THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

Non-Training Recommendations for Uganda“very helpful” to their careersLegal AssistanceSeveral reporters and editors mentioned the need for journalists to know their rights as reporters.One editor described a reporter who had recently sold his notes for a story on one of Uganda’scabinet ministers to that minister to avoid being sued in court for libel. 234 Another journalist, AngeloIzama of the Daily Monitor, agreed to be interviewed between interrogation sessions at the MediaOffences Department. Ugandan police had threatened him with arrest for exposing military tactics,aiding the enemy, or disrupting public order after he and a coworker published a story on theUgandan military’s recent offensive against the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army in eastern DemocraticRepublic of the Congo. 235Uganda’s current legal climate poses a challenging environment for many independent journalists,and more legal training would support reporters who are sued or charged with media offenses forpolitical reasons.The government’s apparent disregard for the Access to Information Act of 2005, particularly withrespect to the recent profit sharing agreements with the oil companies operating in southwesternUganda, is also troublesome. Legal training and, perhaps to a greater degree, legal support targetingaccess to information, would greatly benefit extractives journalism.Financial AssistanceAs previously described, lack of funding is a major obstacle for business journalists. One editor foran independent weekly said that international organizations and donors tend to ignore media andnoted that “training is good, but it is not sufficient for keeping these [local media] organizations inbusiness.” He recommended some sort of fellowship or travel grant program that would providetargeted funding to sponsor reporters doing in-depth investigative reporting outside of Kampala,such as a trip to the oil wells in southwestern Uganda. 236Role of Media CompaniesThe director of Makerere University’s Department of Mass Communications expressed a desire forthe industry to take some responsibility for improving journalistic quality in Uganda. He mentionedthe Nation Media Group’s internship program for East Africans in Nairobi as a good example ofthis. 237 Working with the Nation Media Group and with Uganda’s major media organizations,including the Daily Monitor and the New Vision but also some of the larger weekly publications andradio and television stations to help them develop in-house training programs focused on basicreporting skills would likely be more cost-effective than flying journalists to other countries forregional trainings. In terms of improving transparency in the extractives industries, however, these234 Ugandan Interview #1. 2009. Interview by Rebekah Heacock. Kampala, Uganda, January 5.235 “Ugandan reporters under police harassment,” Committee to Project Journalists, January 7, 2009.http://cpj.org/2009/01/ugandan-reporters-under-police-harassment.php.; Angelo Izama. 2009. Interview by RebekahHeacock. Kampala, Uganda, January 10.236 Ugandan Interviewee #13. 2009. Interview by Rebekah Heacock. Kampala, Uganda, January 10.237 George Lugalambi. 2009. Interview by Rebekah Heacock. Kampala, Uganda, January 14.– 87 –