WAY FORWARD “And there are journalists still willing to bring us these stories. They are trying.” The ‘Walk to Work’ protests showed a side of Uganda that the authorities had not seen before. “As much as space for freedom narrows, we are seeing increasingly more and more people coming out to express themselves. This shows the level of consciousness among the citizens has increased. This can be attributed to what the media is doing.” Negative developments 1. More harassment: In the past two years, many journalists have found themselves being shot at, beaten, arrested or otherwise harassed by state agents. This is indicative of increased harassment of journalists, particularly those covering protests, which dates back to the return of opposition leader Kizza Besigye from exile. “It is a deliberate targeting of journalists.” As a result, media refused to cover police activities, forcing the Inspector General of Police to promise that the targeting of journalists would stop. “But it hasn’t.”20 2. More self-censorship: As the authorities have clamped-down further on the media, journalists and media houses have become more prone to self-censorship. 3. A missed opportunity for regulatory reform: The Uganda Communications Regulatory Authority Bill does little to address issues raised by media freedom advocates over the past four years, not least the independence of the regulator itself which, in terms of the Bill, will continue to be government-appointed. “To come up with something (a Bill) that is the same as the past is an insult, a missed opportunity.” 4. State broadcaster going backwards: The government’s suspension of the Board and General Manager of the UBC showed that things have deteriorated at the state-broadcaster. This is in spite of all the efforts that have gone into trying to persuade government to convert the UBC into a public service broadcaster. 5. Declining integrity of the media: Corruption in the media has increased. 2. What kinds of activities are needed over the next two years? With these developments in mind, panellists prioritised the following activities for the coming two years: Media literacy: There remains a lot of public misunderstanding about the role of the media. Therefore media organisations need to work hand in hand with their civil society counterparts to help civil society organisations and their constituents understand how the media works, and to increase awareness within the media 20 Shortly after the AMB, the police commissioner Simon Kuteesa announced the formation of a Press Unit, which will investigate attacks on media workers and other violations of media freedom (http://www.article19.org/resources. php/resource/3326/en/uganda:-police-establish-unit-to-investigate-violations-of-press-freedom ). 74 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2012