Press trying to cover politics in Uganda face restrictions, attacks
January 15, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that journalists in Uganda are being prevented from freely covering Parliament and campaigning for next month’s presidential elections. The government announced this week that journalists without a university qualification will be barred from covering parliament, according to local reports. Journalists have also reported being attacked and…
Ugandan journalist severely injured covering peaceful procession
Isaac Kugonza, a cameraman with the privately owned station Delta TV, was seriously injured while covering a peaceful procession led by Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago on November 16, 2015, in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, according to news reports. Lukwago is seeking re-election as mayor of Kampala, reports said.
In Uganda, mob assaults radio journalists
A group of about 30 men with clubs attacked journalists Gerald Kankya and Simon Amanyire in the town of Fort Portal in western Uganda on January 23, 2015, Kankya told CPJ. The assailants beat the journalists, breaking one of Kankya’s teeth and bruising his legs and arms, the journalist said. Amanyire escaped without serious injury.
First US-Africa summit short on press freedom, other human rights
Top African and U.S. leaders are meeting next week in Washington in a first-of-its-kind summit focused on African development. But critics argue the summit is flawed in design, overlooking human rights such as freedom of expression and barring civil society actors from bilateral discussions.
Advertising and Censorship in East Africa’s Press
The printed word is thriving in parts of Africa, but advertisers’ clout means they can often quietly control what is published. By Tom Rhodes Kenyans read election coverage in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, the capital, on March 9, 2013. One reason that advertising revenue trumps circulation for East Africa’s newspapers is that readers often…