Uganda Media Coverage of The 2021 Elections - December 2020

Ugandan
MEDIA COVERAGE
of the2021 Elections
DECEMBER 2020 REPORT
Ugandan
MEDIA COVERAGE
of the2021 Elections
DECEMBER 2020 REPORT

Published by
African Centre for Media Excellence
Plot 130 Kalungu Road (Bunga-Soya), off Ggaba Road
P. O. Box 11283 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 393 202 351
info@acme-ug.org
www.acme-ug.org
Facebook: ACME.UG
Twitter: @ACME_Uganda
Layout & Design by: Murshid Lutalo, murshid.lg@gmail.com

UGANDAN MEDIA COVERAGE of the 2021 ELECTIONS (Dec 2020) iii
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V
INTRODUCTION 1
BACKGROUND 2
Media role in elections 2

The media landscape in Uganda 2
The immediate environment in which elections have been covered 4
Findings of previous monitoring reports on media coverage of elections 6
Principles identified in guidelines on media coverage of elections 7
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 8
METHODOLOGY 9
Scope of the study 9

Methods of data collection 11
KEY FINDINGS 20
Frequency of stories on presidential candidates 20

Frequency of front-page stories on presidential candidates 23
Frequency of pictures of presidential candidates 25
Space allocated to presidential candidates in newspapers 26
Time allocated to presidential candidates on TV and radio 28
Tone of coverage (general) 33
Use of right of reply 36
Event- vs issue-based reporting 37
Origin of election stories 41
Reporting format of election stories 43
Number of sources in election stories 47
iv UGANDAN MEDIA COVERAGE of the 2021 ELECTIONS (Dec 2020)
Type of sources in election stories 50

Gender of sources in election stories 56
Use of background and context 59
Interrogation of claims made by presidential candidates 59
Topics/issues addressed in election stories 63
EXPLAINING THE COVERAGE 67
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 74
Conclusion 74
Key takeaways from December 74
Recommendations 76
UGANDAN MEDIA COVERAGE of the 2021 ELECTIONS (Dec 2020) v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
his research report was written by Brian Ssenabulya (ACME programme associate, media
monitoring and research); Elijah Mangeni (programme officer, monitoring and evaluation);
and Executive Director Peter G. Mwesige (Ph.D) with contributions from Apolo Kakaire
(communications and advocacy manager) and Rachel Mugarura-Mutana (training manager). Director
of Programmes Bernard Tabaire edited the report.
The coding for the content analysis was conducted by 12 research assistants.
ACME thanks the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) for funding the research. Monitoring media
coverage of elections is part of ACME’s 32-month project entitled “Enhanced Media Reporting for
Civic Engagement and Accountability (EMERCEA).” The project aims to contribute towards the
realisation of a vibrant and reliable media that consistently produces quality public affairs journalism
that empowers citizens to engage in democratic processes.
UGANDAN MEDIA COVERAGE of the 2021 ELECTIONS (Dec 2020) 1
INTRODUCTION
T
his report looks at Ugandan news media coverage of the 2021 elections, focusing on five key
publications, six television stations, and 35 radio stations. The third in our series of reports from
a project monitoring media coverage of the Ugandan elections, it explores the attention these
newspapers and a newsmagazine, television, and radio stations paid the election-related news and
issues in December 2020 and the nature of their coverage. Comparisons are made to the findings
from the October and November reports. The publications studied are Bukedde (a Luganda-language
daily), Daily Monitor, New Vision, The Observer, and The Independent newsmagazine. The television
stations monitored are Baba TV, Bukedde TV, NBS, NTV, TV West, and UBC. The radio stations are
listed in the methodology section.
Relying mainly on quantitative content analysis, the report explores the volume of coverage of
election-related news and issues by these selected media houses, the types of elections covered, the
types of articles published (news, analysis, opinion, features, etc.), the reporting formats employed,
the topics covered, and the tone of coverage. The analysis also covers the voices in the coverage,
including the occupation and gender of sources.
The report further pays particular attention to the coverage of the 11 presidential candidates, focusing
on who appeared on the front pages of the newspapers, the volume of coverage on each of them,
how much space or airtime was dedicated to each candidate across the three media platforms
monitored, and the tone of coverage of the contenders.
Finally, conclusions and recommendations are shared.

2 UGANDAN MEDIA COVERAGE of the 2021 ELECTIONS (Dec 2020)
BACKGROUND
M
onitoring media coverage of the electoral process is an important part of election
observation. As the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has
noted, given the key role the media play in elections, “any observation effort should pay
significant attention to the activities of the media and their coverage of elections”.1
In Uganda, media monitoring is particularly critical this election cycle not only because of the absence
of the usual observation missions, but also because the Electoral Commission had directed that
campaigning should be conducted “scientifically” (i.e. soliciting votes largely through the media and
digital platforms rather than the usual public rallies and other canvassing techniques that are said
to violate social distancing regulations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic).
Media role in elections

The media (can) play five essential roles in elections: provision of information to enable voters
make informed decisions; provision of platforms for debate through allowing exchange of opinions
amongst the different contending groups and citizens; acting as a watchdog for fairness during
election campaigning and polling; educating the public about election processes; and providing
voice to the voters.2
The media landscape in Uganda

The media landscape in Uganda is characterised by a liberal regime of investment (at least on paper)
and stringent regulation across print, radio, and television channels. Online and social media are
increasingly becoming a major source of information and debate for middle class Ugandans.
Radio remains the biggest source of information for 80% of Ugandans (Afrobarometer, 2020)3.
Television comes second at 31%, followed by the internet (14%), and social media (13%). While
newspapers come last at 12%, they remain influential agenda setters for the public, political class,
as well as other media.
1 OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (2012). Handbook on Media Monitoring for Election
Observation Missions. Warsaw, Poland.
2 Marie-Soleil Frère (2010). The Media and Elections in Post-Conflict Central African Countries. Brussels: University
of Brussels.
3 Afrobarometer (2020).”Feasible but unsuitable? Examining the practicality of a media-only 2021 election
campaign during COVID-19: Findings from the Afrobarometer Round 8 Survey in Uganda.”
Although Uganda has some of the most vibrant media in east and southern Africa, for very many
years the country has been characterised by the international press freedom watchdog Freedom
House as “partly free”. And although the country’s constitution provides for the right to freedom
of expression, including press freedom, several factors undermine these guarantees. They include
obnoxious laws and regulations, government interference, regulatory overreach, harassment and
intimidation by security officials, advertiser influence, skewed media ownership, professional and
human resource challenges within newsrooms, and low levels of media literacy among the population.
These challenges notwithstanding, the media landscape has grown from having one state broadcaster
in the early 1990s to a multi-player, diversified industry today. The two biggest media houses — with
interests in radio, television, print, and online — are the majority state-owned Vision Group, and
Nation Media Group, a Nairobi-based conglomerate that is privately owned. In addition to the two
market leaders, there are a number of other small privately owned entities: The Red Pepper, a daily
tabloid; the weekly The Observer and The Independent. There are nearly 300 radio stations, and 30
TV stations. The state-run Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) has the widest TV and radio
reach, broadcasting in multiple local languages as well as in English and Kiswahili.
Although UBC was supposed to have transformed into a public broadcaster, it has over the years
remained very much a state broadcaster subservient to the ruling party and rarely providing for
views critical of the government. In the 2016 election petition filed in the Supreme Court by former
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi against the re-election of President Yoweri Museveni, the accusation
of UBC favouring the incumbent, contrary to the law, was the only ground that was upheld. Ensuring
that public media provided equitable coverage to all candidates as required by the constitution
and the law was one of the recommendations that the Supreme Court asked the attorney general
to address within 18 months after its March 2016 decision. The Presidential Elections Amendment
(Act) 2020 was subsequently enacted to provide for sanctions against public media that violate the
requirement of equitable coverage of candidates. According to the amended act, a pubic media
house that is found to have breached this requirement will pay a maximum fine of Shs10 million and
the person in charge of that media house shall upon conviction be liable to a fine of up to Shs10
million or a maximum jail term of two years or both.
The Uganda Communications (Content) Regulations of 2019 extend this requirement of equitable
coverage of presidential candidates to all broadcasters, including private ones. Using language from
the “Minimum Broadcasting Standards” enshrined in the Uganda Communications Act 2013, the
regulations provide that an operator shall ensure that:
“(a) Where a programme that is broadcast is in respect to a contender for a public

office, that each contender is given equal opportunity on the programme in accordance
with the Regulations;
“(b) Equitable coverage and opportunity is given to political parties and organisations
participating in an election.”
The regulations also extend the requirement of equitable treatment to political parties and
organisations. Regulation 18 (1) says, “Where, during an election period, the coverage of any
broadcasting service extends to the discussion of elections, political parties and related issues, the
broadcaster shall afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views and shall
treat all political parties equitably.”
Concerns remain that many private radio stations are owned by politicians in the National Resistance
Movement (NRM) or business people who are close to the ruling party, and that this plays a major
role in determining the content of these stations, and who gets access to them.
Although the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has in the past put radio ownership by
politicians at about 15 per cent, some media watchers contend that it could be well over 70 per
cent, especially in the countryside.4 Such ownership patterns have raised concerns about media
diversity, especially given that many radio stations owned by politicians have been known to turn
away members of the opposition and other voices of dissent.
The Catholic Church and other faith-based groups also own several radio stations that are influential
in their regions of operation.
There are also fears that conglomeration could in future undermine the media pluralism and diversity
that democracy demands.
The immediate environment in which elections have been covered

In many ways, for the journalists and media houses covering the 2021 elections this has been an
election like no other. The Covid-19 pandemic not only posed health threats to journalists, the
government’s response measures also made it impossible for them to have the usual physical
interactions with many sources, including candidates. The pandemic also forced media houses,
already grappling with the disruption caused by digital and social media, to make significant cutbacks
on investments in journalism, including letting go of some of their journalists. Some of journalists
covering the elections are not sure they will still be employed after election day.
Although the Electoral Commission’s push for a “scientific election” gave many hopes to media
managers that they would be able recoup the losses occasioned by falling audience numbers and
the dip in advertising, there was always a risk that it would be difficult to balance between the public
interest mission of journalism and the imperative to make a profit. Would media houses give enough
time to regular election coverage or would they sell their space and time to candidates lining up for
paid-for programmes and advertising?
As the campaigns went on, a number of opposition candidates were denied access to radio stations
where they had paid for talk shows. In most cases, these actions were at the behest of police
and resident district commissioners. Other radio stations have simply steered clear of opposition
4 Report of the International Mission on Freedom of Expression in Uganda, September 2010.

