Professional Documents
Culture Documents
| 2015
Our Objectives
l To conduct evidence-based research on media performance and
practice in Africa.
l To provide continuing education and mid-career training for
journalists and communication practitioners and to render
financial, material and/or moral support to persons pursuing career
advancement in journalism and communication.
l To support quality journalism through provision of reporting grants
and fellowships to journalists.
l To inspire excellence through offering awards yearly for outstanding
journalistic work.
l To provide an online resource centre for African newsrooms and
journalists, and media educational and training institutions.
l To act as a watchdog for the media and, in that capacity, offer media
monitoring and evaluation services, advocacy and defence of media
rights and freedoms.
l To promote media literacy to help the public recognise and
appreciate the forces that shape media coverage.
l To organise and host seminars, conferences, workshops, fellowships
and symposia to discuss issues relating to such educational,
developmental, political, cultural and socio-economic matters as the
centres management may deem appropriate.
l To advocate free, pluralistic, and responsible media, and promote
freedom of expression.
CONTENTS
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
47
TESTIMONIALS 50
ACME IN THE NEWS
53
THE BOARD 54
OUR PARTNERS 55
PARTING SHOT 56
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1 In the Amin era, Munno editor, Fr. Clement Kiggundu, was burnt alive inside his car. James Bwogi, a TV journalist, and news photographer Jimmy
Parma were killed as well. Several were jailed. Others chose exile.
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2 See http://www.ucc.co.ug/files/downloads/Q3-Market%20Report%20%20for%20Third%20Quarter%20-%20July-September%202015.pdf.
3 The bias shows more during election period. See http://observer.ug/news-headlines/42308-report-ubc-denies-opposition-airtime
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5 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Radio-goes-off-air-15-minutes-into-Dr-Besigyes-talkshow/-/688334/2803274/-/kcvksr/-/index.html
6 https://hrnjuganda.org/?p=1438
7 http://www.ubos.org/onlinefiles/uploads/ubos/NPHC/2014%20National%20Census%20Main%20Report.pdf
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8 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/UCCblocks-Mirundi-from-TV--radio/-/688334/2980776/-/d3idi7/-/index.html
9 http://www.researchictafrica.net/countries/uganda/Uganda_Communications_Act_2013.pdf
10 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Mirundi-back-on-air--attacks-Mbabazi--Mao/-/688334/2988354/-/u2bd9j/-/index.html
11 https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/01/10/keep-people-uninformed/pre-election-threats-free-expression-and-association-uganda
12 http://www.ucc.co.ug/files/downloads/Annual%20Market%20Industry%20Report%202014-15-%20October%2019-2015.pdf
13 http://www.ucc.co.ug/files/downloads/Annual%20Market%20Industry%20Report%202014-15-%20October%2019-2015.pdf.
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14 http://www.contadorharrison.com/social-mediause-in-uganda/
15 http://www.internetworldstats.com/africa.htm
16 http://www.internetworldstats.com/africa.htm
17 http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/38278-who-s-tom-voltaire-okwalinga-tvo
18 https://www.facebook.com/tom.okwalinga?fref=ts
19 https://www.facebook.com/Tvo-Uganda-654610647943658/?fref=ts
20 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Lawyers-demand-release-of-social-media-critic-/-/688334/2747382/-/r3f7qaz/-/index.html
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21 http://www.chimpreports.com/court-throws-out-museveni-defamation-case-kalyegira-seeks-compensation/
22 ACME will publish in the first quarter of 2016 a report on findings from a baseline research on media coverage of public affairs in Uganda.
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23 Mwesige, P.G. (2006). The Media and Civil Society in Uganda: Exploring Relations and Possibilities. Paper Presented at Breakfast Meeting for
Media Owners Hosted by the Civil Society Capacity Building Programme. Kampala, November 15, 2006
24 Discussed in some detail in this report under the section on Media Monitoring.
25 Colmery, B. et al. (2009). There Will be Ink.
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On gender, a major international study conducted by International Womens Media Foundation in Uganda in 2015 and titled Who
Makes the News delivered the following sobering findings about
the state of women in the countrys media:
w Womens overall presence in the news was only 28% of news subjects.
w Interesting but quite unfortunate, women made news most in the topic least
covered by the media (Celebrity/Arts /Media) the same topical area female journalists are two times more likely to cover than their male counterparts; the latter
are more preponderant in the coverage of politics and government.
w As news makers occupationally, women appeared most in fields associated
with domesticity and care giving such as home makers, parents, and health/
social/child care workers. Conversely, men featured mostly in the occupations
traditionally associated with power such as royalty, business, religion, politics.
w Female news sources were found to be more likely to be featured as victims,
portrayed as survivors, and identified by their family status than [male] news
subjects.
w The medias interest in covering women as a central focus; highlighting
issues of gender equality; and those challenging gender stereotypes,
was at best, lukewarm.
26 Mwesige, P.G & D.K. Kalinaki (2007). East Africa: 50 years of media, in E. Barratt & G. Berger (Eds.). 50 Years of Journalism: African media since
Ghanas independence. (pp. 97-109). Johannesburg: African Editors Forum, Highway Africa, and Media Foundation for West Africa.
