In this area of study, it’s very
critical to first know who is a journalist and thus should he/she be licensed
to perform his or her duty? A journalist is a person who earns an income
through editorial work irrespective of the medium or platform and thus
journalism is a unique profession because it derives its public mandate from
the right of free expression that belongs to all citizens.[1]
Therefore, for this reason, everyone has to be left to carryout freedom of information,
speech and expressions their right according to Part 2 Section 5 Clause (1) of
the Access to Information Act, laws of Uganda.
“Every citizen has a right of access to information and records in possession
of the state or any public body, except where the release of information is
likely to prejudice the security or sovereignty of the state or interfere with
the right to the privacy of any other person.”
Therefore, for this
reason, the second part of the clause is where the sole purpose of the media
council comes in. The Media Council is a Statutory Body established by the
Press and Journalist Act of 1994 and charged with the regulation of the Mass
Media in Uganda. The objective of the law is to ensure the freedom of the media
and establish a system for the regulation of the qualifications of editors and
journalists, the ethical and professional standards of the Mass Media and to
arbitrate disputes within or related to the Media industry. This council
therefore controls the ethical standards of the journalists by providing them
with licenses as stipulated in its functions according to Part VI Section 26,
Press and Journalistic Act, Laws of Uganda.
“The name and particulars of a person enrolled under
this Act shall, on the presentation of the certificate of enrollment to the
council, be entered on the Register of Journalists of Uganda.”
Section 27
“(1) The Council shall, upon payment to the prescribed fees, issue a
practicing certificate to a person who is enrolled under this Act.
(2) The practicing certificate shall be valid for one year and is
renewable upon payment of the prescribed fee.
(3) No person shall practice journalism unless he or she is in
possession of a valid practicing certificate issued under this section.”
Therefore, the media council
engulfs all the starting points of a person wishing to carryout journalistic
duties and for this case, it has power over them. Journalistic licensing is the introduction of
a press card for journalists to work out in their profession-Journalism as in
Ghana, the United Kingdom and Portugal, according to Goerge W. Lugalambi (Ph.
D), overview of the state of media freedom in Uganda. Accreditation of
journalists has a two way impact on how journalists workout their duties.
The act is strongly criticized in
many countries with Uganda inclusive. Those who oppose to any kind of license
emphasize that the importance of keeping journalism as an “open” profession,
accessible any citizen, under the main argument that it’s an activity
grounded on the right to freedom expression which is a universal human right.
Others in favour of some kind of
license or pre-requisite to become a journalist underscore the social
importance and sensitivity of the job in order to fulfil another human right of
every citizen. The right to information in
Uganda as stated above in the Access to Information Act, Laws of Uganda.
It should be noted that one of
the many ways for many African countries which have just started migrating to
democracy have governments which in their totalitarianism keep the media in
check using the method of licensing of the journalists and the media houses. And
therefore, if any of them report anything sensitive to their policies by those
major anti-government journalistic personalities, may end up being stripped off
of your license if he/she has one and if one is vying for any, the bureaucracy
he may face is so high not to mention the unstable fee one has to pay to get
one of which it may not be for the money, but of which political side is the
person asking, linked to?[2]This
is in accordance to the proposed press and Journalistic (Amendment) Bill, 2010
with a section which provides that,
“(2) A person shall not operate a newspaper unless there is in force
in relation to the newspaper a license issued by the council.
(3)The council shall before issuing a license under this section
take in account that:- the individual is a resident of Uganda, locally
registered
The license is renewable subject to the requirements under subsections
(2) and (3)
(7) The council may revoke a license issued under this section on
the following grounds:-
I.
Publishing of material
that’s prejudicial to national security.
II.
Publishing material that's
injurious to Uganda’s relations with new(sic) neighbors or friendly countries”
Therefore, this section of the
amendment bill leaves journalists no choice but to get license and publish or
air out censored content to avoid reparcations with decrease in the freedom of
opinion holding which contradicts with Article 19 of International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966) sections 1 and 2,
“Every one shall have the right to hold opinions without
interference.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all
kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in form of art or
through any other media of his choice.”
The above sections contradict
with those in the press and journalistic Act and Amendment bill of Uganda
since the Ugandan journalists are required to have licenses and of which
interferes with the information and opinion holding in the pearl of Africa.
Another sensitive scope to this
issue of licensing journalists is the level of awareness of the Ugandan
populace and the citizenry since this greatly affects the way how they will
reason, behave towards the ethical, unethical,
unprofessional and brutal manhandling and torture towards the journalists by
the sitting government currently, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
The level of awareness is
attributed highly towards to the level of literacy in the nation, adult literacy
rate(% of peoples ages 15 and above from 1991 to 2010 shows a steady growth
with the most latest being 73.21% in 2010 but since Uganda boasts of a
youthful population, the literacy rate among youth is 87.41% in 2010[3].
