Uganda Media Week 2022 Summary

Uganda Media Week is a multifaceted annual journalism event hosted by MFA since 2019. It is mainly made up of media trainings and dialogues aimed at contributing to professional journalism across multimedia platforms. The two main events are the pre-media week regional trainings, and the two-day Uganda Media Week Conference.

1. Pre-Media Week regional trainings

With support from the African Digital Fund(ADRF)  through  Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), MFA held regional training for journalists on reporting on digital rights for marginalised persons. This was the 4^th regional media training and dialogue ahead of the Uganda media week conference. Journalists from radio, print, television and online were trained on covering under reported stories on digital exclusion, digital security for media houses and journalists, and digital literacy. Rural based journalists in West Nile, Northern Uganda, and North Eastern Uganda benefited from the training. The training strengthened the knowledge and skills of journalists to report on the diverse digital divides in their regions.

Impact

1. 1. A table showing number of trained journalists per region

Fig 2. A table showing Gender representation of trained journalist per region

Quotes

“I now understand the importance of including all voices especially of the marginalized persons in my community when reporting on digital developments. Usually, our stories focus on the digital developments and not the end user. Going forward, I will be more intentional about including voices rural women and persons living with disabilities when reporting on digital issues” Hellen Onepur, Reporter, Etop Radio

“Most of the journalists in rural areas lack digital skills to operate digital tools for news gathering. Rural based journalists are lagging behind on digital skills because most trainings target urban based journalists in the central region. Some journalists are technophobic, and prefer to continue using the old technology that they are used to.” Olandason Wandera, Reporter for New Vision in Karamoja

“The high cost of data bundles has compelled some journalists to limit their practice to reporting for radio rather than reporting for online news platforms or print that requires one to continuously file stories via email or uploading them to the news websites. Majority of the rural based media houses do not provide internet services for the employees so the journalists have to improvise by buying their own data.” Felix Warom, Bureau Chief Daily Monitor West Nile.

1. Uganda Media Week Conference

On the 3rd and 4th of November 2022, Media Focus on Africa held the fourth Uganda Media Week Conference themed Journalism, innovation and the future. The annual conference brought together key actors in Uganda’s media industry-news editors and reporters owners, regulators, and support organizations.  to reflect on the challenges facing the industry and deliberated together to find workable solutions. The conference comprised of panel discussions, keynote conversations, presentations and debates on key issues in the journalism industry. Topics discussed include – safety for journalists, women in media, local news, and innovations in media. 65 participants attended the conference on Thursday 3rd, and 69 on Friday 4th November 2022.  The conference is supported by Deustche Welle (DWA), United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR), and Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

Quotes

“We are faced by perpetrators who are trying to take away our space and to sabotage our work. We also need to do our part because we are quickly being replaced by non-journalists who have got the tools.  Anybody with a smartphone can broadcast or publish a story from wherever they are,” Joachim Buwembo

“What exactly does it mean to be relevant? It also goes back to the question I asked in the 2021(Uganda Media Week) conference, that what is the difference between journalism and media? Everybody feels like they are a journalist as long as they have a phone and can record something and share it, which is really our typical definition of Journalism. The citizen is the journalist now, so what difference then does the trained journalists make?  What difference are we making as trainers, why should somebody be in my class for three years to earn a degree in journalism if they’re going to compete for space with somebody who didn’t need a primary seven school certificate to be able to use tick tock?” Dr. Emilly Maractho

“About two or three years ago two years ago, we were having a Uganda Media Week Conference   like this and in the room there were people media owners who believed that having women in the Newsroom was quite expensive. They presented practical explanations like when she gets pregnant and goes on maternity leave you have to keep her on payroll. That is why MFA has partnered with DWA to train different media houses on implementing Gender sensitive media policies ”Jan Ajwang