candidates on orders of their owners or managers. On some stations, such as Mama Bukedea in
Bukedea District, no opposition content has been aired throughout the campaign.
In October 2020, the Uganda Communications Commission and the Electoral Commission issued
guidelines for media coverage of the general elections5. The preamble to these guidelines recognises
the central role the media plays in the electoral process by providing the public with information
on which to base their decisions; facilitating public debate on the choices before the voters; and
providing a voice to voters. Further, it underscores that free, independent, responsible and pluralistic
media are critical to advancing and sustaining democracy and peaceful, free and fair elections, and
that the Constitution and other legislation guarantee all citizens the right of freedom of speech
and expression, which includes freedom of the press and media, as well as the right of access to
information.
Unfortunately, journalists have operated in a hostile and toxic environment, and endured several
cases of wanton mistreatment by police and security agencies. Since the campaigns started in
November, ACME has registered at least 18 incidents involving the harassment, detention, assault
and injury of journalists, and damage or loss of property — perpetrated by various security agencies,
and sometimes agents and supporters of the different presidential candidates.
The altercations started in Kampala on 3 November 2020, the day Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu
(aka Bobi Wine) of National Unity Platform (NUP) was nominated as a presidential candidate. A
number of journalists from different media houses following his convoy to the nomination venue
were pepper-sprayed by police. On the same day, Vision Group journalist Ronald Kakooza was
arrested while covering events at the Forum for Democratic Change headquarters in Najjanankumbi
in a build-up to the nomination of the party’s presidential candidate Patrick Oboi Amuriat. On 5
November, freelance journalist Moses Bwayo was shot in the face with a rubber bullet while filming
NUP’s Kyagulanyi, who was heading to the party headquarters in Kamwokya from Kibuli mosque.
A week later, on 12 November, unknown people attacked NBS TV journalists Daniel Lutaaya and
Thomas Kitimbo while they covered Kyagulanyi in Lira. The attackers made off with the journalists’
laptop, camera chargers, and phones and damaged their car. Reports indicate that a group of youth
ambushed the media team as it entered Lira City, blocking the road with burning tyres and stones.
As the campaigning wore on, the attacks on journalists appeared to become more brutal and
targeted, and they were widely seen as a move to keep them off the campaign trail. On 29 December,
two journalists were injured after police fired at them as they dispersed Kyagulanyi’s supporters in
Masaka. Saif-llah Ashraf Kasirye, a Radio One correspondent and Ghetto TV cameraman, sustained
injuries to his head and was admitted in critical condition while NTV’s Ali Mivule was injured on the
thigh by a teargas canister. Said Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga: “Tear gas was used to quell the
violence and journalists were regrettably caught up during the process of dispersing the violent
group [of Kyagulanyi’s supporters].” On the same day, NBS TV journalist Lutaaya sustained serious
injuries on his back after he fled the scene of the violence on a boda boda. Two days later, journalists
5 https://mediacouncil.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Electoral-Commission-Media-Guidelines-for-
General-Elections_2.pdf
covering Kyagulanyi in Kalangala were teargassed and a number of them detained and questioned
for live-streaming the stand-off between NUP supporters (many of whom were arrested as well)
and the security services. Daily Monitor journalist Derrick Wandera, who was among those detained,
was forced to smash his camera even after he told police he had not been live-streaming the event.
It is notable that for the most part the Electoral Commission remained mute in the face of these
violations against the rights of journalists and the media. There has been no arrest or prosecution
of any person involved in attacks on journalists since the campaigns started.
This hostile environment has been compounded by a directive the Media Council of Uganda (MCU)
issued on 10 December — the UN Human Rights Day. The directive required all practising journalists
to register for accreditation or risk losing the right to cover the 2021 elections and other public events.
In the same directive, the regulator asked all foreign journalists to get new accreditation cards and
obtain a special media pass “showing particular geographical or thematic areas of intended media
coverage” of the electoral campaigns.
The media fraternity protested the move especially because it came in the middle of an election
campaign season when many journalists were already covering candidates in the field and had
documented several cases of illegalities and excesses by police and state functionaries as they went
about regulating public meetings and rallies by opposition candidates. The move was widely seen
as a ploy to stifle media scrutiny of the electoral process as well as gag critical and independent
journalism in the run-up to the 2021 elections.
The Uganda Editors Guild and the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) later went to court seeking
to quash the Media Council’s directive on the grounds that it was “illegal, irregular and irrational”. They
also applied for a temporary injunction stopping the Media Council and other agencies, including the
police, from implementing the directive on accreditation. Meanwhile, the police issued a statement
on 30 December warning that they would not allow journalists who are not accredited by the Media
Council to cover the elections.
Findings of previous monitoring reports on media coverage of elections

Previous media monitoring reports on Ugandan elections have observed several gaps in media
coverage including the following:
ll bias;
ll disproportionate attention to the incumbent on public media;
ll inaccurate reporting;
ll self-censorship;
ll poor portrayal of women candidates;
ll denial of space or time for political advertising to opposition candidates;
ll attempts by political actors, especially those in government, to influence visuals in newspapers

and on television;
ll disproportionate attention to candidates and political parties at the expense of voters;
ll lack of serious interrogation of candidate promises and claims;
ll predominance of episodic reporting and dearth of issue-based coverage; and
ll the shortage of investigative reporting.
Principles identified in guidelines on media coverage of elections

The African Centre for Media Excellence and others, including the Uganda Communications
Commission and the Electoral Commission, have developed guidelines for Ugandan journalists on
covering the 2021 elections. Key principles in those guidelines include the following:
ll Accuracy
ll Fairness
ll Multiple sourcing
ll Corrections and the right of reply
ll Focus on issues
ll Equitable coverage of key candidates
ll Rejection of bribery
ll Independence from vested interests
ll Interrogation of claims and promises by candidates and parties
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is the volume/quantity or frequency of election coverage in the media?
2. How much attention do the media pay to the different types of elections?
3. What type of reports do the media produce [news, commentary/opinion, features/special
reports, etc]?
4. What election-related topics do media cover?
5. What is the nature of the reporting [conventional, enterprise, interpretive, or investigative]?
6. Who are the sources in media coverage [ordinary people, party officials, candidates,
regulators, civil society actors, diplomats, religious leaders, central government officials,
local leaders, police/security officials, etc]?
7. What is the gender of the sources?
8. What is the level of sourcing in election stories? (How many sources are used)?
9. Which presidential candidates are focused on in media coverage?
10. How much time or space is dedicated to each presidential candidate?
11. Which candidates appeared on newspaper front pages?
12. Which candidates’ pictures were used on newspaper front pages?
13. What is the tone of coverage of the presidential candidates? (positive, negative or neutral
rating)?
14. How often do news stories interrogate candidate or party promises?
15. Are political candidates who are attacked given the right of reply?
METHODOLOGY
Scope of the study
T
he study focuses on Ugandan newspaper, radio, and television coverage of the 2021 election
process. The monitoring was designed to cover all articles related to elections published in
Bukedde, Daily Monitor, New Vision, The Observer and The Independent from 1–31 December
2020. These include all articles that fell under news, commentary/opinion, features, letters, Q&A, and
profiles. A total of 729 newspaper articles from December were analysed. Two daily news bulletins
and one weekly talk-show were monitored for each TV and radio station. Some 1,187 stories and
show episodes from six television stations, namely, Baba, Bukedde, NBS, NTV, TV West, and UBC,
were analysed. The 35 radio stations monitored produced 1,461 stories and talk show episodes in
December for this analysis.
Bukedde, Daily Monitor, and New Vision newspapers were selected because they are Uganda’s major
dailies and are considered to have significant influence on the national conversation. The Independent,
a weekly newsmagazine, and The Observer, a weekly newspaper, were selected because of their
major focus on public affairs reporting. It is expected that their publication frequency would force
them to offer more depth and investigation than the dailies. For television, NBS and NTV were
included because they are the leading stations in public affairs programming, while UBC is the
national broadcaster. It is expected to offer comprehensive news and a diversity of programming
without paying as much attention to profit as the private stations. Baba TV, Bukedde TV, and TV
West were included to add a regional flavour to the analysis. The schedule of TV programmes
monitored is as follows:
TABLE 1: TV news shows and programmes monitored
TV station Time of 1st news bulletin Time of 2nd news bulletin Name of weekly talk-show
NBS 7.00pm 9.00pm Frontline

NTV 7.00pm 9.00pm On the Spot
UBC 7.00pm 10.00pm Behind the Headlines
Baba TV 1.00pm 9.00pm The Platform
Bukedde 7.00pm 10.00pm Akabinkano
TV West 1.00pm 8.00pm Akadaara
The following radio stations, representing the different political regions of the country, were
monitored:
TABLE 2: List of radio stations monitored by region
REGION RADIO STATION
Kampala (7) Capital FM

CBS FM
KFM
Pearl FM
Radio Sapientia
Radio Simba
UBC Blue Channel
Central (4) Buddu FM
Heart FM
Mambule FM
Radio Ssese
Eastern (7) Baba FM

Busoga One
Etop
NBS FM
Open Gate
Step FM
Teso Broadcasting Service
Western (9) Kasese Guide
KRC
Radio Kitara
Radio West
Spice FM
Voice of Kamwenge
Voice of Kigezi
Voice of Muhabura
Voice of Toro
Northern (4) Mega FM
Mighty Fire
Radio Rupiny
Unity FM
REGION RADIO STATION
West Nile (3) Arua One

Paidha FM
Radio Pacis
Karamoja (1) Etoil A Karamoja
Methods of data collection

The study relied mainly on quantitative content analysis of election coverage by the selected
publications, television, and radio stations. Key informant interviews with selected reporters and
editors provided context for the findings.
Content analysis
In the main we analysed manifest content. “Manifest content refers to what is explicitly stated
and draws on the objective and replicable qualities of quantitative methods” (Hilton and Hunt
(2010).6 However, where appropriate and necessary, we also undertook qualitative analysis of latent
content.7 Content analysis was used to get an all-round sense of the nature of coverage in terms
of both quantity and quality. Stories were coded and analysed based on a detailed coding sheet
that contained a number of variables that were necessary to answer the research questions. The
variables included the following8:
The variables of interest included the following:
1. Publication/TV/radio station
2. Volume of election coverage
3. Type of election (parliamentary vs presidential)
4. Type of articles published in newspapers
5. Type of stories broadcast on TV and radio stations
6. Space allocated to election-related articles in newspapers
7. Time allocated to election-related stories on TV and radio
8. Frequency of stories on the different presidential candidates
9. Frequency of front-page stories on the different presidential candidates
10. Frequency of pictures of the different presidential candidates
6 Hilton, S. & Hunt, K. (2010). UK newspaper representations of the 2009-10 outbreak of swine flu: one health
scare not over-hyped by the media?” Research Report, J Epidemiol, Community Health
7 See, Krippendorf, K. (2004). Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications.
8 A full list of the variables and their definitions is detailed in the coding sheet in Annex 1.
11. Space allocated to presidential candidates in newspapers

12. Time allocated to presidential candidates on TV and radio
13. Tone of election coverage (general)
14. Tone of coverage of presidential candidates
15. Use of the right of reply
16. Event- vs issue-based reporting
17. Origin of election stories
18. Reporting format of election stories (conventional; enterprise/interpretive; investigation)
19. Number of sources in election stories
20. Type of sources in election stories
21. Gender of sources in election stories
22. Use of background and context used in election stories
23. Interrogation of claims made by presidential candidates
24. Topics/issues addressed in election stories
The content analysis was conducted by 12 research assistants who coded the data after attending a
short training workshop. Samples of the preliminary data entered were analysed at different points
to test intercoder reliability (or the level of agreement between the different assistants doing the
coding). Two reliability tests were conducted and the results showed a high degree of agreement
on the way different variables were coded.
For newspapers, as well as television and radio news, the unit of analysis was the story; each story
was treated as a whole unit of meaning. For radio and television talk shows, the programme (e.g.
talk show and in some cases, the segment) was the unit of analysis.
The data were gathered using standard coding forms administered by the coders. They relied on
a detailed codebook containing definitions of all the content categories that were monitored. The
coding procedure involved a rigorous and methodical process of identifying and analysing election-
related stories. The data were captured, processed, and analysed using SPSS.
The presidential candidates

In October, there was still no clarity on how many candidates would eventually stand. Most newspapers
focused on President Yoweri Museveni, National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, Forum
for Democratic Change’s Patrick Oboi Amuriat, and Alliance for National Transformation’s Gregory
Mugisha Muntu.
The eventual list of candidates nominated in November has the following:
Candidate Political Party/Affiliation
Fred Mwesigye Independent

Gregory Mugisha Muntu Alliance for National Transformation
Henry Tumukunde Independent
John Katumba Independent
Joseph Kabuleta Independent
Nancy Kalembe Independent
Norbert Mao Democratic Party
Patrick Oboi Amuriat Forum for Democratic Change
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) National Unity Platform
Willy Mayambala Independent
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni National Resistance Movement
Volume of stories
The five newspapers monitored published 729 stories in December, which represents a decline of
about 16% compared to November. New Vision continued to lead with a share of 40%, followed by
Daily Monitor with 29%, and Bukedde with 26%. The dip in volume of stories was largely on account
of a 31% drop in Daily Monitor’s share of stories from 308 in November to 212 in December. Bukedde
also registered a 10% decrease while its sister newspaper, New Vision, saw a dip of 8%.
TABLE 3A: Number of newspaper stories by publication
October November December
Publication Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
New Vision 168 36.6 318 36.5 292 40.1

Daily Monitor 149 32.5 308 35.4 212 29.1
Bukedde 127 27.7 209 24 189 25.9
The Independent 8 1.7 17 2 23 3.2
The Observer 7 1.5 19 2.2 13 1.8
Total 459 100 871 100 729 100.0
Once again, the six television stations monitored carried more stories than the newspapers in
December. Bukedde TV and NBS TV led, each with a 20.5% share of the coverage, followed closely
by NTV with 19.6%, and UBC with 17.3%.
TABLE 3B: Number of television stories by station9
TV station Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
NBS 232 30.4 285 19.1 243 20.5

NTV 202 26.5 371 24.8 233 19.6
UBC 130 17 330 22.1 205 17.3
Bukedde 98 12.8 271 18.2 243 20.5
Baba TV 76 10 161 10.8 154 13.0
TV West 25 3.3 75 5 109 9.2
Total 763 100 1493 100 1187 100.0
Kampala-based radio stations maintained a higher share of stories in December (34.4%), followed
by western (27%).
TABLE 3B: Number of radio stories by region
Region Radio stations Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Kampala 7 417 37.3 868 34.9 503 34.4

Eastern 7 254 22.7 579 23.3 284 19.4
Western 9 216 19.3 563 22.6 395 27.0
West Nile 3 70 6.3 203 8.2 73 5.0
Northern 4 63 5.6 137 5.5 102 7.0
Central 4 71 6.4 88 3.5 73 5.0
Karamoja 1 27 2.4 48 1.9 31 2.1
Total 35 1,118 100 2,486 100.0 1,461 100.0
Type of election (parliamentary vs presidential)

The presidential election campaigns continued to get a lot more attention in December, across all
the three media platforms monitored.
9 This count includes talk show segments.

