EMERGENCE/ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MEDIA IN THE COLONIAL ERA
The dominant form of mass media in the colonial era was print journalism. During the colonial period, four different categories of newspapers came up in terms of ownership and ideological belief and loyalty. This categorization intends to provide a systematic overview of media growth and development in the colonial Era.
The first category was the religious newspapers that were a voice of Christian Missionary Enterprise.
The second category was of natively owned newspapers, whose proprietors were either members of colonially created individuals who owned large pieces of land and products of missionary education. It is important to note that the natively owned newspapers adopted an activist approach to issues of the day, transforming progressively from addressing social-economic problems in the 1920s to the 1940 to engage in political activism in the 1950s.
The third category was those papers owned by the colonial regime. These played out a propaganda role.
The fourth and last category was of newspapers owned by foreign entrepreneurs.
The Religious Newspapers
The most sounding and popular religious groups at the time Britain declared the Uganda protectorate were the Anglicans and the Roman Catholics.
The first newspaper to be published was a monthly newsletter known as the Mengo notes, produced by the Church Missionary Society in 1900. This newsletter was called Mengo notes because of the intention to focus attention on centre of native royal power(Buganda Kingdom Headquarters) and it further highlighted the strength/superiority of Anglicans over the Catholics at that time.
In 1902, Mengo notes was renamed as Uganda Notes in order to give national significance to the newsletter. In 1907, another Anglican publication known as Ebifa mu Buganda was established. The Anglicans also later published the English language Upper Nile Magazine and the New Century.
The Roman catholics produced their first paper Munno in 1911 in addition to munno, their was the luganda language newspaper called Mutabaganya. The catholic church in the colonial era also started regional news papers to reach out to its residents throughout the country and these included lobo mewa in luo for Acholi and Lango, the west Nile Catholic gazettein English, MadiAlur and Lugbar for the west Nile region, ErwonK’Iteso in Atesot for Teso and Ageterine in Runyakitara for Ankole and kigezi.
These religious publications were part of the colonial manifestation. The mission received support from the colonial government. What is important to keep in mind is that these religiouspublication did not attack the British colonial rule but essentially served as journalistic vehicles for communicating partisan news and promoting a sense of identity among the slowly growing educated mass of the natives.
The native owned publications/ newspapers
The first native newspaper to appear on the colonial scene was Ssekanyolya in 1920, a year after the violence of world war I had been concluded in Europe.
Sekanyolya was owned by SerwanikoKulubya a muganda with large pieces of land and a product of Anglican missionary Education at kings college Buddo. Kulubya , who was later to become the muwanika(treasurer) of Buganda kingdom, has been described as an early anti colonialist protester.
Ssekanyolya was symbolic of an early spirit of African regionalism. It was printed in Nairobi with a Swahili version and edited by zephania K. Sentongo one of the growing bread of admired educated individuals at the time.
Ssekanyolya represented the fruits of missionary education and consciousness of black identity cutting across ethnic divide. Issues that the paper dealt within its initial numbers were Black nationalism, the fairness of salary payments for locals under colonial employment and the question of the growing indian control of the business economy.
The treatment of these issues by a native owned news paper at such an early stage in the colonial period, reflected the growing political maturity of the emerging Educated Africans. It also exposed the underlying instabilities of the macro economic arrangement legislated into the colonial order by the Uganda Agreement of 1900 and other subsequent statute.
While Ssekanyolya did not fundamentally attack or criticize the colonial regime, other radical locally owned newspapers came up in the 1920’s and 1930’s to challenge the experienced inequities of the Uganda Agreement of 1900 particularly the landed privileged of the Buganda establishment. Some of the most notable newspapers were Munyonyozi(1922), the monthly Gambuze (1927) and Ddobozilya Buganda.
All these papers, championed the struggle against what was experienced as unjust colonial taxation. For example Kasanvu (compulsory cheap paid labour) and Busulu, (land rent) and the exploitative privilages of the Buganda’s aristocracy.
The Buganda establishment also saw the power of the media in influencing opinion and protecting its Interest. Apollo Kagwa already in the highlight of his long tenure as Katikiro of Buganda kingdom started the short lived NjubaEbilese in 1923. There was also royalist newspaper Agafaemengo. The 1940s saw the press becoming progressively more militant and radicalized as the educated native elites became evermore exposed. EmmambyaEsazze, Uganda voice, Tula nkunyonyole, Uganda commonwealth, Buganda Nyaffe and Munyonyozi were among the most representative of this trend. Issues ranged from opposing the forced recruitment of Ugandans into the armed forces to protest against the exploitation of Africans, forced labour or championing the Bataka movement cause.
