Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Published by
African Centre for Media Excellence
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CopyrightACME 2016
Layout and Design
Harriet Anena
hanena@acme-ug.org
Cover Photo
Rachel Mabala
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This report is published with support from the Democratic Governance
Facility (DGF), which has funded ACMEs project on monitoring media
coverage of the 2016 elections. We are grateful for the partnership with
DGF.
Several individuals have contributed to the report and we single out a few.
Project Manager Mohles Kalule Segululigamba, technical advisor George
Lugalambi, and statisticians Yusuf Mulumba and Brian Ssenabulya. We
also recognise the contribution of ACME staff Peter G. Mwesige and
Harriet Anena.
ACME would also like to thank the panel of advisors that reviews the
findings every month before they are shared with the public. Panel
members are David Ouma Balikowa, Charlotte Kawesa Ntulume, William
Tayeebwa, Patricia Litho and Joseph Ssemakula.
ACME further thanks the coders who tirelessly entered data and the
research assistants who recorded broadcast content.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................3
Background........................................................................................................3
The Media and Elections..........................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................11
Scope of the Monitoring.........................................................................................11
Sample and Sampling Methods............................................................................11
Methods of Data Collection...................................................................................15
Experience..............................................................................................................25
Freedom to Report....................................................................................................25
FINDINGS.....................................................................................................................27
Reporting Approach................................................................................................48
Sources: Number........................................................................................................66
Following.....................................................................................................70
Tweets............................................................................................................................70
Interactions...................................................................................................71
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................76
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report presents the results of the monitoring of media coverage of
the Ugandan presidential and parliamentary elections in the month of
January 2016. The key findings are outlined below.
A critical reading of the results shows that radio, which a majority of
Ugandans rely on for political news, has continued to lag behind other
media forms in terms of quantity of election stories (in proportionate
terms) as well as on most measures of quality.
The New Vision and Bukedde (both in the Vision Group stable in which the
government owns majority shares) also gave far more space to President
Museveni (64% and 67% respectively) than to other candidates.
The New Vision led with Mr Museveni on the front page on 15 out of
the 31 days in January. On most of the remaining days, the newspaper
carried front page stories in which government officials provided upbeat
updates on the status of sectors such as health, tourism, railways and
roads.
INTRODUCTION
This report presents the results of the monitoring of newspaper
coverage of the Ugandan presidential and parliamentary elections in the
month of January 2016. Comprehensive findings on the quantity and the
quality of coverage in nine newspapers, five television stations and 33
radio stations are presented and discussed.
Background
For an electoral process to qualify as free and fair, not only must the
election unfold in adequate political and administrative conditions,
but citizens must also have access to sufficient information about the
parties, candidates and voting procedures to ensure that they will make
an enlightened and valid choice. Elections will only be free if all players
candidates, political parties, citizens, civil society and, of course,
journalists can express themselves on all matters of public concern.
The media play five essential roles in the electoral process:
2 Marie-Soleil Frre (2010). The Media and Elections in Post-Conflict Central African Countries. Brussels: University
of Brussels.
Although both the Constitution and electoral laws provide for equal
access to candidates on state or public media, in all previous elections,
the latter have been accused of paying disproportionate attention to
the activities of the incumbent and ruling party at the expense of the
challengers and the opposition. This practice denies the viewing/
listening public access to adequate information against which to judge
all sides in the election.
Denial of access to state/public media by opposition candidates
had paid for were never featured. Again, this practice denies the viewing
public access to adequate information against which to judge all sides in
an electoral contest.
Predominance of episodic reporting and dearth of issue-based coverage
The media have also been accused of focusing more on the drama and
daily routine of the election campaign at the expense of the issues. They
also tend to report the election as an event rather than a process. This
practice denies the public not only information but also the context
within which to judge candidates, parties, electoral authorities, as well
the process.
No serious interrogation of candidate claims and promises
It has been said that voters are the most critical players in elections.
Unfortunately, it has been pointed out that the media coverage in
Uganda, as in many other countries, tends to pay far more attention to
the candidates and their parties than to the voters. Lost in this kind of
reporting, for instance, are the issues that matter most to the voters as
well as their own evolving evaluation of the electoral process.
Attempts by political actors, especially those in government, to influence
visuals in newspapers and on television
Inaccurate reporting.
Bribery of journalists.
Self-censorship.
10
METHODOLOGY
This section presents the scope of the monitoring exercise, the sample
and sampling methods, methods of data collection as well as the tools
that we used.
Scope of the monitoring
11
all facets of the election coverage that the electorate in its diversity is
exposed to.