TABLE 4: Type of election stories by media platform
Newspapers Television Radio
Type of election Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Both 127 17.4 238 20.1 307 21.0

Parliamentary election 121 16.6 132 11.1 201 13.8
Presidential election 481 66.0 817 68.8 953 65.2
Total 729 100.0 1,187 100.0 1,461 100.0
Trend in type of election in newspaper coverage

Trend in type of election in television coverage
Trend in type of election in radio coverage

Type of articles published in newspapers

TABLE 5A: Frequency of different types of newspaper articles
Type of article Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
News 363 79.1 662 76.0 564 77.4

General commentary or opinion 36 7.8 87 10.0 46 6.3
Feature 26 5.7 53 6.1 56 7.7
News analysis 10 2.2 15 1.7 10 1.4
Editorial 10 2.2 24 2.8 12 1.6
Letter to the Editor 10 2.2 24 2.8 26 3.6
Q&A interviews 2 0.4 6 0.7 10 1.4
Profile 2 0.4 0 0 5 0.7
Total 459 100 871 100 729 100.0
News stories continued to account for slightly more than three quarters of newspaper election
coverage. There was a slight increase in features, letters to the editor, Q&A interviews, and profiles.
But the number of general commentary and opinion articles as well as editorials dropped.
Type of stories broadcast on TV and radio stations

News accounted for an even bigger share of election coverage on television and radio, with a slight
increase registered on television in December to 94%.
TABLE 5B: Frequency of different types of television stories/shows
Story type Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
News 668 87.5 1,382 92.6 1,114 93.9

Commentary 41 5.4 24 1.6 26 2.2
Package/feature 27 3.5 33 2.2 28 2.4
Interview 27 3.5 54 3.6 19 1.6
Total 763 100 1,493 100 1,187 100.0
On radio, news accounted for 97.3% of election coverage in December.

TABLE 5C: Frequency of different types of radio stories/shows
Story type Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
News 1,054 94.3 2,401 96.6 1,422 97.3

Commentary 55 4.9 67 2.7 21 1.4
Interview 9 0.8 16 0.6 13 0.9
Package/feature 0 0 2 0.1 5 0.3
Total 1,118 100 2,486 100 1,461 100.0
Space allocated to election-related articles in newspapers

TABLE 6: Newspaper space dedicated to election coverage
Publication Space % Pages Space % Pages Space % Pages

(cm2) (cm2) (cm2)
Daily Monitor 75,132 35.9 91 124,924 35.8 151 106,206 32.9 129
New Vision 70,135 33.5 85 136,556 39.1 165 136,033 42.2 165
Bukedde 60,532 28.9 73 76,398 21.9 92 73,102 22.7 89
The Observer 3,568 1.7 4 11,492 3.3 14 7,263 2.3 9
The Independent - - - - - - - -
-
Total 209,367 100 253 349,370 100 423 322,604 100 392
Space dedicated to election coverage by the newspapers monitored decreased to 322,604cm2

(about 392 full pages) in December from 349,370% or 423 full pages in November. This is consistent
with the drop in the volume of election stories in the same period.
Time allocated to election-related stories on TV and radio

TABLE 7A: Time allocated to election coverage by television stations
TV station Time (Minutes) % Time % Time %

(Minutes) (Minutes)
NBS 1,178 31.8 1,429 21.0 899 19.2

NTV 1,037 27.9 1,764 26.0 928 19.8
UBC 499 13.5 1,524 22.4 902 19.2
Bukedde 434 11.7 1,083 15.9 937 20.0
Baba TV 285 7.7 546 8 505 10.8
TV West 276 7.4 446 6.7 517 11.0
Total 3,709 100 6,791 100 4,688 100.0
Television dedicated less time to elections in December than in the previous month. Bukedde led
in the amount of time given to election coverage, followed very closely by NTV, and NBS and UBC
in third place.
TABLE 7B: Total time allocated to election coverage by radio stations
Region No. of Radio Time Percent Time Percent Time Percent

stations (Minutes) (Minutes) (Minutes)
Kampala 7 1,937 45.5 2,890 38.7 1,450 33.3

Western 9 949 22.3 1,906 25.5 1,129 25.9
Eastern 7 722 16.9 1,633 21.9 484 11.1
Northern 4 154 3.6 381 5.1 187 4.3
West Nile 3 176 4.1 315 4.2 135 3.1
Central 4 268 6.3 254 3.4 908 20.9
Karamoja 1 54 1.3 89 1.2 59 1.4
Total 35 4,260 100.0 7,468 100.0 4,352 100.0
Once again, on average radio dedicated less time to election coverage than television in December.
The total time dedicated to election coverage on the radio stations monitored decreased by more
than 3,000 minutes (or about 52 hours) in December.
KEY FINDINGS
Frequency of stories on presidential candidates

TABLE 8A: Volume of stories on presidential candidates across the three media
platforms (December)
Newspaper Television Radio
Candidate Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 164 27.9 294 33.4 241 22.9

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 155 26.4 202 23.0 283 26.9
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 91 15.5 145 16.5 161 15.3
Mugisha Muntu 43 7.3 60 6.8 79 7.5
Norbert Mao 39 6.6 23 2.6 56 5.3
Henry Tumukunde 29 4.9 70 8.0 92 8.7
John Katumba 24 4.1 43 4.9 53 5.0
Nancy Kalembe 17 2.9 16 1.8 31 2.9
Joseph Kabuleta 11 1.9 15 1.7 29 2.8
Willy Mayambala 9 1.5 7 0.8 17 1.6
Fred Mwesigye 5 0.9 5 0.6 11 1.0
Total 587 100.0 880 100.0 1,053 100.0
Incumbent Museveni attracted the highest proportion of stories in the newspapers and on television,
with a share of 27.9% and 33.4% respectively. NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi led on radio with 26.9%
and was in second place in the newspapers with 26.4 of the stories and on television with 23%.
The difference between the two top candidates was more pronounced on television than in the
newspapers and radio. FDC’s Patrick Amuriat was third across all the three platforms.
In November, Kyagulanyi had received the highest share of stories across the three platforms.
TABLE 8B: Volume of newspaper stories on presidential candidates by publication (Dec)
Candidate Bukedde Daily Monitor New Vision The Independent The Observer
(n=163) (n=183) (n=221) (n=12) (n=8)
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 26.4 30.1 27.1 25.0 37.5

Robert Kyagulanyi 35.0 26.2 17.2 75.0 37.5
Ssentamu (Bobi Wine)
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 16.6 16.9 14.5 0.0 12.5
Mugisha Muntu 4.3 7.7 10.0 0.0 0.0
Norbert Mao 4.3 6.0 9.5 0.0 0.0
Henry Tumukunde 2.5 5.5 6.3 0.0 12.5
John Katumba 4.9 2.2 5.4 0.0 0.0
Nancy Kalembe 2.5 1.6 4.5 0.0 0.0
Joseph Kabuleta 0.6 2.2 2.7 0.0 0.0
Willy Mayambala 1.2 1.6 1.8 0.0 0.0
Fred Mwesigye 1.8 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0
Museveni received the highest proportion of coverage in Daily Monitor and New Vision, while
Bukedde and The Independent paid more attention to Kyagulanyi. The two candidates were tied
in The Observer.
TABLE 8C: Volume of television stories on presidential candidates by TV station (Dec)
Candidate Baba TV Bukedde NBS NTV TV West UBC

(n=93) (n=205) (n=146) (n=192) (n=78) (n=166)
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 50.5 38.5 28.1 23.4 33.3 33.7

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 21.5 26.3 30.8 28.1 21.8 7.2
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 8.6 18.5 15.8 24.0 19.2 9.0
Henry Tumukunde 9.7 3.4 6.8 3.6 2.6 21.1
Mugisha Muntu 1.1 3.9 6.2 5.7 6.4 15.7
John Katumba 3.2 5.4 6.8 5.7 5.1 2.4
Norbert Mao 3.2 1.5 2.1 3.1 5.1 2.4
Nancy Kalembe 2.2 1.0 1.4 3.6 3.8 0.0
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 2.6 7.2
Willy Mayambala 0.0 0.5 0.7 1.6 0.0 1.2
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 0.5 1.4 1.0 0.0 0.0
Museveni received the highest share of stories on four of the six stations monitored, namely Baba
TV, Bukedde TV, TV West, and UBC. Kyagulanyi had the highest proportion of stories on NBS and
NTV. The widest gap between the two candidates were on Baba TV and UBC, which gave Museveni
50.5% and 33.7% of coverage respectively against 21.5% and 7.2% for Kyagulanyi.
UBC was an outlier, giving far more coverage to Tumukunde and Muntu, and the lowest proportion
of any station to Kyagulanyi. Asked why they had not covered Kyagulanyi as much as the other
stations, a senior editor at UBC said: “Actually we have tried as much as possible to reach out to
Kyagulanyi and his team. On about 5 occasions, we have invited them to attend our talk shows
dedicated to presidential candidates and they are either too busy or have not responded to our
invitations. We have reporters covering presidential campaigns and we run stories on Kyagulanyi
and other candidates which appear on our 11 radio stations and 2 TV channels.” This response does
not explain that fact even on news shows, UBC coverage of Kyagulanyi was significantly lower than
that of any other TV station monitored.
TABLE 8D: Volume of radio stories on presidential candidates by region (December)
Candidate - Radio Central Eastern Kampala Karamoja Northern West Nile Western
% % % % % % %
(n=79) (n=210) (n=405) (n=28) (n=37) (n=32) (n=262)
Robert Kyagulanyi 35.4 24.8 26.7 32.1 32.4 25.0 25.2

Ssentamu
Yoweri Kaguta 24.1 20.0 22.7 28.6 16.2 15.6 26.3
Museveni
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 17.7 18.6 13.1 14.3 8.1 12.5 16.8
Henry Tumukunde 7.6 7.1 12.8 3.6 16.2 12.5 3.1
Mugisha Muntu 7.6 8.1 7.2 7.1 16.2 6.3 6.5
Norbert Mao 1.3 6.2 7.2 3.6 2.7 3.1 3.8
John Katumba 3.8 5.2 3.2 7.1 0.0 12.5 7.6
Nancy Kalembe 2.5 2.9 2.0 0.0 8.1 6.3 3.8
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 2.9 2.2 3.6 0.0 3.1 4.6
Willy Mayambala 0.0 1.9 2.2 0.0 0.0 3.1 1.1
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 2.4 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.1
Kyagulanyi received the highest proportion of stories on radio in all regions, except western Uganda
where Museveni edged him narrowly. Museveni was second in all the other regions. Museveni had
led Kyagulanyi in northern Uganda in November, but in December the challenger topped the region
with 32.4% against the incumbent’s 16.2%. Kyagulanyi’s highest percentage of radio stories was
registered in central Uganda.
Frequency of front-page stories on presidential candidates

TABLE 9A: Frequency of front-page stories about presidential candidates
Presidential candidate Front page % Front page % Front page %

Henry Tumukunde - - 7 9.9 3 7.0
Mugisha Muntu 1 14.3 6 8.5 2 4.7
Willy Mayambala - - 4 5.6 0 0.0
Fred Mwesigye - - 3 4.2 0 0.0
Norbert Mao - - 3 4.2 3 7.0
Nancy Kalembe - - 2 2.8 2 4.7
Joseph Kabuleta - - 1 1.4 1 2.3
John Katumba - - 0 0 1 2.3
Other 1 14.3
Total 7 100 71 100 43 100.0
Kyagulanyi extended his lead over Museveni on the front pages, with a share of 37.2% of the stories
against the incumbent’s 23.3% in December. Amuriat came third with a share of 11.6% of front-page
coverage. It’s worth noting that most of the stories on Kyagulanyi and Amuriat were about the
stand-offs between their campaigns and the police.
TABLE 9B: Frequency of front-page stories about presidential candidates by publication

(December)
Candidate Bukedde Daily Monitor New Vision The Observer The

(n=23) (n=8) (n=11) (n=1) Independent
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 39.1 62.5 9.1 100.0 -