The colonial Established Newspapers
The colonial Government strategically published a number of free newspapers in the local languages to disseminate the gospel of agrarian and infrastructural development. Much as this development agenda was welcome, it is important to note that it was necessary not only to maintain the financial strength of the protectorate but also ensure a steady flow of raw materials exports to United Kingdom. The local people would be kept busy and have less time to focus on the increasingly vocal local newspapers publications. Examples of the local language colonial establishment newspapers were Khodeyo, written in Lusoga and Bushesiire Written in Runyankole.
The Foreign-Owned Press
The first foreign owned newspaper was the Uganda Herald which started in 1912 by a foreign businessman known as Michael Moss. This publication was purely aimed at the British population. One of its regular columns, significantly called “Home News” was about Britain. Matalisiwas established in 1924 as its sister Luganda newspaper. By 1954, Uganda Heraldbecame a market leader as a result of having gained popularity. However, it closed in 1955 and thereafter the Uganda Argus took over the leading position in the media industry. The Uganda Argus widened it target audience to all races whose educational qualifications made them part of its audience.
The Uganda Argus, together with Taifaleo, Taifa Uganda and TaifaEmpyawere owned by the Aga Khan family who represented the capitalist face of media in the colonial period.
Note should be taken that those were not the only newspapers, for back in 1949 there been a free newspaper entitled Information, which continued in publication, with some gaps, until 1945. The introduction of government papers did not retard the growth of the commercial Press, although by 1962, the development slower than that of the 1950s. This is referred to by James H. Mittelman, in his‘Ideology and Politics in Uganda’ in which he noted;
“In Uganda most of the local newspapers that grew up after World War II did not survive independence. Of those that did survived, Munno gradually became known for its bold editorial policy, its independent line leading it to frequent identification with the DP on matters of Party Politics, persistent attacks on corruption, advocacy of reform, and support for the peasants against the chiefs. The other major newspapers since I962 have been the Argus (1970 circulation, 27,000) and a Luganda publication TaifaEmpya (I970 circulation 8,000). There was no challenge to the near monopolistic position of these publications until “committed” newspapers were established.
The People was founded by the UPC in 1962 as a government daily. During the Obote years, newspapers coverage was almost entirely ministry or party oriented. Stories about the common man were rarely featured, and newspapers therefore had little appeal to the literate or semi-literate at the local level. Although direct government censorship served to restrict criticism, in general, the Press was characterized by an elite orientation, a failure to mobilize, support for the government, and a tendency to treat the words of high level officials as gospel truth (couldn’t be disputed) ”.
Fewer newspapers were started after independence in 1962, thus the birth of the “People” in March 1964 which started another chapter in the development of the press in Uganda. The People was unique in every sense. It was a commercial newspaper like any other, but with a party political bias, having been started by Milton Obote’s Uganda People’s Congress, the party then in power .
The people, the first of its kind in Uganda was created to enhance the ideology and of the party, but mainly to cultivate a sense of nationalism under UPC leadership. The editorial policy also aimed at giving the people what they ought to know. The People was legally owned by the Uganda Press Trust Ltd., which was backed by three organizations, the Milton Obote Foundation, Peace with Freedom Incorporated of New York and World Wide Partnership of Bonn. The Chairman of the Trust was ErisaKironde, a senior member of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).
The People, a bright and breezy weekly tabloid published in English, had a direct popular appeal to most of the literate and semi-literate who grasped a little bit of the language. Many people could not afford to miss the People even if they did not agree with its politics. The People was second to none in news coverage, because its privileged position not only enabled it to publish government scoops (exclusive stories), but also to criticize it. Some people treated all reports as official even if they were not. Many people thought the People was editorially controlled and directed by a UPC party machine. This is not true. Neither the UPC nor did Obote himself even intervene in the day to day affairs the People. Not even the Chairman of the Trust intervened in editorial matters. Although there was a political influence, the editor had complete control of the editorial matters of the paper. As the People grew and became more mature, it gained sufficient confidence to criticize UPC government, ministers, and individual members of parliament or high ranking public officers.
