SECTOR 3 3.12 Community broadcasting enjoys special promotion by the government given its potential to broaden access by communities to the airwaves. Community broadcasting is not recognised in any of the laws governing the media. At the request of the broadcasters’ association, the Broadcasting Council introduced lower fees for non-profit making broadcasters, but these are not supported by any regulations. The Broadcasting Council’s National Broadcasting Policy, drafted in 2004, set the following objectives for community broadcasting: (i) To provide citizens with a platform to articulate their local issues; (ii) To provide more opportunities for programming in the indigenous Ugandan languages; (iii) To provide indigenous programmes relevant to development at the grassroots; (iv) To reduce the gap between urban and rural communities in accessing communication for development; (v) To encourage members of the community to participate in the planning, production and presentation of programmes; (vi) To promote ownership of media by low income groups of society i.e. the poor and vulnerable. However, panellists said the government has not formally adopted this policy. As a result, community-orientated broadcasters operate in a policy as well as a legal vacuum. Most consider themselves community stations by virtue of their location in rural areas, or their non-profit nature, but fall short of being owned and run by the communities they serve17. Meanwhile, there are a number of Christian radio stations, which serve communities of religious interest. Radio Sapientia which is owned by the Catholic Church, was one of five radio stations forced to close in 2009. Justifying the closure, the Broadcasting Council said Radio Sapientia had been licensed to broadcast religion and had gone beyond this mandate. “When the station opened again (in October 2010), they had to give an undertaking that they would focus only on their initial religious mandate.” 17 See p49 in in ‘Uganda’, part of the Public Broadcasting in Africa Series by AfriMAP, OSIEA and OSMP (sourced from: www.afrimap.org/english/.../OSI-Uganda--Public-Broadcasting.pdf) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2012 55