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 17.4 25.0 36.4 0.0 -
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 8.7 12.5 18.2 0.0 -
Norbert Mao 8.7 0.0 9.1 0.0 -
Henry Tumukunde 4.3 0.0 18.2 0.0 -
Mugisha Muntu 4.3 0.0 9.1 0.0 -
Nancy Kalembe 8.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
Joseph Kabuleta 4.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
John Katumba 4.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
Willy Mayambala 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 -
Among the dailies, Daily Monitor gave Kyagulanyi the highest proportion of front-page stories
(62.5%), followed by Bukedde (39.1%). Museveni was a distant second in both newspapers, while
Amuriat was third. New Vision gave Museveni the highest proportion of front-page coverage (36.4%),
and curiously Kyagulanyi was relegated to third place, which he shared with Muntu and Mao with
9.1% each. Amuriat and Tumukunde were in second place with 18.2% while Mao and Muntu were
in fourth place with 9.1%. Asked to comment about the placement of stories about Museveni’s top
challengers in New Vision, an editor at the Vision Group said, “Our biggest problem is that we have
not yet got courage to publish big size pictures of Kyagulanyi or Amuriat with an accompanying
story of Page 1.” In fact, it appeared as if the first five pages of the newspaper had been ‘ring-fenced’
for Museveni (with page 2 left for announcements of candidate campaign schedules). The editor
who spoke to ACME had this to say: “Under the new redesign, pages were distributed for specific
purposes. Museveni was given page 5 and Kyagulanyi and Amuriat page 6, and page 4 was reserved
for a news feature of national interest. But Museveni is always on those first pages because he is at
the same time the President doing his executive work.”
Frequency of pictures of presidential candidates

TABLE 10A: Frequency of pictures of presidential candidates on the front page (Oct-Dec)
Presidential candidate Pictures Percent Pictures Percent Pictures Percent

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 2 25 17 28.3 12 26.7
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 2 25 10 16.7 9 20.0
Mugisha Muntu 1 12.5 4 6.7 - -
Willy Mayambala - - 2 3.3 - -
Nancy Kalembe - - 1 1.7 - -
Henry Tumukunde - - - - - -
Norbert Mao - - - - 1 2.2
Joseph Kabuleta - - - - - -
John Katumba - - - - - -
Fred Mwesigye - - - - - -
Total 8 100 60 100 45 100
Museveni once again received the highest proportion of pictures on the front pages in December,
increasing his share to 43.3% from 37.5% in November. Kyagulanyi, who was in second place, had
about half of the incumbent’s share of pictures. Amuriat was third with 20%.
TABLE 10B: Frequency of pictures of presidential candidates on the front page by

publication (Dec)


Robert Kyagulanyi 41.2 41.7 0.0 0.0 -
Norbert Mao 5.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 -
Mugisha Muntu - - - - -
Henry Tumukunde - - - - -
John Katumba - - - - -
Nancy Kalembe - - - - -

Joseph Kabuleta - - - - -
Willy Mayambala - - - - -
Fred Mwesigye - - - - -
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
As in November, New Vision gave Museveni the highest proportion of front-page pictures in December.
Of the 15 pictures they published, 14 were of Museveni. The other one was of Amuriat. Bukedde gave
Kyagulanyi a higher proportion of front-page pictures (41.2%) than Museveni who was in second
place with 35.3%. Daily Monitor had Kyagulanyi and Amuriat tied in first place at 41.7%.
Space allocated to presidential candidates in newspapers

TABLE 11A: Newspaper space allocated to presidential candidates (Oct-Dec)
Candidate Space % Pages Space % Pages Space % Pages

(cm2 ) (cm2) (cm2)
Yoweri Kaguta 13,438 29.6 16 90,557 23.8 110 99,860 29.2 121
Museveni
Robert Kyagulanyi 12,351 27.2 15 106,350 28 129 86,720 25.4 105
Ssentamu
Patrick Oboi 7,989 17.6 10 48,830 12.8 59 54,812 16.0 66
Amuriat
Mugisha Muntu 4,195 9.2 5 34,127 9 41 26,423 7.7 32
Henry Tumukunde 2,349 5.2 3 33,334 8.8 40 18,613 5.4 23
Norbert Mao 1,715 3.8 2 22,856 6 28 23,802 7.0 29
Joseph Kabuleta 608 1.3 1 7,649 2 9 10,275 3.0 12
Willy Mayambala 420 0.9 1 6,367 1.7 8 3,231 0.9 4
Fred Mwesigye 344 0.8 0 3,665 1 4 796 0.2 1
Nancy Kalembe 344 0.8 0 16,360 4.3 20 8,186 2.4 10
John Katumba - - - 10,025 2.6 12 8,985 2.6 11
Other 1,694 3.7 2 - - - - - -
Total 45,447 100 55 380,120 100 460 341,703 100.0 414
Stories about incumbent Museveni took up the biggest share of space allocated to presidential
candidates in December (29.2% or 121 pages) followed by Kyagulanyi with 25.4% or 105 pages.
Amuriat was third with 16%.
TABLE 11B: Space allocated to presidential candidates by publication (December)

(%) (%) (%) (%) Independent

Robert Kyagulanyi 33.5 26.8 17.3 42.0 -
Mugisha Muntu 5.8 6.8 10.4 0.0 -
Norbert Mao 7.3 6.2 7.7 0.0 -
Henry Tumukunde 2.1 5.0 8.3 7.0 -
Joseph Kabuleta 2.3 4.8 1.7 0.0 -
John Katumba 3.4 1.0 3.9 0.0 -
Nancy Kalembe 4.0 0.3 3.6 0.0 -
Willy Mayambala 0.2 1.8 0.6 0.0 -
Fred Mwesigye 0.5 0.0 0.3 0.0 -
New Vision gave much higher proportion of space to Museveni (31.5%) than any other candidate,
with Kyagulanyi coming second at 17.3%. Daily Monitor also gave Museveni (29.1%) more space than
Kyagulanyi (26.8%), but the gap between the two was not as pronounced. Bukedde gave more
space to Kyagulanyi (33.5%), with Museveni coming second with 25.78%. Amuriat was third in all
the newspapers, with The Observer giving him the lowest proportion of space.
Time allocated to presidential candidates on TV and radio

TABLE 12A: Total time allocated to presidential candidates on television
Candidate – TV Time Percent Time Percent Time Percent

(Minutes) (Minutes) (Minutes)
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 139 18.9 1,360 25.2 967 29.4

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 157 21.4 1,358 25.1 1,199 36.5
Henry Tumukunde 41 5.6 524 9.7 178 5.4
Mugisha Muntu 159 21.6 470 8.7 186 5.7
Nancy Kalembe 14 1.9 351 6.5 44 1.3
Norbert Mao 39 5.3 194 3.6 51 1.6
John Katumba 2 0.3 181 3.4 128 3.9
Joseph Kabuleta 3 0.4 67 1.2 30 0.9
Fred Mwesigye 14 1.9 46 0.9 12 0.4
Other 14 1.9 - -
Total 735 100 5401 100 3,289 100.0
Museveni received a higher share of time in television coverage (36.5%) in December, with Kyagulanyi
coming second with 29.4%. Amuriat was third with a share of 14.3%. The two top candidates were
tied in November.
TABLE 12B: Time allocated to presidential candidates on television news (Oct – Dec)
Candidate Time % Time % Time %


Mugisha Muntu 40 6.8 349 7.8 186 6.6
Henry Tumukunde 41 7.0 336 7.5 178 6.3
Nancy Kalembe 14 2.4 230 5.1 44 1.6
Norbert Mao 39 6.7 194 4.3 51 1.8
John Katumba 2 0.3 181 4.0 128 4.5
Joseph Kabuleta 3 0.5 67 1.5 30 1.1
Fred Mwesigye 14 2.4 46 1.0 12 0.4
Other 14 2.4 - - - -
Total 585 100.0 4494 100.0 2830 100.0
Museveni received an even higher proportion of time on television news (38%), with Kyagulanyi
coming second with 23.5%. Amuriat was third with 15.4%.
TABLE 12C: Total time allocated to presidential candidates by TV station (December)
Candidate Baba TV (%) Bukedde (%) NBS (%) NTV (%) TV West (%) UBC (%)
Yoweri Kaguta 57.0 38.0 39.0 26.0 36.8 34.9

Museveni
Robert Kyagulanyi 22.2 28.8 28.8 30.2 17.9 34.9
Ssentamu
Mugisha Muntu 1.0 2.4 4.8 4.2 7.4 11.0
Henry Tumukunde 6.5 3.2 5.0 3.2 2.3 9.5
John Katumba 2.0 4.9 5.3 5.0 8.0 1.2
Norbert Mao 3.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 3.0 1.2
Nancy Kalembe 0.7 0.9 1.0 2.6 5.3 0.0
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 1.8 2.6
Willy Mayambala 0.0 0.7 1.1 0.9 0.0 0.8
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 0.4 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.0
Stories about Museveni received the highest proportion of time on four of the six television stations
monitored. These were Baba TV, Bukedde TV, NBS TV, and TV West. NTV gave more time to
Kyagulanyi than Museveni, while the two candidates received equal time on UBC. The share of time
allocated to Kyagulanyi appears to contradict the scant attention he got from UBC in terms of stories
(see table 8c). This is explained by two talk shows that focused on his alleged flouting of Covid-19
guidelines. As table 12d shows, Museveni received the lion’s share of time on UBC news bulletins.
TABLE 12D: Time allocated to presidential candidates on TV news by station (December)
Candidate – News (Dec) Baba TV % Bukedde % NBS % NTV % TV West % UBC %
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 57.0 38.0 39.0 24.9 36.8 42.4

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 22.2 28.8 28.8 31.3 17.9 4.4
Mugisha Muntu 1.0 2.4 4.8 4.7 7.4 19.3
Henry Tumukunde 6.5 3.2 5.0 3.6 2.3 16.7
John Katumba 2.0 4.9 5.3 5.6 8.0 2.0
Norbert Mao 3.1 1.2 1.3 1.6 3.0 2.1
Nancy Kalembe 0.7 0.9 1.0 2.9 5.3 0.0
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 1.8 4.5
Willy Mayambala 0.0 0.7 1.1 1.0 0.0 1.4
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 0.4 1.0 0.7 0.0 0.0
Museveni received the highest share of television news time on all the stations monitored except NTV
where Kyagulanyi got more attention. On all the other stations, Kyagulanyi came second to Museveni,
except on UBC where he was farther down in the pecking order. Museveni received 42.4% of time
on UBC television news while Kyagulanyi received only 4.4% and Amuriat 7.1%. In second place was
Mugisha Muntu, who received 19.3% of UBC television news time. Tumukunde was third with 16.7%.
TABLE 13C: Total time allocated to presidential candidates on radio
Candidate Time Percent Time Percent Time Percent

(Minutes) (Minutes) (minutes)
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 196 33.7 2,666 26.8 1,323 32.2

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 139 23.9 1,991 20.0 1,298 31.6
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 100 17.2 1,169 11.7 460 11.2
Henry Tumukunde 31 5.3 899 9.0 319 7.8
Mugisha Muntu 44 7.6 730 7.3 133 3.2
Nancy Kalembe 5 0.9 587 5.9 62 1.5
Norbert Mao 23 4.0 550 5.5 89 2.2
John Katumba 0 0.0 533 5.4 328 8.0
Joseph Kabuleta 11 1.9 363 3.6 45 1.1
Fred Mwesigye 3 0.5 243 2.4 21 0.5
Willy Mayambala 3 0.5 225 2.3 36 0.9
Other 26 4.5 - - - -
Total 581 100.0 9,955 100.0 4,114 100.0
As in October and November, Kyagulanyi received the highest proportion of time on the radio
stations monitored in December. However, the difference between him and Museveni, who received
the second biggest share of radio time in December, was not significant. Amuriat was third.
TABLE 13D: Time allocated to presidential candidates on radio news
Candidate - News Time % Time % Time %


Henry Tumukunde 31 6.7 512 9.7 163 8.4
Mugisha Muntu 44 9.5 435 8.2 133 6.9
Norbert Mao 23 5.0 318 6.0 89 4.6
John Katumba - - 393 7.4 86 4.4
Nancy Kalembe 5 1.1 297 5.6 62 3.2
Joseph Kabuleta 11 2.4 175 3.3 45 2.3
Candidate - News Time % Time % Time %

Willy Mayambala 3 0.6 214 4.1 36 1.9

Fred Mwesigye 3 0.6 69 1.3 21 1.1
Other 26 5.6 - - - -
Total 463 100.0 5279 100.0 1934 100.0
Kyagulanyi also topped the candidates on amount of time he received in radio news with 28%.
Museveni was in second place with 26%, while Amuriat was third with 13.2%.
TABLE 13E: Total time allocated to presidential candidates on radio by region (Dec)
Candidate Central % Eastern % Kampala Karamoja Northern West Nile Western

(n=2124) (n=347) % (n=888) % (n=43) % (n=54) % (n=46) % (n=614)