The first person to be officially appointed editor of the People was Paulo Muwanga. For some mysterious reason, he did not take up the appointment. This gave room for Fred Kakembo to become the first editor of the People, although he was essentially a lawyer not a journalist. Kakembo served for a while and he left to become a magistrate. Daniel Nelson was recruited from Argus. Nelson, a Briton was the People's first and last non Ugandan editor. The People became a training ground for many aspiring young journalists. Daniel Nelson was given the task of seeing everything through.
With him, there were several young African journalists such as Charles Binaisa who later became acting editor but lost his life a car accident in I970; John Bagenda-Mpima, the first sports reporter and Luke Kazinja .
In January 1969 The People became a daily tabloid and management selected AtekerEjalu to succeed Nelson. Binaisa Charles became deputy editor and Bagenda-Mpima sports editor. The People became more active and authoritative and continued to survive with its talented staff despite its financial challenges at that time. A number of members of staff were sent abroad for courses in journalism through international organizations.
After the coup of January 1971 which ended the UPC reign, the paper declined in importance. It found itself unable to cope up with the Amin regime due to financial and political problems.
As a temporary measure it returned to publishing weekly before finally closing in 1973.
Bagenda-Mpima, who had been dismissed from the People by Amin, launched a sports monthly magazine called Sports Recorder in 1972. This provided comprehensive sports coverage of local and international sports events. Bagenda-Mpima was later joined by Paul Waibale who represented the Kenyan based Daily Nation in Uganda until Amin banned its circulation. Five years later in 1977 another sports tabloid, called Bukedde started.
In 1975 UNESCO estimated that there were seven daily and 26 non-daily papers circulating in Uganda. The total circulation (number of copies distributed) of the dailies was said to be 90,000 and the non-dailies 133,000. Of the papers in circulation then, the information department of the government produced two daily papers in circulation of 5,000 and 8,000 copies while a morning daily had a circulation of 12,000 and a Catholic mission society paper had a circulation of l 8,000. Most of the papers were written in luganda, English or Kiswahili but there were papers in Lango, Ateso, Madi, Runyoro-Rutoro and Lwo. News agency services were provided by Reuters, UPI, AP, Novosti, Tass and Tanjug. In 1970, the Uganda government established a national news agency, the Uganda News agency. This reported Uganda events and developments and carried reports for foreign news wire agencies.
When Amin took power in I971 he initially ensured that Press freedom prevailed in Uganda. He gave a gift of a cow to each of two newspapers TaifaEmpya and munno who had reported his statement, “I fear nobody except God ” made at the kibuli Mosque while the Uganda People’s Congress was still in power. By 1979, many newspapers had closed down. The Voice of Uganda which was government owned, appeared at regular intervals and all foreign newspapers were banned.
After the downfall of Amin in 1979, a large number of new and old newspapers came into existence. The Uganda Times, published just three days after the fall of Kampala, was in effect a continuation of the government-owned Voice of Uganda under a new name. It remained an official paper and retained most of its old staff but the men at the top were new. There were different political groupings within the Uganda National Liberation Front and editors found life very difficult; hence the first editor Paul Waibale only lasted three weeks.
The economy, English weekly, and its sister Luganda weekly Mulengera supported initially Professor Lule’s administration but later supported President Godfrey Binaisa. The papers were finally banned after the 1980 General Elections. The newspapers were founded by an extremist in the person of Roland Kakooza who later was considered as notorious in President Museveni’s NRA.
The Citizen was the official newspaper of the Democratic Party which was one of the several political groups within the Uganda National Liberation Front. Its main objective was to build up the image of the Democratic Party with the prospect of establishing a political base on which the party could operate its post-liberation election campaign. The Citizen was banned after the 1980 General Election but the Democratic Party launched another publication Munnansi(citizen) which they published in both English and Luganda.
Weekly Topic was published for the first time exactly one month after liberation.
Backed by a trio of political ideologists namely KintuMusoke, BidandiSsali and KirundaKivejinja a, the paper steadily developed into an influential independent newspaper which commanded the prospect of both the affluent middle class and the highbrow. By the time of the 1980 General Election it had attained the enviable status of being Uganda’s most widely read newspaper, but it was not able to continue publication due to political pressures. It did not appear for five years until 1985 after the overthrow of Obote’s second government by General Tito OkelloLutwa.
The Equator was started shortly after Weekly Topic. BagendaMpima, first editor of Weekly Topic left for personal reasons and started The Equator while Paul Waibale moved to be editor of Weekly Topic after his short term at theUgandaTimes.
