THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

NewspapersUganda’s print media are dominated by two major newspapers, the state-owned New Vision and theDaily Monitor. The New Vision and its local language publications, Bukedde (published in Luganda),Etop (Ateso), Orumuri (Runyakitara) and Rupiny (Luo) have the largest market share, with a combineddaily circulation of over 60,000. The Daily Monitor, owned by the Kenya-based Nation Media Group,has a daily circulation of 15,000. Other notable publications include the weekly East African, RedPepper, Observer and Sunrise.Though newspapers cover the widest range of topics and provide the most extensive politicalcoverage of all media in Uganda, less than 1 percent of households report print media as theirprimary source of information, according to the BBC World Service Trust. Newspapers are alsosubject to the same government pressures as radio and television, and several journalists reporthaving been physically attacked and/or charged with crimes ranging from sedition to the moregeneral “media offenses” after publishing stories seen as threatening to the ruling party.Business and Economic JournalismMost of those interviewed were disappointed with the quality of business and economic journalismin Uganda. The general consensus is that business reporting does not receive enough emphasis inthe Ugandan media (business journalism is “used as filler” in most papers, said one associate editor).Newspapers often fail to support the business desk to the satisfaction of business editors andreporters. Summing up this view, one reporter for a major daily emphasized the need to “convincemanagement to attach more importance to business reporting.” 141 Several interviewees did note thatthings have improved in the last three to five years: one indicator of this is that both the DailyMonitor and The New Vision began publishing weekly business inserts in late 2008.Several of those interviewed attributed the overall lack of focus on business journalism to Uganda’sgeneral business climate: “the Ugandan economy is resurrecting from a long slumber” after IdiAmin’s destructive economic policies, said one reporter, and the country has little industrial activityon which to report. Still, many others complained that most stories are reported from theperspective of businesses or exporters and fail to relate business news to consumers and ordinarycitizens. In 2005, the World Bank estimated that 90 percent of Uganda’s non-farm privateemployees operate in the informal sector 142 , but Ugandan business stories usually focus exclusivelyon the formal sector, ignoring a substantial part of the country’s economic activity.Regardless of the reasons for this weakness, the majority of those interviewed agreed thatstrengthening business journalism in Uganda is vital: “politics will never stabilize when the financesare not okay,” said one editor, stressing the need for better and more comprehensive businessreporting. “Everything is business-oriented somehow.”Extractives JournalismUgandan media began reporting on the oil industry in 2006, when the discovery of oil was firstannounced to the public. One reporter who covers the industry for a major daily paper said there is“all sorts of lively commentary…all the time” about oil in the media, and he believes the public has141 Ugandan Interviewee #11. 2009. Interview by Rebekah Heacock. Kampala, Uganda, January 9.142 World Bank, “Urban Informal Sector in Uganda,” April/May 2005,http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/211247/Uganda_Urban percent20Informal percent20Sector.pdf.– 58 –