Ssentamu
Yoweri Kaguta 30.8 21.2 24.6 34.1 17.1 24.0 51.6
Museveni
John Katumba 11.5 6.3 3.3 3.8 0.0 10.6 4.4
Henry Tumukunde 7.6 6.5 11.6 3.9 17.7 16.5 2.0
Mugisha Muntu 0.5 6.7 7.5 6.1 19.2 2.2 3.1
Norbert Mao 0.0 6.6 5.2 2.9 1.9 2.6 2.6
Nancy Kalembe 0.3 2.9 2.1 0.0 8.2 3.7 3.5
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 2.5 2.5 0.9 0.0 1.9 2.2
Willy Mayambala 0.0 2.0 2.6 0.0 0.0 2.3 0.9
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 2.6 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7
Kyagulanyi received more radio time than all other candidates in all regions except western Uganda
where Museveni received more than half of the time. In November the two candidates had tied in
western Uganda.
TABLE 13F: Time allocated to presidential candidates on radio news by region (Dec)
Candidate - News (Dec) Central Eastern Kampala Karamoja Northern West Western
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Nile (%) (%)

Ssentamu
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 24.5 21.2 24.6 34.1 17.1 24.0 33.2
Henry Tumukunde 5.6 6.5 11.6 3.9 17.7 16.5 2.7
Mugisha Muntu 9.4 6.7 7.5 6.1 19.2 2.2 4.2
Norbert Mao 0.7 6.6 5.2 2.9 1.9 2.6 3.5
John Katumba 0.6 6.3 3.3 3.8 0.0 10.6 6.0
Nancy Kalembe 5.8 2.9 2.1 0.0 8.2 3.7 4.8
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 2.5 2.5 0.9 0.0 1.9 3.1
Willy Mayambala 0.0 2.0 2.6 0.0 0.0 2.3 1.3
Fred Mwesigye 0.0 2.6 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.9
Kyagulanyi received more attention in radio news in all the regions except western Uganda where
Museveni led with 33.2% against the challenger’s 25.9%.
Tone of coverage (general)

TABLE 14A: Tone of coverage across the three media platforms (December)
Tone of coverage Newspaper (n=398) TV (n=779) Radio (n=881)
Negative 3.5 1.2 1.8

Neutral 94.5 96.5 96.1
Positive 2.0 2.3 2.0
As in previous months, most election stories took on a neutral tone in December, with television
returning the highest proportion of neutral coverage. Newspapers had the highest share of stories
with a negative tone, while television had the lowest. Television also had highest share of stories
with a positive tone.
TABLE 14B: Tone of newspaper coverage of presidential candidates (December)
Candidate - December Negative (%) Neutral (%) Positive (%)
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni 0.7 95.6 3.6

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu 5.1 94.1 0.7
Patrick Oboi Amuriat 0.7 97.7 1.2
Mugisha Muntu 0.0 100.0 0.0
Norbert Mao 2.9 89.2 0.0
Henry Tumukunde 0.0 100.0 0.0
John Katumba 0.0 100.0 0.0
Nancy Kalembe 0.0 93.3 6.7
Joseph Kabuleta 0.0 100.0 0.0
Willy Mayambala 0.0 100.0 0.0
Fred Mwesigye 0.7 80.0 0.0
Kyagulanyi had the highest proportion of stories with a negative tone (5.1%), followed by Nobert Mao
with 2.9%, while Nancy Kalembe received the highest share of stories with a positive tone (6.7%)
followed by Museveni (3.6%).
TABLE 14C: Tone of television coverage of presidential candidates (December)
Candidate Negative (%) Neutral (%) Positive (%)

On television, Mugisha Muntu received the highest proportion of stories with a negative tone (3.3%),
followed by Kyagulanyi (2%). Once again incumbent Museveni received the highest share of stories
with a positive tone.
TABLE 14D: Tone of radio coverage of presidential candidates (December)
Candidate - Radio Negative (%) Neutral (%) Positive (%)

Fred Mwesigye received the highest proportion of stories with a negative tone, followed by Nancy
Kalembe, Amuriat, Tumukunde and John Katumba (in that order).
Use of right of reply

TABLE 15A: Use of the right of reply across media platforms (December)
Right of reply Newspaper (n=68) TV (n=159) Radio (n=157)
No 77.9 86.2 77.7

Yes 22.1 13.8 22.3
This variable applies only to stories that contain attacks on presidential candidates by their opponents
or others. Where such attacks happen, the regulations governing media coverage in Uganda require
that the attacked candidate is given the opportunity to respond. In about 8 out of every 10 newspaper
stories that contained such attacks, candidates were not given the right of reply. The problem was
more pronounced on television, where 86.2% of stories that contained attacks did not offer the
candidates on the receiving end the right of reply.
TABLE 15B: Right of reply by publication (December)
Right of reply No Yes
Daily Monitor (n=25) 76.0 24.0

New Vision (n=25) 84.0 16.0
Bukedde (n=18) 72.2 27.8
Among the dailies, Bukedde carried a higher proportion of stories where the right of reply was
respected, while New Vision had the worst performance on this score.
TABLE 15C: Right of reply by TV station (December)10
TV station No Yes
Baba TV (n=14) 92.9 7.1

Bukedde (n=37) 75.7 24.3
NBS (n=64) 93.8 6.3
NTV (n=25) 84.0 16.0
TV West (n=3) 100.0 0.0
UBC (n=16) 75.0 25.0
Among the TV stations monitored, UBC had the highest proportion of stories where the right of
reply was offered (25%). It was followed closely by Bukedde TV with 24.3%. TV West was the worst
performer on this score followed by NBS TV.
Event- vs issue-based reporting

TABLE 16A: Frequency of event- vs issue-based reporting (December)
Event-vs issue-based reporting Newspaper (n=630) TV (n=1142) Radio (n=1,427)
Event-based 83.7 93.6 98.0

Issue-based 16.3 6.4 2.0
10 Applies only to stories i.e. does not include talk shows.

Once again, all three media platforms monitored relied heavily on event-driven reporting and much
less on issue-based coverage. Event-based reports were most prevalent on radio, where only two
out of every 100 stories were issue-based.
TABLE 16B: Frequency of event- vs issue-based reporting by publication (December)
Publication Event-based Issue-based
New Vision (n=256) 83.6 16.4

Bukedde (n=187) 92.0 8.0
The Independent (n=12) 58.3 41.7
The Observer (n=5) 60.0 40.0
As in November, The Independent had the highest proportion of issue-based stories in December.
It was followed very closely by The Observer. This was to be expected as most of the news would
be stale if the weeklies relied on events. Among the dailies, Daily Monitor returned the highest
proportion of issue-based stories, while Bukedde had the highest percentage of event-based reports.
Trend in event-vs issue-based reporting in newspapers
TABLE 16C: Frequency of event-vs issue-based reporting by TV station (December)
TV station Event-based Issue-based
Baba TV (n=154) 85.7 14.3

Bukedde (n=239) 95.4 4.6
NBS (n=230) 90.0 10.0
NTV (n=213) 93.4 6.6
TV West (n=105) 98.1 1.9
UBC (n=201) 99.5 0.5
Among the television stations monitored, UBC TV had the lowest proportion of issue-based stories,
followed by TV West. Out of 201 reports, UBC had only one issue-based story, while TV West had
two out of 105. Baba TV had the highest proportion of issue-based stories.
Trend in event-issued based reporting in TV coverage
Trend in event-issued based reporting in TV coverage

Origin of election stories

TABLE 17A: Newspaper story origin (October – December)
Origin – Newspaper Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Party activity 141 35.3 68 9.3 46 7.3

Electoral Commission activity 88 22.1 79 10.8 32 5.1
News conference 57 14.3 69 9.5 44 7.0
Independent reporting, research or 41 10.3 77 10.5 98 15.6
investigation by the journalist/outlet
Newsworthy occurrence 17 4.3 76 10.4 55 8.7
Document e.g. report, study/research 11 2.8 19 2.6 15 2.4
NGO/civil society activity 7 1.8 10 1.4 13 2.1
Parliament or legislative process 6 1.5 1 0.1 0 0.0
Government activity or governance 6 1.5 8 1.1 9 1.4
process
Court or judicial process 6 1.5 19 2.6 19 3.0
Campaign rally/event 3 0.8 282 38.6 277 44.0
Social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) 3 0.8 3 0.4 3 0.5
News release 3 0.8 3 0.4 7 1.1
Story from local media/agency 2 0.5 2 0.3 1 0.2
Expert/Specialist 2 0.5 3 0.4 0 0.0
Other 6 1.5 11 1.5 11 1.7
Total 399 100 730 100 630 100.0
In December, campaign rallies remained the biggest source of newspaper election news, accounting
for 44% of all reports. However, the share of independent reporting by journalists grew to 15.6% from
10.5% in November. Still, overall, most stories originated from events or actions by the candidates
and other official players, including party and Electoral Commission officials.
TABLE 17B: Television story origins (October-December)
Origin – TV Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Campaign rally/event 15 2.2 653 46.1 647 56.7

News conference 127 18.3 211 14.9 98 8.6
Newsworthy occurrence 42 6 138 9.8 99 8.7
Party activity 219 31.5 108 7.6 82 7.2
Government activity or governance 5 0.7 14 1 13 1.1
process
Story from local media/agency - - 3 0.2
Parliament or legislative process 14 2 2 0.1 3 0.3
News release 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1
Social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) - - 1 0.1 1 0.1
Other 6 0.9 28 2 19 1.7
Total 695 100 1415 100 1142 100.0
Compared to newspapers, campaign rallies accounted for an even higher proportion, more than
half, of election news on television. Independent reporting by journalists took up a share of 5.6%,
with most other stories originating from events, including news conferences, by party officials and
the Electoral Commission.
TABLE 17C: Radio story origin (October-December)
Origin - Radio Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Campaign rally/event 10 0.9 912 38 661 46.3

News conference 165 15.7 387 16.1 173 12.1
Newsworthy occurrence 73 6.9 343 14.3 182 12.8
Party activity 338 32.1 171 7.1 99 6.9
Government activity or governance 33 3.1 38 1.6 14 1.0
process
Social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) 3 0.3 18 0.7 3 0.2
Story from local media/agency 3 0.3 15 0.6 7 0.5
Parliament or legislative process 29 2.8 8 0.3 2 0.1
News release 2 0.2 8 0.3 18 1.3
Other 12 1.1 37 1.5 37 2.6
Total 1054 100 2403 100 1427 100.0
Radio returned a similar pattern as the other media platforms, paying more attention to campaign
rallies and other events including news conferences and Electoral Commission activities.
Reporting format of election stories

TABLE 18A: Reporting formats across the three media platforms (December)
Reporting format Newspaper (n=630) TV (n=1,142) Radio (n=1,427)
Conventional 81.7 95.5 98.7

Enterprise and interpretive 18.3 4.5 1.3
Investigative 0.0 0 0.0
There was no investigative election reporting in December across all three media platforms. However,
the proportion of enterprise and interpretive newspaper stories (18.3%) was higher than in November
(11.2%). Overall, conventional hard news reporting (he-said-she-said) continued to dominate the
coverage.
Trend in reporting formats in newspaper coverage
Trend in reporting formats in television coverage

Trend in reporting formats in radio coverage
TABLE 18B: Reporting format in newspapers by publication (December)
Publication Conventional Enterprise and interpretive
Bukedde (n=187) 91.4 8.6

New Vision (n=256) 81.3 18.8
The Independent had the highest proportion of stories using the enterprise-interpretive format,
followed closely by The Observer. Among the dailies, Daily Monitor had the highest proportion
of enterprise-interpretive stories, while 9 out of every 10 stories in Bukedde were based on the
conventional hard news reporting format.
TABLE 18C: Reporting format by TV station (December)
TV station Conventional Enterprise and interpretive
Bukedde (n=239) 95.4 4.6

NBS (n=230) 90.0 10.0
NTV (n=213) 93.9 6.1
UBC (n=201) 99.0 1.0
Baba TV (n=154) 100.0 0.0
TV West (n=105) 98.1 1.9
On television, NBS had the highest proportion of stories employing the enterprise-interpretive format
(10%). Overall, however, all the TV stations monitored fared worse than newspapers on this score.
The national broadcaster, UBC, had only two stories out of 201, employing the enterprise-interpretive
reporting format. Baba TV had none out of the 154 stories it reported.
Number of sources in election stories

TABLE 19A: Number of sources per story across the three media platforms (December)
Number of sources per story Newspaper (n=630) TV (n=1142) Radio (n=1,427)
No source 5.4 2.6 12.5