Ngabo and its related English daily, The Star were a rather unique kind of newspapers whose political affiliations and social attachments were initially difficult to determine by the readers. However, subsequently the papers were identified with Kabakaship. Ngabo bore the characteristic urge for dramatization identifiable with the humorous attributes of their able veteran journalists. Despite various brushes with the authorities, Ngabo and The Star survived the stormy weather of Uganda’s political, economic and journalistic scenes to become the only newspapers born just a few days after the 1979 liberation which steered a course through the waves of political change.
The Star was established in 1984 and did well as long as it had no viable competition. When competition came in the form of the government owned New Vision in 1986, The Star began its descent. The Star decline was fundamentally embedded in inadequate financing. The Star like many other private newspapers had neither printing facilities, nor any fixed assets.
Saba Saba which derived its name from an imaginary seven-barrel-gun used by the liberators to scare the enemy was the work of identical twin brothers Wasswa and Kato who deserted their teaching profession to have a go at journalism. It was a light-hearted publication which occasionally attracted the average reader’s eye but it did not pick up sizable regular readership at the time the proprietors abandoned it.
The Guardian was basically what could be described as an ‘election paper’. It was started a few weeks before the l 980 elections under the sponsorship of Conservative boss JoashMayanjaNkangi. However, the paper died a natural death as soon as election results were declared.
While the post liberation time gave rise to the birth of new publications, it also provided the right atmosphere for the resurrection of a number of newspapers which had been dead for nearly two decades. One such was the Uganda Post which had founded originally by the late Jolly Joe Kiwanuka in the pre-independence.
It was Jolly Joe’s son Jimmy MugambeKiwanuka who embarked on the of resurrecting the Uganda Post with the assistance of a few journalists led by MouriceSsekawungu who defected from Ngabo. But the Uganda Post failed to clock in the heavy competition of Luganda publications and even a move to the less competitive English field failed to bear the fruits of monetary success or journalistic influence. The inevitable had to happen; the Uganda Post became no more.
Uganda Pilot, another resurrected newspaper, had
Uganda Pilot, another resurrected newspaper, had to be content with an irregular on and off existence, specializing mainly in governnment generated advertisements and printing the minimum of copies for that purpose. The arrest of the editor and the newspaper’s most active contributor left the Uganda Pilot pilotless and it eventually collapsed.
After the infamous and often embarrassing history of a series of Uganda government’s attitude towards a free Press, NRM government embarked on a project in 1986 to build an editorially independent government newspaper, The New Vision. The government owned New vision was considered by many observers as one of the best government owned newspapers in Sub-Saharan African. In order to foster political and economic development, not only in Uganda, but also in other neighboring countries, there needed to be another strong, credible, financially independent non English daily newspaper in Uganda, save The Monitor that came in to balance the readership.
This helped to counteract bias, manipulation by politicians and build a solid foundation for long term self-sustaining, political/economic development institutions. Although New Vision did well with a monopoly of commercial and advertising, there was need for another educational and oriented newspapers paving way for the The East African.
In the East African region, There was a strong need to give hope to non-political citizens, giving ideas developing themselves economically, socially, politically and culturally.
The Daily Monitor was born after a crisis at the Weekly Topic where a number of
Senior editors disagreed with the management of Weekly Topic. The Monitor, Ngabo and The Star, was founded by a solid group of journalists. Since its appearance in 1992 The Monitor created an alternative view to New Vision.
Even in the development of newspapers in Uganda, history repeated itself. The Vernacular Government newspapers which were started by Obotegovernment in1960s but were later stopped, resurrected in the new form of Bukedde, Rupiny, Etop, Orumuri, etc.
Given the extravagant rate at which publications were born and re-born after the 1979 liberation, it was not too far-fetched to suggest that an abundance of Press freedom was part and parcel of Uganda journalism in the days of the Uganda National Liberation Front, irrespective of which of the political grouping happened to have the upper hand in the echelons of power at any particular time. The journalists came out in full force not only to use that freedom but also, quite often, to abuse it. The problem was that individuals who had failed in other fields came to hide into journalism and spoiled the profession. Very few of them grasped the skills for a journalist. Many times this was projected as irresponsible journalistic services and even overshadowed the good standards of the genuine responsible journalists Uganda had created.
THE SPECIALIZED PRESS
Finally, mention should be made of the many specialized publications which have appeared in Uganda. The oldest of these is the Uganda Gazette which was established in 1901 and in which all official government communications were reported. Apparently the Uganda Gazette can be considered as the oldest Government publication which has survived despite the numerous regimes in Uganda.
