[UAH] DAILY VISION: Scribes, beware! You gat no chums

The take-over by security teams of the Red Pepper and Daily Monitor
complexes was a scheduled climax to the age-old sizing-up between the
state and the media.

Shortly before these events, as part of the activities marking World
Press Freedom day, which falls every May 3, senior journalists, Mr.
Bernard Tabaire and Mr. Ssemujja Nganda (MP Kyaddondo East) wrote
articles in a bid to unearth and expose the problem of media
stagnation in Uganda.

Ssemujju in his judgment concluded that the harassment of journalists
by security personnel has become routine and blamed this on
complacency by today's crop of professionals who don't exhibit the
valour of earlier generations that stood up to the powers-that-be. He
also blamed affinity to inducements from interested parties.

Mr. Tabaire, writing in the fateful Daily Monitor, diagnosed that
tough working conditions not withstanding, Ugandan journalists lack
passion and ambition.

"Ignorance and arrogance seem to be their stock in trade. They need
not be because that is no way to advance freedom of the media and to
serve the public interest," he stated.

Another writer, Mr. Raymond Mpubani, via the same platform and
reacting to Tabaire's article blamed poor education and social media
for the mediocre journalism in Uganda. That many practitioners are
quack and others schooled but uneducated. Of course social media takes
the colour out of mainstream media. They are competitors but remember
social media is know-it-all, unregulated and anything goes. That's on
top of diverting journalists from serious business of meeting sources,
investigating tips and lacing brilliant grammar in the final product.

The three-man "jury's" judgment was presentiment of the showdown. It's
impossible to say if the clamp down on the two media organizations
targeted scribes as admonished by the three "experts". If that was the
case, then the authorities were dead right. Nobody finds slapdash
professionals alluring.

Somewhere on a shelf lies a LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, the subject being
how to live in harmony with media perceived to be plucky and hostile.
The document is incomplete. A decision has gone down not to dispatch,
even on completion. Events have outpaced the writer.

The "would-be-addressee" severally expresses grave displeasure with
media over intrusion and animosity towards his regime, distortions,
incitement, working for foreign interests, lack of ideology and
inefficiency in coverage of issues at hand. At the head of these
charges, he would threaten to do something about it. When not firing
verbal salvos, he teases them as "rumourmongers". A key pointer
contained in the shelved document reminds him how he has survived four
electoral seasons in the midst of word cannons from the fourth estate.

Guess what! One of his own tough-skinned men provides the spark to
this lingering relationship and the media suffers under the heaving
elephants.

Globally, states are the biggest consumers of intrusive advances from
the media. Indeed, most prefer that the press just vanishes into thin
air and reappear in preferred alignment. It's always a matter of time
for the hammer to fall.

That wouldn't be too ominous except for the goings-on among
journalists themselves. The fraternity is most stretched and
disharmonious. The known associations like Ugandan Journalists
Association (UJA) and Union of Journalists of Uganda (UJU) are wrought
with internal wrangles comparable to the outside world the scribes
report about. There is as much intrigue and corruption as that which
leads public servants to Luzira.

Partisan tendencies also abound, the "confessions" aired both
deliberately and inadvertently. Some journalists are well-known to be
partial to certain individuals and entities, which exposes them to
damage as biased forces drag them this way and that. Social media has
predominantly granted license to expose these true colours. Certain
news-makers have resultantly identified partners in the industry who
accord them headline space for their every statement, predominantly
the bizarre. These partnerships raise eyebrows, put into question the
"independent" banner and make them targets.

So when Red Pepper and Daily Monitor got a problem, not everybody
around felt pity much as the sight of uniformed personnel armed to the
teeth and denial of right to work moved hearts. Even among the
affected, some voices are non-commissariat. Statements like: "They
claim to be independent but they are not. I have worked there and I
know" and "They thought they were untouchable."

Media space in Uganda has progressively become open and brazen,
hurting many feet along the way. Looking at the filing of the
incendiary Sejusa stories reveals how much navigable space reporters
claim. The authors in this case didn't opt for the "Our Reporter" tag,
a safety catch of anonymity. This approach is too daring, too
assuming!

During apprenticeship, Mr. Richard Tusiime, the Red Pepper C.E.O
usually says: "When writing on a sensitive subject, hit hard but don't
annoy anybody!" This creed I hold dear. It permits one to maneuver
with any subject, do what they must do, but basing on firm ground.
Journalism is a field of landmines. One unwise footing and you are
finished. This grim reality pervades minds of many a professional
knowing that each story may be their last.

From the corridors of power, it's said the state has been exercising
restraint to take over-due action. A litany of "sins" was on file.
Forget hard-hitting and expository articles on corruption and personal
scandal. Security matters will always be most responsive. Go to the
Vatican, U.S.A, U.K or France, certain security briefs are strictly
out of bounds.

The most effective antidote to "foreign attacks" is for the
journalism fraternity to exercise an extra survival instinct. Someone
may call it self-censorship but it's better to be in business "than
break a leg before the final ball." There is no other way; neither in
the interim season nor in the subsequent.

The outcry by sections of the public for the reopening of the
beleaguered duo brings more sadness than reassurance. This seasonal
and convenient mercy repels. How many media organizations die on site,
failing to celebrate a single birthday due to unwillingness by the
public to spend on copy and adverts? How many others limp on? A
country of 34million increasingly enlightened people consumes just
tens of thousands of copies, with per capita readership, viewership,
listener-ship fluctuating to all-time laws inspite of the times! Never
as today have media managers had to entice audiences with so many
promotions just to remain buoyant and noticeable. The media has no
real friends. They are all "friends-with-benefits", and moody too.
Choose wisely, be indispensable!

Thank you.

Robert Atuhairwe
Authored: May 22, 2013