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Friday, May 25, 2012
The Media
Today after an exciting morning at the MUBS graduation we got the chance to meet with a panel of journalists from different newspapers and media outlets in Uganda. We learned many interesting facts about the media industry, and how it connects to sustainable development in the country. Media can be a respected tool in Uganda and often influences government policy. The journalists emphasized that media still has a long way to go, despite its developing efforts. Some problems with the industry today are the fact that media ownership is still in the hands of big businesses and the government, and they dictate policy. Also, this ownership can influence much what is written in many of the local newspapers. It was expressed that one of the major problems is the caliber of journalists in Uganda today. Many of them are not professionally trained and will sit down and write a story from almost nothing. What are your thoughts about the presentation today? What do you think are some similarities and differences between journalism in American and in Uganda? What do you think Uganda could do to improve its media industry and positively influence the economic development in country?
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What an interesting presentation! I learned a lot about how the media works in Uganda. I was so surprised to learn that many of the journalists work on a per story basis and get paid only a little per story. I thought it was interesting when they said that radio is the most used form of media in Uganda. I think that in Uganda, the media is a little controlled by the government and there isn't as much freedom of press. While in America, there is freedom of press and the government doesn't control what is published. I think that in order for Uganda to improve the media industry, they should have more freedom of press so that the citizens can be better informed of what is really happening in their country. I think that having an informed group of citizens will help positively influence the economic development of Uganda.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a pretty good presentation. It went a little long but it was interesting. There does seem to be control over the media by big businesses and government, but I got the impression from both groups that they are trying to decrease this control They are trying to write more biased. This seems difficult because so many of the journalists are inexperienced and uneducated. The biggest differences I see between Uganda and America with media is the sources of getting the news out. In Uganda, radio is still really big and the internet is only big in the younger generations while in America internet is becoming the biggest source of media while radio is starting to die out.
ReplyDeleteI meant less biased instead of more biased.
DeleteHi, some of these problems are brought about unequal global development. Uganda's economy is growing but many people are still poor can't afford education, computers; but if they are supported they can work. What are your ideas on global poverty and income inequalities especially between developed and developing countries like Uganda.
DeleteI thought the presentation was very interesting because it is about something so important to the country that we haven't been exposed to yet since we haven't read papers, watched tv, or listened to the radio.I think media is so important because it helps to reveal problems in society which often leads to change to fix those issues. I think both America and Uganda struggle with focusing too much on gossip and not enough on the development of the country. There are so many gossip magazines in America, and many of the stories that are put in the media are shock stories meant to attract people's attention. I think the government has less of an impact on the media in the US but I could be incorrect about that because I am not well informed on the influence of the US government on the media.I think Uganda could improve the media by requiring journalists to get a degree before they become columnists so they learn the basics about writing factual, non-biased articles.
ReplyDeleteGood observations. I am one of the journalists who talked to you. I enjoyed your company, i wish we had had time to discuss around a camp fire. I hope you people had fun that day. There is a lot of training and education going on today for journalists in Uganda. Some journalists have trained in USA, UK and Europe. Many media houses in the world are owned by big businesses (CNN-Turner, Murdoch-Sky News/ FOX NEWS,VOICE OF AMERICA-Government of USA, New York Times, Washington Post are family owned and listed. There are journalists paid salaries not all are paid per story. World over there are journalists paid per article submitted, sometimes journalists earn more by submitting many articles to different media outlets.Though media houses are owned by governments or individuals editorial content, policies and independence is what journalist fight for.Someone has to fund the research, costs of operating a media. Sometimes owners definitely influence content but we believe readers are intelligent and will discover who seeks the truth.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought the media presentation was pretty interesting. I feel as if the media is being held back in Uganda. This is because the lack of freedom of press. Articles are often cut because it would offend advertisers. A large portion of advertizement income comes from the government. Therefore stories regarding corruption or what not about the government are not published! This is holding back the sustainable development of Uganda. Also there are often different stories published on the same event, which is causing distrust among the public. I hope that one day the newspapers fully have freedom of speech!!
ReplyDelete