SECTOR 4 National Convention, the IMCU’s apex body, oversees the work of the secretariat and other activities of the IMCU. The board is made up of 14 members, eight of whom are from the media, and five from the public, plus the chairperson. And 30 per cent of the seats on the governing board are reserved for women. The board’s seven-member ethics committee handles complaints filed against the media. The committee’s hearings are open to the public. The ethics committee is answerable to the board, which in turn is answerable to the National Convention. There is also a finance and administration committee, and a secretariat. The Independent Media Council was officially launched on 5 December 2008 after developing a Journalism Code of Ethics, a guide to professional and ethical conduct by media practitioners. The code was circulated to training institutions and media houses. Daily Monitor and New Vision have displayed it in their newsrooms, even as they have their own in-house guidelines. The Vision has made it a point to give a copy to each of its journalists. Kagadi-Kibaale Community Radio has asked for more copies. There has since been some noticeable change especially in the way NTV covers children, and gross stories. Not so for Bukedde newspaper which, for example, continues to brand suspects ‘thieves’ before trial in court and covers the gory and the macabre as it has always done – putting the stuff right there in the readers’ faces. Generally the code has been welcomed by the media but compliance is minimal. With the code in place, the IMCU secretariat is ready for people to register complaints but so far has not received any from either the media or the public. This is possibly because enough has not been done to make the public aware that one can file a complaint with the IMCU over any media issue. To change this, the IMCU could consider doing a number of things: • Organise a big bang public relations campaign, targeting especially the media and public outside the capital. • Start monitoring media houses and issuing quarterly reports on professional and ethical failings. • Lobby media houses to publish regular boxes next to their imprint and broadcasting stations to run regular slots informing the public that they are members of the Independent Media Council and that readers/listeners/viewers can lodge grievances with that body: if you have complaints, write to the IMCU. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2010 59