This majority don’t take national or state issues firsthand and therefore are
ignorant, for this reason, its easy for the government in power to abuse their
rights clearly indicated in the 1995 constitution.
After the government
liberalized the waves, it was easy to start up a media how in order for people
to practice freedom of speech and expression as Giroux (1991:129/130) “says
that journalists
‘tend generally to subordinate
their social function to their freedom of speech’, and inscribes this tendency
in what he calls the ‘founding myth’ of journalism. According to it, the simple
idea of turning journalism into a real profession doesn’t make sense, because
professions usually are associated to a set of attributes (specific knowledge
and know-how, school degree, professional code of ethics, restrictions in
access) that put them somehow apart from the common citizen.” Therefore after
liberalization, Ugandan journalists were supposed to work freely but that
didn’t come alone, everyone would be able to write new stories, shoot photo
stories and free lance without anything like a press card to differentiate
between the learnt and the un learned, therefore putting in place press cards
and licenses enabled elimination of the unprofessional culprits thus keeping the profession to a few who
fulfilled the requirements and therefore, from this point of view, the license is
and advantage to them.
With the above arguments, i
would like to point out the impacts of journalistic licensing on themselves and
the nation as a whole:- When journalists are licensed, it automatically reduces
their numbers and job floating in this I.C.T era where everyone can report
provided he/she has a blog or website is eliminated because of lack of
authenticity.
After acquiring the license, they
are recorded as a described in Section 26 of the Press and Journalist Act in the
register of journalists of Uganda, they can be easily identified anywhere
anytime say national or international. This makes the work for the security
personnel of any firm easier in identifying and questioning them as required by
Section 18 subsection 5 (a)-(g) of the Anti-Terrorism Act,2012.
After decreasing on the job
floating, the unprofessional people who disguise themselves as journalists are
sent off both with their unethical publications and broadcasts which they print
out or air out respectively which may be seditious or defaming, cleansing the
journalistic arena.
Thus, licensing of journalists
also makes creation of journalistic unions and bodies very much easier both
national and international e.g. the International Federation of Journalists
which spans over 120 countries. These unions protect the rights of the
journalists hence protecting them from abuse by their respective setting
governments.
And on the other side,
journalistic accreditation and licensing has got some major negative impacts in
Uganda because it slow their work generally, this is due to the fact that if
you don't have a license, you
have to withstand the bureaucracy of the whole process of acquiring one and this
will make the number of those licensed to be generally lower hence leading to
low information output.
One is expected to produce this license
twenty four hours, seven days if asked for, he will be subjected to section 27
subsection (4), Press and Journalist Act if he has none, the clause states,
“A person who contravenes subsection (3) commits an offence and is
liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand shillings
and in case of failure to pay the fine to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding three months.”
Since many people are un-licensed
and unaccredited, it will result into a decrease in the number of new stories due
to the fact that those accredited are few and may be very far from where a
breaking story or a newsworthy story is developing.
Licensing is one of the
government’s tactical ways to tame the media; it leads to a crackdown on the
freedom of speech and expression because if you don’t undertake the minimum
licensing standards required by law, it’s stripped off you or the media house
Therefore in conclusion, Uganda
although the issue of licensing has its own advantages, impacts to society not
to mention its shortcomings. I would say that the issue of licensing should be
put first hand at the start of anyone who wishes to commence a journalism
career in Uganda. This is not for the government but for his/her own good,
economically in the point of job security, and also in the point of taming the
terrorism and irresponsible journalists as a whole in my country Uganda.
REFERENCES:
I.
The
Constitution of Uganda
a.
Press
and Journalist Act
b.
Access
to Information Act
c.
Anti-Terrorism
Act
III.
Giroux
(1991
IV.
Overview of the state of Media freedom in Uganda
[1] Definition of a
journalist, Overview of the state of
media freedom in Uganda, A Research report, P. 27
[2] “The president did not
like the attendant media coverage, he let loose. Just for anyone who needed
reminding, he declared: ‘I am the President of Uganda. The people elected me,
therefor have the ultimate mandate to run their affairs.’ He added: ‘Now, any
newspaper that plays around with regional security I will not tolerate. I will
simply close it. End. Finish. Gastiyu.
He singled out
Daily Monitor, the weekly Observer (now The Observer) and Red pepper. The next
day, the Broadcasting council which regulates the sector, shut down KFM and
suspended its license indefinitely
and that it had disregarded the broadcasting standards if the first schedule of
the Electronic Media Act Cap 104 (2000), Overview
of the state of Media freedom in Uganda P. 15
[3] “SOURCE: United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) institute
for statistics. www.indexmundi.com/facts/ugabda/literacy-rate/ Accessed 24th 09 2012
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