27 http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/africa-media/09427.pdf
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36 http://www.newvision.co.ug/mobile/Detail.aspx-?NewsID=654810&CatID=397
37 http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/38670-2016-ucc-reads-riot-act-for-media
38 https://hrnjuganda.org/?p=2077
39 http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/40473-observer-journalist-arrested-for-covering-ssemujju-s-arrest
40 https://hrnjuganda.org/?wpfb_dl=58
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41 http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/Chaos-unfolds-at-Besigye---Oulanyah-Gulu-gatherings/-/859108/3006944/-/sinn7cz/-/
index.html
42 http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/40791-parliamentary-aspirant-summoned-for-assaulting-journalist
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43 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/2586744/-/72h622/-/index.html
44 https://hrnjuganda.wordpress.com/2015/09/15/hrnj-uganda-alert-medical-practitioner-testifies-in-journalists-assault-case/
45 https://hrnjuganda.org/?p=1449
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46 http://him-ug.org/index.php/rulings/nfa-first-ruling
47 http://him-ug.org/index.php/rulings/nfa-second-ruling
48 http://him-ug.org/index.php/rulings/nfa-third-ruling
49 http://www.right2info.org/resources/publications/casepdfs/uganda_charles-mwanguhya-mpagi-and-izama-angelo-v.-attorney-general
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59%
Journalists reached.
(Up from 56% in 2014)
1,897
32%
Women served.
Passed minimum target
of 30%. We barely missed
it in 2014
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Number of beneficiaries
of ACME services
7%
6%
4% 4%
30%
7%
8%
10%
13%
11%
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2015 in pictures|
|2015 in pictures
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JOURNALISTIC EXCELLENCE
The mid-career training that ACME offers
journalists seeks to promote journalism that
informs and engages the public and holds
public leaders accountable. Our approach
recognises that skills are not enough in the
pursuit of journalistic excellence. We therefore
offer a mix of skills and knowledge modules.
The skills we address include story spotting,
story structure, analysis, depth, sourcing,
interviewing, enterprise, investigation, and
data use.
The knowledge/content modules, meanwhile,
expose journalists to new or deeper knowledge
in selected areas of public affairs. Knowledge
is key to strengthening story context. As
veteran journalist Thomas Patterson put it,
For almost any development of even modest
complexity, journalists cannot be counted upon
to construct a comprehensive and intelligent
account unless they are knowledgeable of the
underlying factors.50
Our training in 2015 focused on effective
50 Mwesige, P.G. (2006). Thomas Patterson (2013) Informing the News: the need for knowledge-based reporting. Downloaded from http://journalistsresource.org/skills/research/knowledge- based-reporting on October 9, 2013.
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51 http://www.uneca.org/iff
52 http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Hiding_In_Plain_Sight_Report-Final.pdf
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53 http://www.observer.ug/business/38-business/40339-how-mtn-uganda-s-offshore-stash-sent-ura-on-the-hunt
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PIONEERS: Participants in
ACMEs inaugural course on
reporting land.
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54 http://www.independent.co.ug/news/news-analysis/9462-money-problems-in-ugandas-parliament
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Table 3: ACME grantees and awardees who excelled further afield in 2015
Name and media house
Type of recognition
Winning story
Caroline Ariba
New Vision
Winner
2015 Thomson Foundation
Young Journalist Award
Carol Natukunda
New Vision
Overall Winner
Population and Development
Awards, Administered by Uganda
Population Secretariat and
UNFPA
Highly Commended, Energy and
Infrastructure Category
CNN MultiChoice African
Journalist of the Year Awards
(2015)
Winner Online
Administered by Uganda
Population Secretariat and
UNFPA
Zimeo Award for Excellence in
Media: Education Reporting
Dicta Asiimwe
The EastAfrican
Francis Mugerwa
Daily Monitor
Stephen Ssenkaaba
New Vision
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AMPLIFYING VOICES:
NTVs Maurice Mugisha
moderates the 2015 Annual
Media and Politics in Africa
Lecture in Kampala.
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MEDIA LITERACY
Challenge Media messages are a critical feature
of everyday life in modern society. Media
influences and effects are felt across the globe,
transcending social and cultural boundaries.
However, media also cater to a diversity of
interests, hence the need to know how best
to use media for ones own, hopefully noble,
purposes. For better or worse, many of our
perceptions of the world around us are shaped
by what we read, see, and hear via the media.
Good causes can be won or lost in the media,
as are careers in public life. Skills in using the
media in all their varied forms have become
essential for governments and any public,
private, civil society or corporate organisation
that seeks to mobilise public opinion and to
advance particular interests. Yet many who
should possess the requisite skills do not.
Intervention ACME runs a training programme
in media literacy to help public officials,
members of civil society, the political class,
business people, and high school leavers
improve their skills in engaging with the media.
Change After a frenetic few years, 2015 was
quieter. Things ebb and flow even in our world.
