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: 2.0 (2007: 2.0) 4.6 Owners of established mainstream private media do not interfere with editorial independence. Analysis: There is a considerable degree of interference by owners of private media with editorial independence, and nothing has changed since 2007: “Media owners – apart from the state – are the biggest obstacle to media freedom in Uganda” . “Media owners – apart from the state – are the biggest obstacle to media freedom in Uganda”. Interventions can take the form of direct meddling by the owner: do not run this story, take this aspect as the lead. At radio stations it is possible that an owner will give directions to the presenter by phone during a live discussion to make him or her pursue a specific line or to be hard or soft on certain people, especially politicians and advertisers. Some even demand to go on air themselves. Also, owners of a station in their home area will be particularly sensitive to stories from that area and seek to meddle directly in such stories. In the aftermath of the September 2009 riots, owners of radio stations were “conspiring” with the state on their future. After the radio station closures, media owners did not sue the government but rather negotiated and supplicated behind closed doors. It is employees of CBS and some individual journalists who are suing 64 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2010