{UAH} NEWSROOM DICTATOR: Monotor Journalists Uncomfortable With New Executive Editor
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NEWSROOM DICTATOR
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- Category: Politics News
- Published on 16 May 2014
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Monitor Journalists Uncomfortable With New Executive Editor Malcolm Gibson Whom They Regard As Rigid, Lacking In News Sourcing-Awareness and Supports the Amama Presidential Bid
By Carlos Ghadafi
Journalists at The Daily Monitor are having sleepless nights having to cope with the abrasive management style of their new executive editor, Malcolm Gibson whom they accuse of interfering carelessly with the editorial content of the paper.
Sources at the Namuwongo based news outlet have informed us that Mr. Gibson is so rigid that he questions each and everything in a given story thus leading to the suffocation of news scoops sourced by journalists- especially those ones covering the political aspect of the news segment.
Many of the journalists who have worked for The Monitor for very many years are toying with the idea of resigning from their cherished jobs because it has ‘lost meaning for them to continue getting their stories blocked by the professor on daily basis.
One journalist said that the American has an intense interest in political stories, but he ends up getting a personal opinion about them and either blocks them if they don’t suit his political taste or practically tries to influence how they should be written.
‘’In most cases the whole story ends up being distorted by the too much editorial interference of the executive editor. Yet many journalists are used to a free atmosphere of writing stories which are then published as long as they are not defamatory or offensive to the general public and government. But Mr. Gibson has taken a step further by questioning even the most innocent story. He also commits the most unprofessional thing of asking journalists for their sources of information and in most cases endeavors to call those sources’’ said the bitter journalist’’.
‘’This bogs down the news sourcing and delays the publishing of stories which are then published by other media houses’’ said the disgruntled journo.
Pending Strike
 We have also been told that many journalists in the political section are now believed to be very stressed about Mr. Gibson’s working methods and are plotting to stage a sit down strike to force management to sack the 72 year old or convince him to change his crude working style. .
Many actually claim that Mr. Gibson has political preferences. ‘’He reacts different when you write a negative story about government and is very eager to publish stories that support the opposition’’.
Another disgruntled journalist whose name we couldn’t publish for the obvious reason of not compromising his job was brave enough to state that Gibson is eager to sanction any story which supports the Amama Mbabazi presidential bid.
‘’This explains why The Monitor has been full of stories which expound on the pro-Mbabazi youths attacking president Museveni and welcomed interviews with Jacqueline Mbabazi, the wife to the embattled NRM secretary general’’.
Acidic Article
The expatriate editor has been in the news in the recent weeks following a very intolerant article he wrote reiterating his rigid working style where he branded Ugandan journalists rumor mongers who write stories to fit their political feelings.
on May 7,the Monitor Publications’ Executive Editor Malcolm Gibson wrote an article in which he regarded most Ugandan journalists as rumor mongers ,and politically charged who should desist from expressing overt political views†at public forums and social networking sites.Â
In an article titled; Why I’m Adopting A Hyper-Strict Model To Correct The Wrongs At Monitor which has drawn wide spread criticism across the Ugandan elite ,the expatriate editor had a broad exchange with former Monitor journalist and now executive editor of The Independent Mr Andrew Mwenda in which he exposed his rigid working style.
Andrew Mwenda had expressed his discomfort with the way Gibson was handling affairs at Namuwongo by questioning the intolerance regime that he had adopted by stating thus;
[H]ow can a news organization promote public debate while gagging its own journalists from expressing their preferred opinions?.
But In one paragraph Gibson responds to Mwenda’s concerns by stating that  ‘’I agree about the importance of public debate and journalists participating in it. But, as I explained, “I am adopting a hyper-strict model to correct what’s wrong here. The problem, simply, is that many of those journalists expressing personal viewpoints on a variety of topics mirror precisely how they do their journalism. It’s what shows up in their stories. If that were not the case, I’d be less concerned.’’
But in another shocking paragraph which took all the readers off their seats Mr. Gibson derided the Ugandan journalists by writing thus;-
I agree with Mwenda that responsible and credible journalists should be able to provide opinion with an important caveat, as I emphasised: “They are welcome to provide analysis, which, by the way, is what journalists do in the US; [however,] few express opinion unless their reputations (such as yours) are such that the public knows that it is based on solid and credible sourcing, even if not mentioned. Here, journalists use unsubstantiated rumor and gossip as fact in both expressing their opinions and in writing their stories. And their reputations, quite frankly, do not have that stature or, as important, credibility, in my view.
The Genesis
The Monitor executive editor’s office fell vacant last July when another expatriate executive editor by the names of Freeman fell out with the managing editor, Alex Asiimwe, and left the country. Freeman, whose reign lasted just five months after replacing Sseppuuya in February 2013, is said to have accused Asiimwe of interfering in editorial policy, the same accusation piled on Gibson at the moment.
The bitter fallout saw Freeman call his boss names and ask Nation Media Group directors in Nairobi to fire the managing editor as a condition for his stay at Namuwongo. He then packed a few belongings and headed for London leaving the seat vacant for Malcolm to takeover.
Who Is Malcolm Gibson?
Malcolm Gibson is an American journalist with a PHD in journalism. Our sources told us that nation media group pays him a handsome 72 million shillings per month, rents a house in the posh Kampala suburbs of Kololo at a reported 3000 dollars per month together with allowances and entitlements which were not disclosed.
He is meticulous to detail and a tad serious when it comes to doing what ought to be profession. Writing in his profile, he says he is an Africanist and has traveled extensively throughout the world as a journalist, mostly in Africa.
Prof. Gibson says he began his professional career as a reporter in the US Army and, later, as a stringer for the The Tampa Tribune. He has also worked as a reporter, editor or news executive for The Miami Herald,The Associated Press and The New York Times.
For his professional interests, he says other than writing and editing, he is interested in the African and African-American media.
The professor married his wife Joyce in 1972 and the couple has two children and some grannies.
Matter of Fact
Daniel Kalinaki and Joachim Buwembo
According to what we have dug up, it has been discovered that NMG is full of intrigue that has claimed almost all the previous managing editors.
It has been reported that all the previous senior editors like Joachim Buwembo , Daniel Kalinaki , an Simon freeman all lost their jobs because of the intrigue that always brews at Namuwongo.
It remains to be seen if Malcolm is also a victim of this intrigue or is indeed abrasive as alleged by his staff.
Edited by Robert Ndawula
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