SECTOR 4 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.6 (2010: 2.2; 2007: 2.1) 4.2 The standard of reporting follows the basic principles of accuracy and fairness. The discussion of this indicator began with panellists from civil society giving their views, to which panellists from the media then responded. Civil society The standard of reporting has been “a mixed bag” since the last AMB. “When you read the newspapers, you don’t come across stories that have been investigated thoroughly. In the past they used to do this. This did help government because many of the stories revolved around corruption. This is what I’m really, really missing.” In the past, journalists tried to do investigative journalism. “No one could take them on because it was accurate, and it was fair because they tried to get comment.” Today, many top stories are not balanced. “They say the subject of the story was not available for comment. I don’t know if this is because of lazy journalism?” An example was given of a story about increasing levels of poverty that, the panellist said, could have done a lot of damage because the journalists had not checked their facts. “The government came out very strongly and said that figures should only come from official sources.” To a certain extent the media is accurate and fair, said another panellist. “But there are a number of slip-ups, and these are so annoying you forget the other efforts to be accurate and fair. Those slip-ups diminish the credibility of the media and I think many times it tends to occur in the print media.” Accuracy and fairness are determined by the topic. On the whole, journalists are accurate. “But fairness and objectivity is another matter. Different media take 60 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2012