If ever you needed proof that the broadcast media in Uganda is out of touch with reality, go on; turn on your radio.
Teargas canisters are still flying over the city, traders are overwhelmed with the loss, taxis are charging exorbitant prices for trips into the city, woman killed in Kyengera early this morning, fighting in Kasubi and Nateete, Masaka Road blocked off, CBS Radio is still off air …
What do the TVs do? Broadcast CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC and France-24. A boring sermon by a televangelist on whether or not to spank your children. A ridiculously long news piece on why the Electoral Commission chose UBC as the most appropriate media house to partner with in civic education. Only after 10:30 does WBS TV start its ‘live’ reports.
What do the radios do? Declare IT’S FRIDAY!!! Debate whether it is true that there is just one person for everyone. Laugh at stale jokes. Is your boyfriend really your boyfriend? Do you want lunch with a celebrity?
The dead are not named; merely mentioned. The destruction is glossed over. The broadcast media would rather air a 9/11 special than reports on what is going on in their backyards.
No wonder Godfrey Mutabazi and his gang at the Broadcasting Council go into overdrive whenever anything resembling sense is aired.
Where were the spot reports? What is radio for if not for immediate news immediately? Where was the citizen talk-back? Why no discussion of the hooliganism of many of the protesters? Where are the rolling interviews with the Buganda Kingdom, the police and government? Where were the call-ins from Masaka town, Nyendo, Kayunga and Mukono where the rioting was taking place? Why no debate on media freedom? Why no discussion on why the Broadcasting Council exists?
Any news I am receiving on the situation in Kampala I am getting from Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
it’s a shame what this country has become
“What is radio for if not for immediate news immediately?” i like this.
I seriously think there is a need for a realtime news service in Uganda. Aggregate tweets, blogs, photos, video streams… Bypass the mainstream media and get citizen journalists reporting the news.
10 people in Mulago mortuary today, women crying, blood all over the place, taxi drops off another dead, the place smells like what else death. A Premier’s driver goes to the market to buy food, shot dead, a child in Natete dead. People in Mulago tell me they dont even know where to pass to take their dead ones back home for burial. congolese bizman shot in the scuffle collegues want to sue ahahahahaha. Good luck I say
NBS caught on @ noon. If you read this soon, you may get a hold of it. Don’t go to NTV Uganda. They’ve opted to show a Spanish soap opera instead.
Radios are there to please the sponsors…..
Unconfirmed reports that Radio Sapientia has been taken off air by the Broadcasting Council …
Now that you mention it …
You can tweet from your UTL mobile phone. Send ‘tweetme’ to 2299 and get into it. I don’t work on things that cost money – it’s free. Pouvoir aux Peuple! Down with the evil Corporation! Profit is theft! Long live the revolution!
You can send tweets without an internet connection. And also receive your Twitter stream! Free of bloody charge! If you have a modest phone, this is the only way to work Twitter on your phone. It is also the only free way.
(I’m terrible at marketing. I’m out of breath. It’s tiring. I’m not cut for it, but I feel that it is pertinent at this time, and I do some shameless plugs every now and then. I’ve soild the #Kampala keyword on UTL, for example.)
I mean … the #kampala keyword on Twitter. Merde. Plus, that is Revolution, with a capital R.
@27th: Pouvoir aux Peuple….
@27th thanks for that infor-need of free tweets.
Nbs tried to give us some live feeds on the sitaution, but then they would run us through some music videos-geez.
Radio Two, Suubi FM also off air. The Broadcasting Council is on crack!
Just imagine if there was no internet. We would be in a complete media blackout………
The freedom of speech is completely lacking. According what they are reporting in Kenya the Fm stations which have been shut down incited people to violence, i can guess that this might not be entirely true. Lack of real time news gathering among the traditional media is the reason why most people think that unless they change they will be a thing of the past very soon. Watch the space as new media take over completely. If you check the latest news from their profitability front, there is a big reason for them to worry. But at the end they should blame themselves.
I have always had reservations about NTV and the fact that I worked there people wd think its personal but wat kinda of a tv station is this that has no online videos . When u log on onto their website, u get flashes of grey’s anatomy, La tormenta en all the shit that can’t help Ugandans now. And they say they are hi-tech. wat kinda of a TV fails to use internet. And for them to re-ly CNN shows how these kenyans are out of touch with Uganda.
It’s sad what the media has become. It’s all about who pays them and sponsors them. They call the shots. Back in the days when we had only UTV, at certain times of the day, there were always priorities about what they showed and most of it was Ugandan news. And this is the other problem of importing western culture without filtering it. It’s really destroying our brains. The european sport for example, what is our local football upto? We are promoting western culture and killing our culture in the process and making money for the western people and not for ourselves. Gone are the days when people went to watch kcc/express and son in large numbers, and also the clan competetions. No wonder the unity is vanishing by the day.
Do they think that this western media will ever show what is happening in Africa unless it’s bloody murder or when Obama goes to visit? Never. But why do we promote their activities and causes and forget about our own problems, our culture and tradition. These days when i hear that kids take mobile phones to schools, i’m in shock. Children cannot be disciplined or their parents will come knocking the doors down. And all this is picked from what they watch on tv. They do not know that these western countries have a failed education system where kids will not go to school, carry knives, guns, and do not have to go to school. Too much crime in children. PEADOPHILIA, RAPES. They do not know that education/proper education( our old fashioned education that many of us grew up with) is the key to success. I could go on forever about this imported western culture that people see as prestigious and how it is destroying us, but i’ll stop there. Our tradition and culture is so rich and there’s nothing wrong with it, why can it not be promoted.