1 source 29.4 34.6 56.4
2 sources 20.8 22.1 20.0
3 sources 14.1 16.9 7.2
4 sources 11.4 9.0 2.6
5 or more sources 18.9 14.8 1.2
The use of single-sourcing remained a challenge in December. Nearly a third of all newspaper stories
had one source, compared to 34.6% of television reports. The problem was more pronounced on radio
where slightly more than two thirds of the stories had only one or no source. However, the number
of newspaper and television stories with three or more sources slightly increased in December to
44.4% from 42% and 40.7% from 38.8% in November respectively.
TABLE 19B: Trend in number of sources in newspaper coverage
Number of sources per story October (%) November (%) December (%)
No source 7.3 6.7 5.4

1 source 24.3 31 29.4
2 sources 25.6 20.4 20.8
3 sources 14.8 12.9 14.1
4 sources 9.3 10.7 11.4
TABLE 19C: Trend in number of sources in TV coverage
Number of sources per story October (%) November (%) December (%)
No source 1.2 3.7 2.6

1 source 24.2 32.5 34.6
2 sources 17.3 25 22.1
3 sources 18.4 17.2 16.9
4 sources 14.4 10.3 9.0
TABLE 19D: Trend in number of sources in radio coverage
Number of sources per story October (%) November (%) December
No source 12.1 12.2 12.5

1 source 54.8 54.1 56.4
2 sources 18.9 19.3 20.0
3 sources 6.7 7.8 7.2
4 sources 4.2 4.2 2.6
TABLE 19E: Number of sources by publication (December)
Number of Bukedde Daily Monitor New Vision The Independent The Observer
sources per story (n=187) (n=170) (n=256) (n=12) (n=5)
No source 8.6 3.5 4.3 0.0 20.0

1 source 38.0 18.2 30.1 41.7 20.0
2 sources 23.0 25.9 15.6 25.0 20.0
3 sources 10.2 14.7 16.0 16.7 40.0
4 sources 5.9 16.5 12.9 0.0 0.0
5 or more sources 14.4 21.2 21.1 16.7 0.0
Among the daily newspapers, Daily Monitor had the highest proportion of stories with two or more
sources (78.3%), while Bukedde had the highest proportion of stories with one or no source (46.6%).
TABLE 19F: Number of sources by TV station (December)
Number of sources Baba TV Bukedde NBS NTV TV West UBC

(n=154) (n=239) (n=230) (n=213) (n=105) (n=201)
No source 0.0 0.0 2.6 0.9 2.9 9.5

1 source 29.2 23.0 48.3 26.8 32.4 46.3
2 sources 26.6 20.9 20.0 23.5 15.2 24.4
3 sources 18.2 16.7 15.7 19.2 13.3 16.9
4 sources 13.6 11.7 9.1 9.4 11.4 0.5
5 or more sources 12.3 27.6 4.3 20.2 24.8 2.5
Among the television stations monitored, Bukedde TV had the highest proportion of stories with
two or more sources (77%), followed by NTV (72.3%). UBC had the highest proportion of stories
with one or no source (55.8%), followed by NBS (50.9%).
Type of sources in election stories

TABLE 20A: Human sources in newspaper coverage (December)
Sources – Newspaper Frequency Percent
Ordinary person 434 23.9

Presidential candidate 395 21.7
Parliamentary candidate 245 13.5
Party official 215 11.8
Minister 62 3.4
Police representative 61 3.4
Local government official 53 2.9
Religious representative 51 2.8
Electoral Commission official 45 2.5
Expert 37 2.0
NGO/CSO official 37 2.0
Central government official 36 2.0
Member of Parliament 29 1.6
Military/security official 19 1.0
Candidates agent 18 1.0
Judicial personnel 16 0.9
President 13 0.7
Diplomatic representative 12 0.7
Cultural representative 9 0.5
International NGO representative 7 0.4
Resident District Commissioner 7 0.4
Business representative 6 0.3
Speaker of Parliament 2 0.1
Election observer 1 0.1
Other 8 0.4
Total 1818 100.0
Ordinary people topped the list of sources quoted in newspaper stories, but taken together
presidential and parliamentary candidates as well as party officials were the most frequently used
sources, accounting for 47% of all human sources.
TABLE 20B: Human sources in newspaper coverage (October – December)
Sources – Newspaper Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Ordinary person 110 9.9 459 23.0 434 23.9

Presidential candidate 55 4.9 407 20.4 395 21.7
Party official 234 21 225 11.3 215 11.8
Parliamentary candidate 358 32.1 205 10.3 245 13.5
Police 37 3.3 103 5.2 61 3.4
Electoral Commission official 60 5.4 83 4.2 45 2.5
Expert 44 3.9 74 3.7 37 2.0
NGO/CSO official 26 2.3 54 2.7 37 2.0
Minister 17 1.5 50 2.5 62 3.4
Central government official 28 2.5 44 2.2 36 2.0
Religious representative 16 1.4 44 2.2 51 2.8
Local government official 26 2.3 43 2.2 53 2.9
Member of Parliament 16 1.4 43 2.2 29 1.6
Candidates agent 21 1.9 42 2.1 18 1.0
Business representative 5 0.4 33 1.7 6 0.3
Resident District Commissioner 10 0.9 14 0.7 7 0.4
Judicial personnel 6 0.5 13 0.7 16 0.9
Military/security 7 0.6 11 0.6 19 1.0
Diplomatic representative 9 0.8 10 0.5 12 0.7
Cultural representative 7 0.6 9 0.5 9 0.5
Election observer 0 0 4 0.2 1 0.1
International NGO representative 2 0.2 4 0.2 7 0.4
Speaker of Parliament 8 0.7 3 0.2 2 0.1
President 2 0.2 1 0.1 13 0.7
Other 10 0.9 17 0.9 8 0.4
Total 1,114 100 1995 100 1,818 100.0
As in the newspapers, the top four sources on the television stations monitored were presidential
candidates, ordinary people, party officials and parliamentary candidates. The candidates and party
officials accounted for nearly half of all sources in television stories.
TABLE 20C: Human sources in television coverage (December)
Human sources – TV Frequency Percent

Minister 76 2.6
Expert 32 1.1
Military/security representative 20 0.7
President 3 0.1
Prison representative 1 0.0
Other 11 0.4
Total 2922 100.0
TABLE 20D: Human sources in television coverage (October – December)
Sources - TV Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %

Ordinary person 267 11.4 634 18.3 616 21.1
Party official 487 20.7 534 15.4 471 16.1
Police representative 56 2.4 184 5.3 97 3.3
Minister 26 1.1 139 4 76 2.6
Expert 78 3.3 105 3 32 1.1
Member of Parliament 73 3.1 103 3 83 2.8
NGO/CSO official 42 1.8 94 2.7 59 2.0
Candidates agent 32 1.4 70 2 100 3.4
Central government official 19 0.8 34 1 23 0.8
Military/security representative 5 0.2 19 0.5 20 0.7
President - - 6 0.2 3 0.1
Speaker of Parliament 16 0.7 5 0.1 11 0.4
International NGO representative 1 0 4 0.1 2 0.1
Election observer 5 0.2 3 0.1 5 0.2
Prison representative - - 2 0.1 1 0.0
Other 12 0.5 12 0.3 11 0.4
Total 2347 100 3466 100 2922 100.0
TABLE 20E: Human sources in radio coverage (December)
Human sources – Radio Frequency Percent

Minister 27 1.4
Expert 23 1.2
Military/security representative 23 1.2
President 9 0.5
Other 10 0.5
Total 1925 100.0
Presidential candidates took on an even bigger share of radio sources, followed by political party
officials and parliamentary candidates. As in previous months, radio did not rely on ordinary people
as sources as much as newspapers and television.
TABLE 20F: Human sources in radio coverage (October – December)
Sources – Radio Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %

Party official 326 20.6 448 12.6 260 13.5
Police representative 92 5.8 354 10 123 6.4
Ordinary person 64 4 307 8.7 185 9.6
NGO/CSO official 35 2.2 99 2.8 63 3.3
Expert 6 0.4 83 2.3 23 1.2
Minister 18 1.1 66 1.9 27 1.4
Candidates agent 6 0.4 48 1.4 34 1.8
Central government official 15 0.9 46 1.3 41 2.1
Member of Parliament 25 1.6 44 1.2 31 1.6
Military/security representative 7 0.4 22 0.6 23 1.2
Speaker of Parliament 32 2 10 0.3 4 0.2
Election observer 2 0.1 7 0.2 7 0.4
International NGO representative 3 0.2 5 0.1 4 0.2
President 0 0 2 0.1 9 0.5
Other 9 0.6 21 0.6 10 0.5
Total 1582 100 3545 100 1925 100.0
Gender of sources in election stories

TABLE 21A: Gender of sources across the three media platforms (December)
Gender of sources Newspaper (n=1,818) TV (n=2,922) Radio (n=1,925)
Female 20.6 16.7 13.6

Male 79.4 83.3 86.4
Men continued to dominate coverage across all the media platforms monitored. Radio performed
the poorest on the gender score, although its representation of women increased slightly to 13.6% in
December from 12.9% in November. Newspapers and television registered a drop in the representation
of women.
Trend in gender of sources in newspaper stories
Trend in gender of sources in television stories

Trend in gender of sources in radio stories
The trend shows that when it comes to gender representation there was retrogression in newspapers
and on television and insufficient progress on radio.
TABLE 21B: Gender of newspaper sources by publication (December)
Publication Female (%) Male (%)
New Vision (n=777) 23.0 77.0

Bukedde (n=449) 21.2 78.8
Among the newspapers monitored, The Observer had the highest proportion of female sources in
November (33.3%), followed by New Vision (23%). Daily Monitor registered the lowest representation
of women in December.
TABLE 21C: Gender of sources in TV coverage by station (December)
TV station Female (%) Male (%)
Bukedde (n=793) 20.8 79.2

NTV (n=623) 14.9 85.1
NBS (n=453) 11.9 88.1
Baba TV (n=408) 17.9 82.1
UBC (n=326) 14.1 85.9
TV West (n=319) 17.9 82.1
Among the TV stations monitored, Bukedde TV had the highest proportion of female sources in
December, followed by Baba TV and TV West. As in November, NBS had the lowest proportion of
female sources.
Use of background and context

Whereas a majority of stories across all the media platforms monitored had some basic background,
a significant percentage did not provide sufficient context or depth. This problem was particularly
pronounced on radio.
Interrogation of claims made by presidential candidates

TABLE 22A: Interrogation of claims and promises (December)
Interrogation of claims Newspaper (n=195) TV (n=381) Radio (n=312)
No 71.8 87.4 88.5

Yes 28.2 12.6 11.5
This variable only applies to stories that contain claims and promises made by presidential candi-
dates. As in November, in a vast majority of stories with such claims, there was no scrutiny. Again,
radio performed poorest on this front, followed closely by television. The newspaper score of
28.2% was an improvement on the 18.9% of November.
Trend in interrogation of claims in newspaper stories

Trend in interrogation of claims in television stories
Trend in interrogation of claims in radio stories

TABLE 22B: Interrogation of claims in newspaper coverage by publication11
Publication No Yes
New Vision (n=81) 66.7 33.3

Bukedde (n=48) 95.8 4.2
Among the dailies, once again Daily Monitor had the highest proportion of stories where claims
or promises made by candidates were interrogated (37.3%). This was in fact a slight improvement
from November. New Vision also registered an improvement in the proportion of stories where
candidate claims were questioned to 33.3% from 21.4% in November. Bukedde again had the worst
performance on this score, with only 4.2% of stories with claims by candidates being questioned.
In the only two stories that The Observer published where there were candidate claims, they were
subjected to journalistic scrutiny.
TABLE 22C: Interrogation of claims in TV coverage by station
TV station No Yes
Bukedde (n=97) 93.8 6.2

NBS (n=93) 90.3 9.7
UBC (n=91) 90.1 9.9
NTV (n=58) 70.7 29.3
Baba TV (n=27) 77.8 22.2
TV West (n=15) 93.3 6.7
Among the TV stations monitored, NTV had the highest proportion of stories where claims were
interrogated (29.3%). Bukedde TV had the worst performance on this measure, with only 6.3% of
stories where candidate claims or promises were questioned.
11 The Independent carried no candidate claims in this period.