Print media
Television
The five TV channels included in the sample collectively cover the whole
country. All but one broadcast primarily in English. Bukedde broadcasts
in Luganda and is one of the platforms owned by the Vision Group.
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) is the public broadcaster. The
rest of the stations are privately owned. The channels included in the TV
samples are:
1. Bukedde
2. NBS
3. NTV
4. UBC
5. WBS
Radio
The radio stations selected for monitoring collectively cover the entire country and represent Ugandas seven major regions: Kampala,
central, eastern, western, south-western, northern, and North-Western/
West Nile. This sample constitutes about 13% of the 250 or so stations
in operation across the country. The selected radio stations generally
accommodate all audience profiles as defined by social class, language,
religion, ethnicity, and geography/geo-politics. Except UBC, the public
broadcaster, all the other channels are either private, faith-based, or
community radio stations. The stations that make up the radio sample
are presented by region in Table 1.
13
MEDIA
FREQUENCY
Kampala (5)
Capital Radio
KFM
Top Radio
Simba FM
UBC Blue Channel
FM 91.3
FM 93.3
FM 89.6
FM 97.3
FM 98
Baba
Open Gate
Rock Mambo
Kioga Veritas
Voice of Teso
Signal FM
FM 87.7
FM 103.2
FM 106.8
FM 91.5
FM 88.4
FM 88.1
Central (5)
Eastern (6)
Western (5)
South-Western (2)
Northern (4)
Radio Sapientia
Voice of Africa
Central Broadcasting Services
Buddu
Spice FM
Kasese Guide
Voice of Toro
Bushenyi
Bunyoro Broadcasting Services
Radio West
Rukungiri FM
Voice of Kigezi
Mighty Fire
Dokolo FM
Mega FM
Rhino
14
FM 94.8
FM 92.3
FM 89.2
FM 101.9
FM 89.9
FM 100.5
FM 101
FM 92.2
FM 98.2
FM 100.2
FM 96.7
FM 89.5
FM 91.5
FM 102.4
FM 102.1
FM 96.1
FM 89.1
FM 94.1
FM 100.9
FM 87.8
FM 88.7
FM 90.9
Social media
Twitter was selected over other social media platforms on pragmatic
grounds. The objectives are to ascertain the extent to which the main
presidential candidates use Twitter as an alternative media form during
and after the campaign season as well as to assess candidates use of
Twitter to listen to and respond to queries, demands and debates from
the electorate online.
Methods of data collection
15
17
Although Uganda has some of the most vibrant media in east and
southern Africa, in the last five years, the country has been characterised
by Freedom House as partly free. In one of its more recent reports,
the international press freedom watchdog concluded that although the
countrys constitution provides for freedom of expression and press
freedom, several laws negate these guarantees, and the government
continues to crack down on critical journalists and media houses using
both subtle and blatant methods.6
Legal framework
18
dom-press/2011/uganda
These laws provide for statutory regulation and establish the Media
Council as the primary regulator of the print media but also aspects of
broadcast media, and the Uganda Communications Commission as the
regulator of electronic media and telecommunications. All journalists are
supposed to be licensed by the Media Council, which is by law required to
recognise only those enrolled under the National Institute of Journalists
of Uganda (NIJU). Journalists require university degrees to become full
members of NIJU. These regulations have not been followed strictly
in the last 15 years although they continue to attract criticism from
media freedom watchers, who also fault Ugandas regulatory regime for
not having the necessary independence from the government.
The Fourth Schedule of the Press and Journalist Act provides for a
professional code of ethics that lists nine commandments:
1. No journalist shall disseminate information or an allegation without
establishing its correctness or truth.
appropriate form without delay and in a way that they will be noticed
by those who have received the original information.
7. A journalist shall at all times strive to separate his or her own opinions
from factual news. Where personal opinions are expressed, the public
shall be made to know.
8. A journalist shall take the necessary steps to correct any damaging report
he or she has made on any individual or organisation.
9. A journalist shall not originate or encourage the dissemination of
information designed to promote or which may have the effect of
promoting tribalism, racism or any other form of discrimination.
Schedule 4 of the Uganda Communications Act on the other hand,
provides for minimum broadcasting standards. It states:
A broadcaster or video operator shall ensure that
(a) any programme which is broadcast
(i) is not contrary to public morality;
(ii) does not promote the culture of violence or ethnical prejudice among
the public, especially the children and the youth;
(iii) in the case of a news broadcast, is free from distortion of facts;
(iv) is not likely to create public insecurity or violence;
(v) is in compliance with the existing law;
(b) programmes that are broadcast are balanced to ensure harmony in
such programmes;
(c) adult-oriented programmes are appropriately scheduled;
(d) where a programme that is broadcast is in respect to a contender for
20
See http://www.ucc.co.ug/files/downloads/Q3-Market%20Report%20%20for%20Third%20Quarter%20
-%20July-September%202015.pdf.
