Indigenous language programming and citizen participation in Uganda broadcasting : an exploratory study.

Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in the subject of Communication at the University of South Africa.The thesis, Indigenous language programming and citizen participation in Ugandan broadcasting: an exploratory study constitutes an analysis of the significance of policy on indigenous language programming in Uganda's broadcast media. The thesis is conceived broadly within a critical studies' framework. It emphasizes the role of the broadcast media in the public sphere, as well as policy on linguistic diversity in making the public sphere more accessible to the majority of Ugandans. Fundamental assumptions of the thesis are the following: * The imperatives of the market are in tension with the need to preserve a significant amount of indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda's broadcast media for purposes of diversity; * This tension can be discerned in the political-economic environment within which the broadcast media in Uganda have evolved and operate as well as in public debate on indigenous language programming in the broadcast media; * The current state of the media's structure, operation and regulation have their roots in Uganda's political history; and * Policy on the indigenous languages has a bearing on Ugandans' capacity to participate meaningfully in the democratic process via the broadcast media. The thesis documents key social, political and economic factors surrounding policy on indigenous language broadcasting in Uganda using interviews, an analysis of Uganda's political history as well as key legal documents related to diversity and participation. It documents public debate on the significance of language policy for the participation of Ugandans in the democratic process through the broadcast media and examines how changes in the structure and operation of Uganda's broadcast media, especially since the liberalisation of the airwaves in the early 1990s, are perceived by Ugandans to have affected their participation in the democratic process through the media. Finally the thesis makes recommendations for future communication policy with regards to the role of language in enhancing diversity and participation

The evolution of media policy in Uganda

This article examines attempts to put into policy or law the parameters of media freedoms in Uganda since the colonial periodThis article examines attempts to put into policy or law the parameters of media freedoms in Uganda since the colonial period. Taking a historical approach, the paper identifies major trends in media policy in Uganda across different political regimes. The trends indicate a lack of consistent, clearly articulated and documented policy, a level of ambiguity in the wording of legislation, a tendency to retain outmoded colonial legislation and to recycle aspects of repealed laws, deliberate efforts to curtail editorial independence in the laws, inadequate provisions for converting the state broadcaster into a public broadcaster, the use of the protection of reputations to obscure the mismanagement of public affairs, and the often over-arching powers of the executive to intervene in the day-to-day regulation of the media. Methodologically, the article relies on in-depth interviews and legal documents. The article concludes that although Uganda has made some strides in the media policy arena, the situation is still “precarious” and the most recently proposed media bill does not bode well for media freedoms in the near future

Ugandan radio as a political space and the policing thereof

A Paper presented at The Conference on “Election processes, liberation movements and democratic change in Africa”, Maputo 8-11 April 2010The potential of radio as a political space for contestation during and between elections is probably no longer debatable. Radio in sub-Saharan Africa has over the last two decades been dubbed the people’s medium (van de Veur 2002, Bourgault 1995, Daloz and Verrier-Frechette 2000, Mwesige 2009). The power of radio in Africa in particular comes from the relatively to extremely low literacy rates in most sub-Saharan countries, most print media still being published in the colonial languages and television in most parts of Africa remaining an urban, elite entertainment medium. Radio is relatively affordable, requires no literacy to listen to and transcends the most formidable language barriers. Because of all this, radio has been ideal for enabling the majority rural populations in Africa to participate in public debate on matters relating to their governance. Harnessing the full political potential of radio, though, has still been elusive because building on the colonial legacy, post-colonial African governments have perceived radio’s role in terms of a convenient medium for “disseminating” pre-packaged information rather than as an arena for enhancing participation and the contestation of ideas, representations and identities. Although the political and economic developments of the 1990s have forced most African countries to open up the airwaves and with this, expand the space for political contestation, however, many of these governments still manifest a degree of nostalgia for those days when government had near absolute control of the airwaves and could determine which viewpoints were given airplay. This is evident in both judicial and extra-judicial attempts to police the medium. Radio has on its part displayed a high degree of resilience, often going underground or online and continuing to serve as an avenue for political expression for large numbers of citizens

Indigenous Language Media and Freedom of Expression in Uganda

Book chapter published in Indigenous Language Media, Language Politics and Democracy in Africa. Edited by: Abiodun Salawu Monica B. Chibita and Sarantakos. -- This book deals with the often-neglected link between indigenous languages, media and democracy in Africa. It recognizes that the media plays an amplifying role that is vital to modern-day expression, public participation and democracy but that without the agency to harness media potential, many Africans will be excluded from public discourse.Since the liberation of Uganda’s broadcast media sector two decades ago, the sector has seen considerable growth. The number of channels has multiplied and the programming menu has taken on a more global and commercial(ized) character as local media houses have had to compete for audiences with regional and global media. At the same time, there has been significant growth in the volume of programming in the indigenous languages across the broadcast spectrum as most media owners acknowledge the need to be relevant to local audiences. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and particularly the mobile phone, have flourished, notwithstanding persistent urban-rural disparities in access. In this context, it is pertinent to evaluate the performance of the electronic media in enhancing freedom of expression

Ugandan adolescents’ sources, interpretation and evaluation of sexual content in entertainment media programming

The definitive version of this article was first published by Taylor and Francis in Sex Education, 16:6, 707-720; link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2016.1217840Although mounting evidence in Western nations indicates that entertainment media influence young people’s sexual socialisation, virtually no research has addressed the topic in sub-Saharan Africa. The present study employed 14 focus groups of Ugandan high school students to identify media through which they were exposed to sexual content, how they interpreted and evaluated that content, and how they compared its influence with that of parents, schools and religious institutions. Participants most often mentioned TV, followed by print media and Internet as sources of sexual material. Media were said to present discrepant messages regarding the timing of sexual debut, with international programming urging early sexual debut and local programming described as urging young people to delay sex. Young people spoke of turning to ssengas and kojjas for sexual advice, and a number of boys suggested pornography could also be educational. Both local and international programming was interpreted as conveying views of men as sex driven and women as submissive in sex and relationships. Participants expressed the belief that sexual media content had a negative impact on young people. Most nevertheless assessed these messages as more influential than other sources of sexual socialisation.This work was funded by a Fulbright AIDS and AIDS-Related Research Area Grant

Covering Migration—in Africa and Europe: Results from a Comparative Analysis of 11 Countries

This is a Version of Record of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journalism Practice on July 20, 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1792333While the issue of migration has heavily impacted on public debates in the Global North, much less is known about coverage of migration in the Global South. This pilot study sets out to dewesternize the discussion, by analyzing and comparing news coverage in migrants’ destination countries and countries of origin. The study’s focus is on media coverage of migration from Africa towards Europe. The paper builds upon prior studies on the coverage of migrants and refugees. A consortium of African and European researchers has conducted a comparative content analysis of migration coverage in 22 opinion-leading newspapers in six European and five sub-Sahara African countries. The study has retrieved 1,512 articles which have appeared in 2015/16. The topic was much less salient in African countries, with only 175 articles found in the African news outlets under study. Coveragein the European destination countries was dominated by domestic issues like border security and migration policy, but also paid attention to the actual migrants—who received much less coverage in the sending countries. Coverage of migration in African media was more negative and focused on disasters at sea. Both African and European media ignored the causes of migratio