Topics/issues addressed in election stories

TABLE 23A: Topics in newspaper coverage (October – December)
Topic/Issue - Newspaper Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Politics & power play 326 71 322 22.3 243 18.9

Justice, rights, law & order - - 136 9.4 119 9.2
Election violence 29 6.3 121 8.4 92 7.1
Health - - 114 7.9 121 9.4
Election management 74 16.1 104 7.2 83 6.4
Business, economics, finance & trade - - 83 5.7 78 6.1
Works & transport - - 75 5.2 95 7.4
Security & defence 1 0.2 72 5 51 4.0
Education - - 68 4.7 67 5.2
Agriculture - - 65 4.5 60 4.7
Election security 10 2.2 51 3.5 35 2.7
Labour & employment - - 39 2.7 54 4.2
Water & environment 2 0.4 34 2.4 27 2.1
Accountability 1 0.2 33 2.3 13 1.0
Land - - 31 2.1 41 3.2
Energy - - 19 1.3 24 1.9
Tourism - - 9 0.6 5 0.4
Election financing 12 2.6 8 0.6 12 0.9
Housing - - 7 0.5 5 0.4
Minerals - - 7 0.5 5 0.4
Oil & gas - - 7 0.5 4 0.3
Election observation 3 0.7 5 0.3 2 0.2
Local government/administration - - 3 0.2 12 0.9
ICT - - 2 0.1 - -
Religion - - 2 0.1 1 0.1
Weather & climate - - 2 0.1 - -
Foreign & international affairs - - 2 0.1 5 0.4
Natural disasters - - 2 0.1 5 0.4
Sports & recreation - - 2 0.1 8 0.6
Arts & culture - - 1 0.1 5 0.4
Other 1 0.2 18 1.2 15 1.2
Total 459 100 1,444 100 1287 100.0
Although ‘politics and power play’ continued to dominate newspaper election reporting, its share
of coverage dropped from 26.7% in November to 18.9% in December. The stories in this category
include those that focused on electoral competition, power play and gamesmanship, as well as
political party or candidate strategies. They exclude stories that focused on policy issues. The other
top five topics included justice, law and order; election violence; health; and election management.
Business, economics finance and trade, works and transport, security and defence, as well as
education registered a slight growth.
TABLE 23B: Topics in TV coverage (October – December)
Topics/Issues – TV Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Politics & power play 531 69.6 648 26.7 416 19.9
Justice, rights, law & order - - 260 10.7 203 9.7
Health - - 159 6.5 147 7.0
Works & transport - - 110 4.5 147 7.0
Education - - 81 3.3 98 4.7
Security & defence - - 68 2.8 75 3.6
Agriculture - - 64 2.6 132 6.3
Land - - 44 1.8 49 2.3
Energy 1 0.1 34 1.4 22 1.1
Water & environment - - 30 1.2 35 1.7
Accountability - - 21 0.9 23 1.1
Oil & gas - - 20 0.8 7 0.3
Minerals - - 9 0.4 13 0.6
Election observation 8 1 7 0.3 - -
Tourism - - 7 0.3 10 0.5
Arts & culture - - 7 0.3 3 0.1
Housing - - 5 0.2 3 0.1
Topics/Issues – TV Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Natural disasters - - 4 0.2 17 0.8

Weather & climate - - 2 0.1 1 0.0
ICT - - 1 0 3 0.1
Religion - - - - 17 0.8
Other - - 21 0.9 16 0.8
Total 763 100 2430 100 2094 100.0
The same topics that were dominant in newspaper coverage also topped the television table.
‘Politics and power play’ led, followed by justice, law and order, election violence, health and election
management. Works and transport also featured prominently in television election coverage. This was
most likely a result of the many events at which the incumbent opened or launched road projects
as well as cases where opposition candidates were stuck on impassable roads.
TABLE 23C: Topics in radio coverage (October – December)
Topics/issues - Radio Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Politics & power play 636 56.9 1000 28.3 582 29.2
Justice, rights, law & order 15 1.3 467 13.2 247 12.4
Health 2 0.2 169 4.8 103 5.2
Security & defence 1 0.1 103 2.9 62 3.1
Education 1 0.1 97 2.7 48 2.4
Works & transport 1 0.1 85 2.4 89 4.5
Agriculture 2 0.2 71 2 64 3.2
Land 1 0.1 50 1.4 38 1.9
Water & environment - - 35 1 16 0.8
Topics/issues - Radio Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %

Accountability 1 0.1 24 0.7 28 1.4
Minerals - - 20 0.6 8 0.4
Energy - - 17 0.5 12 0.6
Tourism - - 15 0.4 8 0.4
Oil & gas - - 15 0.4 2 0.1
Housing - - 8 0.2 8 0.4
Election observation 4 0.4 7 0.2 9 0.5
Arts & culture - - 6 0.2 6 0.3
ICT - - 4 0.1 1 0.1
Religion - - 3 0.1 9 0.5
Weather & climate - - 2 0.1 - -
Natural disasters - - 1 0 4 0.2
Other - - 32 0.9 23 1.2
Total 1118 100 3536 100 1992 100.0
The pattern on television was somewhat repeated on radio where ‘politics & power play’ came top,
followed by justice, law and order issues, election violence, and election management.
EXPLAINING THE
COVERAGE
J
ournalists and journalism educators that we interviewed spoke in glowing terms about what
the media have been able to accomplish during this fairly unusual electoral period—paying
some attention to all the candidates, dedicating more time and space to the elections as the
campaign wore on, introducing new reporting innovations to interrogate and explain issues, and
just simply continuing to work amidst a pandemic.
But they also recognised the weaknesses in the coverage, particularly the disproportionate attention
to events and the drama of the campaigns, over-reliance on single sources, the insufficient use of
background and context, the absence of investigative reporting, and the failure—for the most part—to
scrutinize or question candidate claims or promises.
Reporters and editors cited a litany of challenges that got in the way of coverage. They include the
following:
ll Restrictions on movement and lack of access to sources due to Covid-19 response measures.
ll Cutbacks in investment in journalism due to the effects of the pandemic on the media business.
ll Not enough ‘boots on the ground’ (reporters).
ll Inexperienced reporters (and sometimes editors) and the associated low institutional memory
in many newsrooms.
ll Ill-prepared journalists — lack of skills, knowledge or poor attitude.
ll Newsroom cultures that don’t privilege depth, context, and explanation.
ll Poor newsroom planning for election coverage.
ll Bribery of journalists.
ll Intimidation from regulators, government officials, and in some cases opposition supporters.
ll Self-censorship, particularly from fear of attracting the wrath of government officials and the
political elite.
ll Commercial pressures on media houses.
ll Media owners who were either only looking at the bottom line or could not allow opposition
candidates on their radio stations.
ll The move by the Media Council to accredit journalists covering the elections.
Daniel Kalinaki, the general manager for editorial at Nation Media Group-Uganda, characterised the
coverage this way:
“There have been glimmers of quality coverage within a broad spectrum of the campaign.
However, the election has been dominated by two things—you had the pandemic, both
the lagging effects of the pandemic on how weary newsrooms were going into the
campaigns and the ability to go out and report easily; then you had the violence.
“When we look back at the coverage after the fact, we will see that we walked into a
trap where we were forced to report the violence and ignore policy proposals.
“[Yes, even violence can be covered with context] but probably half the journalists in
the field are covering their first election or at most their second. There are very few
journalists I know who covered the violence of the 2001 elections or the shootings at
Bulange (Mengo) in 2006 (who are still in the field). Unfortunately, the lack of institutional
memory at the front end of the reporting cycle means that the best you can do is an
injection of a line here, a line there by editors at the tail end rather than the (reporters)
who can see a pattern or even identify people who routinely instigate this violence.
“We can and should do better. We need to refocus on the fact that the country is choosing
its leaders and citizens should have criteria to make an informed choice.
“I also think we are going to have to do some introspection after the fact; to say how do
we learn the best lessons from what has worked? How do we report the election—not
as an event but a process—in a more structured way?
“We have a lot more tools than we did 10 years ago but that is not (always) reflected
in the quality of the output.”12
Prof. Monica Chibita, dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication at Uganda Christian
University, Mukono, said there had been “a few pleasant surprises” in the coverage of the elections.
“One of the pleasant surprises for me is that we are not concentrating on one candidate
or even two. There are three ‘big’ candidates—the President, Hon. Kyagulanyi, and POA
(Patrick Oboi Amuriat)—but NBS, NTV, New Vision and Monitor are covering all the
other candidates in some form…There is a sense in which the media have allowed each
of the other candidates to be seen.
“To their credit, UBC has covered other candidates may be more than before. I like that
NBS and NTV have devoted some quality time to covering the election.
12 Daniel Kalinaki spoke to Peter Mwesige for the ACME Talks Podcast on 5 January.
“But the old issues of gender balance are still there; workshop journalism or event-
journalism is still dominant. I keep looking out for a story that is organic but it’s very
hard to come by such a story…”
More needed to be done, she said.
“The incumbent needs no introduction. A lot of the coverage of the other candidates has
been about them being battered, pepper-sprayed, ridiculed, (John) Katumba running…
You don’t get the sense that their platforms, policy proposals are getting adequate
coverage. You don’t get the sense that depth is being (offered).”
What explains the lack of context and depth? Chibita blamed the character of who gets into and
out of journalism school, the quality of education as well as the nature of the media industry.
“I have been teaching for 27 years now. I have seen a huge difference in the kinds of
students we received in journalism schools in the 1990s and the students we are receiving
now. The people we get into journalism school today are less motivated, less curious;
they just want to get their degrees and go away. You may find a few exceptional students
who are willing to go the extra mile…It starts there.
“A lot of journalism schools are ill-equipped to train these people properly.
“The commercialisation of the media industry has also contributed (to the state of affairs).
You don’t have too many journalists that have the fire in them and are proud to belong
to the profession. You keep hearing about story count, survival, brown envelopes… The
problem is diffuse; it’s difficult to pin down one cause.”13
Below we reproduce responses from other informants on a number of key questions.
On the effects of Covid-19

“There is minimal interaction with sources. Many people decline to get in physical contact
with journalists because there is an assumption that we are exposed because we are
on the frontline so most people may not want to talk to you directly. It came with (the
curfew). Political talk shows are done in the night, so in most cases you are going to find
trouble getting people to talk to because of the curfew guidelines. Media houses have
also scaled down on their finances/ facilitation for covering news. Elections in particular
are an expensive venture that will require media houses to invest or spend more. But
right now there are limited resources because media houses haven’t been making a lot
of money. There was an expectation that with the (use) of virtual campaigns, media
13 Monica Chibita spoke to Peter Mwesige for the ACME Talks Podcast on 29 December.
houses would make an extra income and get back on their feet but this has not been
as expected.”
--Reporter, Vision Group
On the effects of physical attacks on journalists

“There is no assurance from the powers that be that journalists will be safeguarded
and that has affected journalists especially those that do not have the backing of their
media houses like I do. So those who work for smaller media houses miss out on a
lot. The other challenge is that we cannot be everywhere and yet everybody is very
important in the coverage of the election. When I got injured, there were many people
that left the campaign trail because of that. Yet election coverage is not supposed to
be a dangerous endeavour.”
--Reporter, NBS TV.
“Sometimes you are scared of covering opposition candidates because you do not
know what is going to happen. The attacks have also made our families remain in fear.
When I returned from the trail, my husband told me not to [go back] because it was
becoming dangerous and he thought maybe I could be shot in the field. Actually, I have
not returned to the trail.”
--Reporter, KFM.
On the effects of the Media Council’s decision to accredit journalists

covering the elections
“It introduced panic and anxiety among journalists and newsrooms… It also introduced
unplanned costs. Monitor covered the costs for its journalists, but imagine if the journalist
had to foot that bill on their own. It would have deprived them of their right to over
the election.”
--Editor, Daily Monitor.
On equitable coverage of the ‘leading’ presidential candidates

“As a newsroom, we have been deliberate in ensuring that all candidates get equal airplay.
However, some candidates really have nothing to write home about, while some do not
hold campaign rallies. So, we invite them over for a talk show to interrogate them on
issues in their manifestos.”
--News executive, KFM
“The media coverage has been skewed in favour of the incumbent. We have faced
enormous pressure from state operatives, from the government. I don’t know whether
we have ever faced this kind of pressure. There has been so much pressure from the
state to try and blackout the other side especially [Kyagulanyi] Bobi Wine. The state
people reached a level where, in one of the meetings we held, they even came up with
records that ‘can you imagine you gave Bobi Wine 10 minutes and you gave Museveni 6
minutes’. They had come up with that kind of detail. So there has been a lot of pressure.”
--Kampala-based senior journalist
On violence and the drama of the campaigns vs issues and party

platforms
“Opposition candidates have had no opportunity to address issues in this election.
The violence meted out on these candidates is the unending story of the Opposition
candidates. Violence is a hard story to sustain, but security forces have been unrelenting.
For example, Patrick Amuriat or Kyagulanyi could schedule three rallies a day, address
one, get tear-gassed at the next, detained at the last, and then thrown off a radio station
as you are going on air. What story do you take as an editor?”
--News producer, NTV
“The campaigns for the Opposition have been marked by a lot of drama and violence.
Media loves the drama. People like the drama. Kyagulanyi and Amuriat have been quite
repetitive in their message — attacking the incumbent, but they have not been given
time to explain their manifestos. But the police violence has created ready headlines
that draw audiences.”
—Editor, New Vision
On lack of background and context

