[UAH] DAILY PEPPER: The end is near

Soon business will be back to normal. Monitor first saw this in 2002
over the chopper story but recovered to tell others. Of course systems
got overhauled subsequently.

For Red Pepper, they are seasoned jungle boys of the media revolution
in Uganda. Had they been of age by the start of the bush war, they
would be Generals too but they are generals in media transformation.
The siege came as a climax to over a decade of near misses with the
state. It was at the very turn into mainstream from the tabloid format
which defined who they are. On the very first day of the changeover is
when disaster struck. Soothsayers interpret that as a sign of fortunes
ahead.

The truth is, the press is indispensable. The state knows this, the
world too. But can self-destruct and kill the profession entirely for
strangers to take it over.

Robert Atuhairwe