, Salt Lake Tribune, BBC/PRI 'The World', Newsweek International, Congressional Quarterly, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, WNYC Public Radio, National Geographic and Business Week.
The team was led by the director of International Reporting Project of Johns Hopkins University, John Schidlovsky, who was accompanied by his deputy, Louise Lief.
They will stay in the country for 11 days, visiting various projects in Kampala, Jinja, Rakai and Masindi.
"In Kampala, we visited Kawanda NARO station to look at the food security and seed multiplication, the National Fisheries Institute in Jinja, Lake Victoria and looked at environmental protection in Mabira forest.
"In Rakai, we shall visit the HIV/AIDS research station," Schidlovsky said.
The American ambassador, Steven Browning, hosted the editors to a reception at his Kololo residence on Tuesday.
Schidlovsky said they were interested in regional security, environment, politics, economic growth, health and agriculture in order to help the world know more about Africa.
Schidlovsky said it was their ninth trip as editors to various regions outside America. In Africa, they have visited South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt.
"The idea of our trips is to improve the coverage of news to sensitise the over 500 million people on the globe.
"The media is changing and opening up for more coverage of both developmental and negative aspects.
"We try to expose journalists to report news, not only on wars but also on political and economic fields," Schidlovsky said.
He cited Uganda as an example of the positive political, social and economic transformation and stability in Africa.
He lamented the traditional form of farming in Uganda, where several crops are grown in one garden instead of one grown on large scale for commercial purposes.
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, said he was not happy that the American editors would not visit the war-torn north, where many people need donor funds to resettle and integrate into the community.
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