We offered inhouse media literacy training and
ACME Annual Report 2015
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ARTICULATING THE
ISSUES: ACMEs Rachel
Mugarura-Mutana
discusses the impact of
social media on
journalism as Mathias
Kamp of KonradAdenauer-Stiftung looks
on.
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MEDIA MONITORING
One reason ACME exists is to monitor the
performance of Ugandan media. We wish to see
media practitioners perform to the same high
standards that they so often demand of others
especially in government and business. Media
accountability is important yet in Uganda
media do not cover other media as a matter of
course. Through occasional commentary on our
website, we try to shine a spotlight on media
performance. Starting with our monitoring
of the media coverage of the 2016 elections,
we are expanding media monitoring into a
significant and continuous programme.
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FINDINGS: ACMEs
Harriet Anena presents
the November 2015
report from the project,
Monitoring Media
Coverage of the 2016
Elections, at a media
dialogue.
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55 For the purposes of this study, the term public affairs is used to refer to issues of public interest that citizens have a right to know about and which
affect their livelihoods and the exercise of their rights and duties as citizens.
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ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Strategic planning
Staff development
Ford Foundation
official visits
On 10 August 2015, ACME
hosted Ms Hilary Pennington,
Ford
Foundations
vice
president for education,
creativity,
and
free
expression. She leads Fords
work on school reform in
the United States and higher
education around the world,
next-generation media policy
and journalism, and support
for arts and culture. She also
oversees the foundations
regional programming in
four offices based in Africa
and the Middle East. Ford
Foundation funds ACMEs
knowledge-based journalism
project.
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ACME Staff
RACHEL MUGARURAMUTANA
LYDIA NAMUBIRU
GRACE NATABAALO
PHIONAH BASIRIKA
BERNARD TABAIRE
APOLO KAKAIRE
PAUL KIMUMWE
JOSEPH LUTALO
PETER MWESIGE
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HARRIET ANENA
SUSAN NALWERA
IRENE NABUNYA
ERIA KIRANGWA
MOHLES K.
SEGULULIGAMBA
BENJAMIN RUKWENGYE
ACME Annual Report 2015
YUSUF ZIRABA
MATHIAS MULUMBA
TADEO KATO
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TESTIMONIALS
Your training opened my eyes
From: John Njoroge
Date: 30 September 2015 at 13:04
Subject: Thank you ACME
To: Bernard Tabaire <btabaire@acme-ug.org>
Greetings all,
Many thanks to ACME for this amazing
opportunity to learn more about Ugandas
mineral capacity and particularly about the Oil
and Gas sector. I am now getting more and more
interested in the Sector and will welcome any
available opportunity to get information.
I would also like to say thank you for the
wonderful hospitality and for the pleasure of all
your company. I pray we can meet as a group
soonest.
Regards
John Njoroge
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I won an award
From: Francis Mugerwa
Date: 4 December 2015 at 14:34
Subject: Re: ARTICLE PUBLISHED
To: Paul Kimumwe <pkimumwe@acme-ug.org>, Bernard
Tabaire <btabaire@acme-ug.org>, Peter Mwesige <mwesige@
yahoo.com>
Cc: rmugarura <rmugarura@acme-ug.org>
Data story wins award
On Thursday, I won an award from the United Nations
(UN) for my outstanding media coverage of population and
development issues. I was given the award during the launch
of the state of the world population report, 2015. I received
plaque and a tablet at a function that was held at Imperial
Royale Hotel in Kampala.
The award was for a story I did with a local Government
fellowship grant from ACME. The story analyzed how Hoima is
grappling with teenage pregnancies and the impact of teenage
pregnancies on the education and health of the girl child. The
data story sparked off local and national debate about the
appropriate interventions that can protect the girl child in the
wake of threats they are facing. The planning state Minister Hon
David Bahati who was the chief guest at the awards ceremony
presented the award to me. The awards were organized by the
Ministry of Finances Population secretariat with support from
United Nations Population Fund.
ACME Annual Report 2015
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THE BOARD
Dr Monica Chibita (chair)
Head, Department of Journalism and Communication
Uganda Christian University, Mukono
Mr James Abola
Financial Consultant and Team Leader
Akamai Global, Kampala
Mr Moses Adriko
Co-Managing Partner/Advocate
MMAKS Advocates, Kampala
Ms Jackie Christie
Senior Production Manager
BBC Media Action, Nairobi
Ms Barbara Kaija
Editor-in-Chief
Vision Group, Kampala
Mr Daniel Kalinaki
Managing Editor for Regional Content
Nation Media Group, Nairobi
Dr Peter Mwesige
ACME Co-founder and Executive Director
(ex-officio member)
Dr Zahara Nampewo
Lecturer
School of Law
Makerere University, Kampala
Mr Zie Gariyo
Policy Analyst and Director
CORET Centre, Kampala
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OUR PARTNERS
At African Centre for Media Excellence we rely on partnerships with like-minded organisations
to provide a foundation from which we successfully operate. In 2015, we worked with several
organisations.
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PARTING SHOT
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