“Generally, most of the reporters are first-timers. They do not have the repository
knowledge they could deploy. Cause and effect issues have not been spotlighted, and
context could have been better.”
--Editor, Daily Monitor
“It is because of space and time issues. This is a very fast-paced election. Candidates
are just zooming past. Stories come in late; deadlines were adjusted because of curfew.
There is no time on a daily basis because one is in a hurry. Even candidates are in a
hurry. We failed to get an interview with Kyagulanyi to get him articulate his manifesto.
They have a very good document, but there is no time to talk about it. People are on
the move. Originally, they would start rallies with articulating issues and concerns of the
host communities. Nowadays, police engages them even before they can talk.”
--Editor, New Vision
“It is a bigger problem in newsrooms. We have a new crop of young journalists who do
not value the journalism of context and background. They prefer journalism on the go.
They are of ‘the forwarding culture’ derived from social media. Read and forward — no
interrogation, no context. At URN we send back stories to their authors if they lack
essential ingredients of context and background. It is a serious problem.”
--Editor, Uganda Radio Network
On the dominance of event-based reporting

“The events make the news and our ‘day two’ reporters in Kampala pick up on that and
then help the public make sense of the issues. We have actually used campaigns as
sources for leads that are followed up as day two stories.”
--News producer, NTV
On radio offering the least amount of time to election news

“I think this largely depends on the management of the radio station. [Most stations]
are owned by politicians and some do not prioritise news. Some news bulletins are paid
for and so it is quite difficult to fix several stories in a space of five minutes. Most of the
time they will get content from us and just pick out a few bits and pieces of the story,
unlike print which will tend to give the stories an entire page.”
--Editor, Uganda Radio Network
“These media houses are owned by a bunch of people with personal interests, profit-
driven people, who do not cherish much information but music, fun, comedy, etc.
Besides, some are managed by untrained personnel. In many of the stations, news is
not a priority; presenters who are not journalists by training, like comedians, musicians,
dramatists, etc, with no journalistic skills are paid much better. Reporters and news crew
are relegated to working as freelancers under poor conditions, poor pay, no benefits
hence little regard/attention paid to news. Many radio owners are running away from
election reporting due to restrictions. Some think it is safe having programmes that
cannot land them into trouble.”
--Journalist, Arua One
On the lack of investigative election reporting

“Yesterday as Arua was receiving election materials for presidential and parliamentary
elections, there was a concern that there were some boxes that were delivered earlier
and stored in different places. We needed resources to dig more and get this story.
When I went to my manager, they said the story was tricky and we were stopped from
doing it. The media managers fear, and some owners are political mobilizers and have
interests that they are protecting. They do a lot of checking to ensure their interests
are protected.”
--Arua-based journalist
“With 11 candidates in a pandemic-ridden campaign, this election has taken every

resource from media houses, requiring an all-hands-on-deck approach and leaving no
space for explanatory reporting for the emptied investigative desks.”
—News producer, NTV
“Inexperience of the field reporters; inappropriate planning by newsrooms; reduced

resources; extreme violence; and we do not have many courageous journalists to do
ground-shaking stories.”
--Editor, Daily Monitor.
On the dominance of news at expense of other formats

“We had a huge plan for features and packages, but have not been able to execute
it because of Covid-19 mainly. Radio requires good sound, but we are unable to go
and collect some information physically. People are scared of meeting with journalists
because they believe that they get into physical contact with a lot of people. When
you decide to use technology such as zoom and other online platforms, you will [find
hiccups] because some people are not tech savvy, so they prefer to respond to questions
on email, yet this is radio. We have in some instances tried to use WhatsApp voice notes
but due to different phone types, sometimes the sound is not of good quality.”
--News executive, KFM
On insufficient interrogation of candidate claims and promises

“The crop of journalists we have right now does not think beyond what they have.
They are comfortable reporting he-said-she-said. The challenge is on us the newsroom
leaders to ensure that they do better. We are still building the capacity of journalists
and it requires a lot of effort and commitment on both ends.”
--Editor, NMG-Uganda
CONCLUSION &
RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
This has been a challenging election for journalists and media houses. The Covid-19 pandemic, the
violence unleashed by police and security agencies, intimidation and threats by political actors,
regulatory overreach, unaccountable media owners, the commercial pressures on the industry,
misinformation powered by social media, and inexperience in the newsroom have combined to
threaten independent journalism and the right to freedom of expression.
For the most part, the media have been able to give voters important reference points to decode
what has happened ahead of the elections. Some media houses have done better than others and
so have some journalists. But the courage and enterprise that some big media houses have shown
should not lull us into concluding all is well. As we said in our previous report, the dynamism shown
by some of the big media houses easily masks the challenges under which most of the country’s
newsrooms, and especially those at upcountry radio stations, which are the major sources of news
for most Ugandans, operate.
The findings of our monitoring over the last three months suggest that a citizen who depends on
a small number of media outlets will have struggled to find accurate information about, and make
sense of, the whole range of events and issues that this electoral cycle presented.
Key takeaways from December

ll The volume of stories across all three media platforms monitored dropped significantly in
December. Radio registered the biggest decline in coverage.
ll Not as much attention was paid to the parliamentary election across the three media platforms.
Radio, which is more local in reach and should therefore pay more attention to local races, gave
the same low attention to the parliamentary election as the newspapers and television.
ll Print and television carried more stories about incumbent Yoweri Museveni, while radio gave
more attention to challenger Robert Kyagulanyi. The gap between the two top candidates was
more pronounced on television. FDC’s Patrick Amuriat was third on all three platforms.
ll Museveni had a bigger advantage over Kyagulanyi in New Vision, which is majority owned by
the government, and UBC TV, the state/national broadcaster. The difference between New
Vision and its sister Luganda newspaper, Bukedde, in the treatment of Kyagulanyi makes for
interesting reflection.
ll Although overall Kyagulanyi attracted more newspaper front-page stories than Museveni in
December, he received only one in New Vision.
ll Museveni won the battle over front-page pictures by a distance. Once again he had his biggest
advantage in New Vision.
ll It is curious that UBC TV gave more coverage to retired army officers Henry Tumukunde and
Mugisha Muntu than any other opposition candidate.
ll Despite the high levels of violence in the campaigns, an overwhelming majority of stories about
the presidential candidates were couched in a neutral tone. There were less than four negative
stories for every 100 reports analysed.
ll After ‘politics and power play,’ election violence and ‘justice, rights, law and order’ were the
top topics in media coverage, trumping all other issues on which candidate/party policies were
supposed to play out.
ll The use of the right of reply was not respected across all media platforms. In some cases,
particularly on radio, this was on the orders of media owners.
ll Event-based reporting continued to dominate the coverage. Some journalists blamed it on the
packed campaign schedule, the violence unleashed almost on a daily basis, and inadequate
manpower within the newsrooms. Others attributed it on lack of skills and a poor or aloof
attitude of many journalists.
ll The campaign rally and stump speech remained by far the biggest source of election news.
‘Scientific election’ strategies that were supposed to be employed in response to the Covid-19
pandemic did not receive that much attention, where they were deployed.
ll A lot of reporting did not provide sufficient background and context or depth. Once again, this
problem was particularly pronounced on radio.
ll Only newspapers registered an improvement in interrogation of candidate claims or promises.
Overall, most stories that carried such claims did not subject them to journalistic scrutiny.
ll There was little or no investigative election reporting in December. Although, the proportion
of enterprise stories increased, generally straight hard-news reporting continued to dominate
coverage.
ll Gender imbalance in reporting worsened overall, with men extending their dominance over
election coverage.
ll Single-sourcing remained a glaring problem in December, particularly on radio where slightly
more than two thirds of the stories had only one or no source.
ll Presidential and parliamentary candidates made up nearly half of all the sources. To their credit
the media, especially newspapers and television, brought ordinary people into the election
conversation.
Recommendations
These recommendations are mainly about how journalists and the media could approach Election
Day and post-election coverage.
ll Have a plan for the coverage and follow it.

ll Be creative about how to deliver the news. Leverage technology and give a voice to ordinary
people who will be affected by the outcome of the election.
ll The media’s loyalty should be to citizens and the truth, and no effort should be spared to ensure
that citizens receive accurate information about the elections. Multiple-sourcing will help in the
search for the truth.
ll Unfounded speculation that has the potential of inflaming tensions should be avoided. But
truth and justice should not be sacrificed in the name of peace.
ll Reporting should be accompanied by sufficient context that helps citizens make sense of what
is unfolding.
ll Your safety comes first. Take all the necessary precautions to secure your safety, including
staying clear of scenes of violence.
The following are worth paying attention on Election Day:
ll Opening of polling stations: Did voting open at the stipulated time?

ll Voting materials: Were all voting materials delivered in time?
ll Voter turn-out: Did people participate in the election? How does the turn-out compare to that
in previous elections?
ll Security: Did the voting and counting ballots take place in a peaceful atmosphere? Was the
army deployed? Was police deployed? Did the security forces behave appropriately?
ll Vote counting: Did counting proceed transparently, without incident? Did all parties agree on
the counting methods? Did the numbers of votes correspond with registered voters?
ll Release of results: Is the announcement of results at the district and national tally centres
transparent? Do officials reveal where the results are coming from?
ll Reporting on results: If you’re reporting the results as they come in from your field reporters,
remember to provide context/perspective. Remind your audience that yours are not the official
results. Say candidate so and so is leading, and avoid using the word winning to avoid the risk
of misleading your audience.
ll Local observers: Are the local observers credible? What are their preliminary verdicts? Was the
election free and fair?
ll Background: Was the playing field level? Were electoral reforms passed? How was the
preparedness of the Electoral Commission? What was the message of the candidates/parties?
What issues were the voters interested in? What were the candidate/party strategies? What
stood out? Who was leading according to the opinion polls? Were the polls credible? How
have the candidates/parties performed in previous elections? What was the role of money in
elections?
African Centre for Media Excellence
Plot 130 Kalungu Road (Bunga-Soya), off Ggaba Road
P. O. Box 11283 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 393 202 351
info@acme-ug.org, www.acme-ug.org
Facebook: ACME.UG
Twitter: @ACME_Uganda

Uganda Media Coverage of The 2021 Elections - December 2020

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Uganda Media Coverage of The 2021 Elections - December 2020

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Ugandan

DECEMBER 2020 REPORT

Layout & Design by: Murshid Lutalo, murshid.lg@gmail.com

Media role in elections 2

Scope of the study 9

Frequency of stories on presidential candidates 20

Type of sources in election stories 50

EXPLAINING THE COVERAGE 67

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 74

Finally, conclusions and recommendations are shared.

Media role in elections

The media landscape in Uganda

“(a) Where a programme that is broadcast is in respect to a contender for a public

The immediate environment in which elections have been covered

4 Report of the International Mission on Freedom of Expression in Uganda, September 2010.

Findings of previous monitoring reports on media coverage of elections

ll attempts by political actors, especially those in government, to influence visuals in newspapers

Principles identified in guidelines on media coverage of elections

Scope of the study

TABLE 1: TV news shows and programmes monitored

NBS 7.00pm 9.00pm Frontline

TABLE 2: List of radio stations monitored by region

REGION RADIO STATION

Kampala (7) Capital FM

Eastern (7) Baba FM

REGION RADIO STATION

West Nile (3) Arua One

Karamoja (1) Etoil A Karamoja

Methods of data collection

The variables of interest included the following:

11. Space allocated to presidential candidates in newspapers

The presidential candidates

The eventual list of candidates nominated in November has the following:

Candidate Political Party/Affiliation

Fred Mwesigye Independent

TABLE 3A: Number of newspaper stories by publication

October November December

Publication Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

New Vision 168 36.6 318 36.5 292 40.1

TABLE 3B: Number of television stories by station9

October November December

TV station Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

NBS 232 30.4 285 19.1 243 20.5

TABLE 3B: Number of radio stories by region

October November December

Region Radio stations Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

Kampala 7 417 37.3 868 34.9 503 34.4

Type of election (parliamentary vs presidential)

9 This count includes talk show segments.

TABLE 4: Type of election stories by media platform

Newspapers Television Radio

Type of election Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

Both 127 17.4 238 20.1 307 21.0

Trend in type of election in newspaper coverage

Trend in type of election in television coverage

Trend in type of election in radio coverage

Type of articles published in newspapers

October November December

Type of article Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %

News 363 79.1 662 76.0 564 77.4

Type of stories broadcast on TV and radio stations

TABLE 5B: Frequency of different types of television stories/shows

October November December