21
22
13 http://www.ucc.co.ug/files/downloads/Annual%20Market%20Industry%20Report%202014-15-%20October%2019-2015.pdf.
14 http://www.contadorharrison.com/social-media-use-in-uganda/
15 http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/38278-who-s-tom-voltaire-okwalinga-tvo
16 https://www.facebook.com/tom.okwalinga?fref=ts
17 https://www.facebook.com/Tvo-Uganda-654610647943658/?fref=ts
18 http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Lawyers-demand-release-of-social-media-critic-/-/688334/2747382/-/r3f7qaz/-/index.html
23
carrying posts that mocked the government for holding the wrong
person. Although journalists have increasingly embraced social media
to enhance their reporting, the opportunities offered by the Internet and
new media are yet to be exploited fully. In particular, the many initiatives
to harness the public voice and hold the government accountable through
social media and digital platforms are often not amplified through the
mainstream media, especially radio, which remains the major source of
information for a majority of Ugandans.
Standards and quality of reporting
24
Years of Journalism: African media since Ghanas independence. (pp. 97-109). Johannesburg: African Editors Forum,
Highway Africa, and Media Foundation for West Africa.
25
The media dedicated a huge amount of space and airtime to election reporting, by introducing
special election pullouts and talks shows to discuss emerging issues. Courtsesy Photo
26
FINDINGS
Volume of Stories
A total of 877 newspaper articles, 517 TV and 827 radio stories and shows were
analysed in January. Among the newspapers, Daily Monitor had the highest number of
election stories (25.3%), followed by Red Pepper (24.3%). The regional weekly Rupiny
had the least number of stories.
27
Among the television stations monitored, NTV Uganda had the biggest
number of election stories (25.7%) followed by Bukedde TV (23%). The
national broadcaster, UBC, and NBS had the least number of election
stories (16.4% each).
Figure 1-1: Number of election stories - TV
On radio, KFM had the highest number of election stories among the 33
stations monitored in January.
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Museveni was also given more time on radio January (37.3%), with
Besigye and Mbabazi trying at 24.4%, a double-digit difference.
Figure 4-4: Most covered presidential candidate radio
36
37
38
Museveni dominated the New Vision front page, taking up 51.5% of the
election stories in January. The paper led with Mr Museveni on the front
page on 15 out of the 31 days in January. On most of the remaining days,
the newspaper carried front page stories in which government officials
provided upbeat updates on the status of sectors such as health, tourism,
railways and roads.
The Observer gave slightly more attention to Besigye while Mbabazi
edged out Museveni on the Daily Monitors front page.
Figure 5-1: Front page coverage of presidential candidates by publication
39
40
The same five topics politics, economy, security, health and infrastructure
were top on television.
Figure 6-1: Most covered topic TV
41
42
Tone
This is the general character portrayed by the story. For purposes of
this study, it applies only to stories that focus on presidential candidates
and parties. The tone is negative when the article in general paints the
candidate or party in bad light, or is critical of or questions the candidate,
party or a particular issue raised by these actors.
The tone is positive when the article expresses promise about or
celebrates a particular candidate or party or in general, paints the
candidate or party in good light.
The tone is neutral when the article is neither negative nor positive.
The findings show that the tone of coverage in January was mainly
neutral across all three media platforms. Radio returned the highest
proportion of stories with a neutral tone (71.3%), followed by television
(64.1%) and newspapers (63.3%). Newspapers had a higher proportion
of stories with a negative tone.
Figure 7: Tone of coverage by media type
43
44
Among the television stations, UBC had the highest proportion of stories
with a neutral tone (76.9%) and also the lowest frequency of stories with
a negative tone. This is perhaps to be expected considering that UBC
focused disproportionately on incumbent Museveni and his ruling NRM,
who did not attract much critical reporting. NTV Uganda had highest
proportion of stories with both a positive tone (34.9%) and negative
tone (14.7%).
Figure 7-2: Tone of coverage by TV station
45
46
47
Reporting approach
The reporting approach is the style in which the election stories are
reported. Conventional reporting tends to focus on events (hard news)
with fact-reporting as the dominant posture. In interpretive reporting,
explanation is the dominant posture.
48
49
50
51
Orumuri (100%), New Vision (86.2%) and The Observer (66.7%) had
the highest proportion of issue-based coverage while Rupiny, The
Independent and Etop had the highest frequency of personality-based
election stories.
