Media personnel in Uganda have been holding regional consultative dialogues to identify professional challenges they face, with emphasis laid on conditions that lead to self-regulation.
Conducted under the theme ‘The Media We Want’, the month-long dialogues engaged journalists from Northern Uganda (Acholi and Lango sub-regions), West Nile and Karamoja region, Eastern Uganda (Busoga, Bugisu and Teso) and Western, South Western and Mid-South in South Buganda, Ankole, Kigezi, Rwenzori and Bunyoro.
The dialogues are a brainchild of the Parliamentary Forum on the Media (UPFM) chaired by Butambala District Woman MP Mariam Nalubega, which worked in partnership with Panos Eastern Africa (PEA), the Uganda Journalists Association and Uganda Parliamentary Press Association, on this project.
In Kampala the dialogue was held July 8 at the Imperial Royale Hotel and according to PEA acting Executive Director Lynn Najjemba, it attracted over 150 media practitioners from different media organisations and other stakeholder institutions like Makerere and Mukono universities.
“What dominated the Kampala dialogue were calls to journalists to attach value to themselves as individuals by ‘going back to school and acquiring the requisite qualifications. This is after we found that majority of people working as journalists especially in upcountry media houses mainly radio, do not have qualifications in journalism at all,” a release by Ms Najjemba, states in part.
Ms Najjemba said the dialogues discussed a number of media and journalism issues with major emphasis on the key issues that continue to impede growth of the journalism profession and the media sector in Uganda.
‘The dialogues were meant to start a conversation on the idea of Self-Regulation with the big question being ‘’Can Media in Uganda in its current state take charge of its own affairs,’ the release adds.
According to Ms Najjemba, those practicing journalism and found wanting were urged to update the media-related qualifications.
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