Rather than issuing written communication to media, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is using phone calls as a way of evading evidence and accountability, rights organisations meeting in Kampala have said.
“All instructions and guidance from the UCC must be made in writing or will not be treated by the media as a legitimate communication,” warned a group of nine civil society organisations that had gathered to discuss the current prickly relationship between government and the media.
The group of civil society organisation (CSOs) want UCC to adjust its definition of minimum broadcasting standards, saying the current definition is not clear. “The UCC has a responsibility to clearly articulate a definition of what constitutes ‘minimum broadcasting standards’ a term so used against media houses in the country,” they say.
The NGOs that gathered were Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Human Rights Network Uganda, Human Rights Centre Uganda, Uganda and Media Women Association.
Others were Centre for Public Litigation, Hub for Investigative Media, Legal Aid Service Providers Network , Chapter Four Uganda, Uganda Parliamentary Press Association and Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Uganda.
They noted emphasized that the UCC should bear in mind that court pronounced itself on the matter of ‘false news’.
“The courts have decided that there is no offence of publishing false news, therefore, the UCC cannot include publishing false news as part of the definition,” they argued.
The participants at the meeting also were concerned that media houses, particularly outside Kampala, have been pressured not to host dissenting voices.
“Every media house must be free to interview any public figure whatever their political stance, without reprisals,” they said, calling upon the government to uphold its commitments under the national, regional and international human rights instruments that guarantee press freedoms
The CSOs urged that the continued persecution and oppression of journalists is a violation of press freedom. “The government should amend laws that continue to criminalize the work of journalists,” they said, adding that human rights are entitlements and not given by the State and so must be upheld.
They also want UCC to work for the promotion and growth of the media rather than control and curtail its freedoms.
The struggle to defend and promote media freedom should spread across to the civil society as the media serves the public, they said.