Figure 9-1: Issues vs. personalities by publication
52
53
54
55
56
57
Among the newspapers, Rupiny, Orumuri and Etop did the worst job,
while Bukedde and The Independent performed best in interrogating
claims and promises.
Figure 11-1: Interrogation of candidates claims & promises by publication
58
On television, NBS did the best job, while Bukedde was the worst
performer, followed closely by UBC TV.
Figure 11-2: Interrogation of candidates claims & promises by TV station
59
60
61
62
Gender of sources
In January, as in all the previous months, women continued to be
marginalised as sources. In the newspapers, where they were used more
frequently than on other platforms, women constituted only 14.7% of
sources.
Figure 13: Gender of sources by media type
63
64
65
Number of sources
Single-sourced stories were the most frequent in January across all media
platforms. The problem was once again most pronounced on radio where
78.4% of the stories aired had only one source. In the newspapers, which
performed better than the other platforms, the percentage of stories that
relied on three or more sources was only 24.1%.
Figure 14: Number of sources by media type
66
67
68
@KagutaMuseveni
Followers
69
Following
This refers to the number of users a profile is following during a selected
time range. It is not unusual that there is a large difference between the
number of followers that a Twitter profile has and the number of profiles
that it follows.
The findings show that Museveni continued to follow the least number
of profiles on Twitter in January. He followed only 16 accounts, up from
14 in December. Besigye followed 323, up from 319 in December, while
Mbabazi, who followed the highest number of accounts, also added the
most to move up to 6,326 from 6,241 in December.
Tweets
70
Interactions
Interactions denote both outgoing and incoming communication on
Twitter. Outgoing interactions are replies, retweets or mentions of
another user by the profile monitored. Incoming interactions are replies,
retweets or mentions of the profile by other users. The retweet count is
the number of times the profile has been retweeted in a selected time
range.
The findings show that overall, Mbabazi led the other candidates in both
incoming and outgoing interactions. His total number of interactions
rose to 33,930 from 12,452 in December.
71
@KagutaMuseveni 0
@AmamaMbabazi
@KizzaBesigye1
416
29
31,140
33,514
15,499
72
73
74
Response to questions
Once again, Museveni and Besigye responded to none of the questions
directly addressed to their handles, while Mbabazi responded to only
four of the 991 questions posed to him on Twitter.
Total questions
to handle
Responses to
questions
Response time
@KagutaMuseveni
1,022
N/A
@AmamaMbabazi
@KizzaBesigye1
991
490
4
0
23h 55min
N/A
75
CONCLUSION
January brings yet another mixed bucket of results. The positives include
more issue-based reportage, increased use of ordinary persons as sources,
and the predominance of a neutral tone of coverage. Perennial problems
remain, however: fewer women as sources, use of single sources, not
much background and context, excessive use of conventional reporting
approach, and little interrogation of candidate claims and promises. And
incumbency proves more potent in that President Yoweri Museveni hogs
the media limelight, fairly or otherwise.
76
Ordinary persons were among the top five most quoted sources in
newspaper and TV stories in January. Presidential candidates were on
the top. This is commendable. However, radio, considered the true mass
media in the country, did not adequately source ordinary persons in its
All three media platforms increased their level of coverage in space and
time of the second-tier presidential candidates: Benon Biraaro, Elton
Mabirizi, Maureen Kyalya, Abed Bwanika and Venansius Baryamureeba.
The presidential debate held on 15 January in which these candidates
participated attracted sustained media coverage for days, focusing on
each candidates position on the issues. And from then on there was
more than passing media interest in their candidacies.
Male sources were the majority at more than 80% across all media in
January. This has been the case since September 2015. The striking thing
about the current period is that the number of female sources declined
between December and January. Ugandan media have a lot of work to
do to ensure half of the countrys population is heard on all issues, but
especially on matters as critical as electoral politics because elections
determine a countrys direction in a very significant way.
The parliamentary election was not prominently and adequately
77
covered by the media in January, just like it was the case in previous
months. However, perhaps because of the more localised nature of the
parliamentary politics, radio, dwelt more on covering MP contests.
Otherwise, it is unlikely that the media will focus much attention on
parliamentary campaigns when there is a high-stakes presidential
contest going on at the same time. There is probably only so much the
media can do.
Whereas media dwelt more on issue-coverage than personality, as
already noted, they also did not provide as much background and
context in January compared to December. This means the issues were
left hanging, as it were, without the audiences being told where those
issues media covered fit in the broader scheme of improving the lives of
Ugandans.
Once again, politics and power play was the most covered topic across
all media platforms while issues ranked highly on the publics agenda
played second fiddle.
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ACME 2016