One outstanding journal which enhanced the Uganda scene for a while was the internationally read and acclaimed English language political and literary periodical Transition. This was a privately owned venture which began in Kampala in 1961. Following a famous legal case which was recounted in more detail in a further chapter, publication was suspended in 1968 and later the journal transferred its editorial and production work to Ghana. This was done due to political pressure mounted by Obote’s first regime
Among others were numerous learned journals like the East African Geographical Review, the Makerere Law Journal andMawazo which were published in English and reached audiences far beyond the confines of Uganda. They flourished (excelled) particularly in the late 1960s and experienced difficulties since 1971.
There were religious publications like Afer, a Catholic review of the contemporary Church in Africa especially for Catholic priests and laity; Ismaili News, the news paper of the moslem Ismail community and the voice of Islam which was a monthly magazine in English.
Many schools published their own magazines such as Microcosm, the Gulu High School magazine, or Eastern Star from Kitgum high school.
In the 1960s a student Press began to grow. About after a year when Uganda became independent, theMakererean, a fortnightly newspaper was for the students of Makerere University College by the American teachers who were at the campus at that time. The paper covered all items of interest in and around Makerere. After the departure of the Americans, paper’s future was in the balance and it eventually stopped publication.
The stoppage, however, did not threaten media development at the campus. In 1968,another magazine named Uganda was started. The group behind this claimed that their magazine was the first to be produced by the Makerere without outside help. The magazine, like others at the campus, covered
Events at Makerere in particular and in Uganda in general and it ended up with same fate as all the others.
Today Makerere University publishes a number of journals. More stable magazines were those coming from commercial or sources such as Habari, the Police Magazine, and Nyabo, the magazine of the Uganda Council of Women or the Esso Newsletter of the Esso Standard Uganda Ltd.
EMERGENCE OF BROADCAST MEDIA
The colonial regime established the Uganda Broadcasting Services in 1953. This colonial broadcaster complemented the colonial established newspapers in reinforcing the message of agricultural and infrastructural development. The radio content was necessarily obtained from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the only Ugandans on the UBS staff, serving in non- managerial roles at that time were those who had trained in the United Kingdom.
BRIEF HISTORY OF RADIO IN UGANDA
Radio services in Uganda started at a very low profile with people using rudimentary tools /outdated such as mega phones systems of communication.
In 1950, a system known as mobile news van system was established to take recorded materials to the population especially in rural areas. It consisted of vehicles which were installed with loud speakers. The tour vehicles at regional level would take the news materials to the public and also record feedback from the population.
In 1952, the BBC engineer was seconded to take Uganda for a surprise construction of a radio station.
On 1st march 1954, a new radio station was launched by sir Andrew Cohen(governor) broadcasting basically in two languages i.e English and Luganda for two and half hours only daily(6-8.30 pm). In 1957, the number of languages was increased by 7 with the inclusion of Ateso,Luo, Hindustan , Runyankole . Luchiga,Lunyoro and Lutoro.
The number of hours of broadcasting was increased to 7 hrs (4pm-11pm).
In 1959,theHaxley commission was set up to look into the problems affecting the Uganda Broadcasting services(UBS).
After the commission publishing its findings and recommendations, three (3) more channels were set up in 1960. These included red channel for English and Luo languages, blue for Luganda and lastly green channel for eastern languages+ English and Hindustan. This lead the number of languages for broadcasting increased to 12.
After Uganda’s independence in 1962, UBS was renamed Radio Uganda and the number of languages for broadcasting increased to 22. In 1962 a plan was made to increase radio signals up country by constructing radio transmitters at regional levels. However due to insecurity at that time, its implementation delayed until during Amins’ regime when four (4) transmitters were contructed within 4 regions of Uganda. i.eButebo in Tororo for eastern region, Bobi in Gulu for northern region , mawaya in Mpigi for Buganda and cheleba in Kabale District for western Uganda.
In 1992, government declared the liberalization of the media. This gave rise to the establishment of private radio stations. Thomas Kato was the first individual to set up a private radio station in Uganda. Sanyu FM in December 1992 was followed by Capital FM in 1993 the CBS and radio one in 1996etc. currently, there are over 300 private radio stations in Uganda.
In 2005 UTV and radio Uganda were merged to form Uganda Broadcasting Co-operation (UBC).
Currently UBC radio broadcasts in 30 languages.