Uganda: ARTICLE 19 Urges Government to Change Approach to Regulation of Print Media and Journalism

ARTICLE 19 today releases its analysis of the proposed Press and Journalist (Amendment) Bill 2010, and the Press and Journalist Act 1995, which the Ugandan government seeks to amend. ARTICLE 19 recommends that the Ugandan government repeal the whole Press and Journalist Act rather than amend it and adopt a fundamentally different approach to the regulation of print media and journalism that respects the government’s international obligations on freedom of expression.

The current Press and Journalist Act (“Act”) establishes various bodies to regulate the print media sector. It also provides for the licensing of journalists, including conditions on who may work as a journalist, for the registration of editors, for a complaints system for journalists, a code of conduct and various sanctions for unprofessional conduct. The press oversight bodies it establishes, in particular the Council and Disciplinary Committee, lack independence from government. The complaints system under the Act is weak, non-transparent, and does not have appropriate rules regarding what is prohibited.



Instead of improving the Act, the proposed Amendment Bill further exacerbates its shortcomings and further breaches fundamental aspects of the right to freedom of expression. The most significant and alarming changes include obligatory licensing of newspapers, in clear breach of the right to freedom of expression. The Amendment also seeks to alter the composition of the Media Council and Disciplinary Committee, making it less independent. Further, it establishes various content rules for newspapers, particularly for material deemed to be detrimental to national security, under the terms that are simply too vague to be legitimate as a restriction on freedom of expression “The current Press and Journalist Act 1995 contains only very few provisions that support freedom of expression and the development of a diverse, free and independent media sector,” comments Henry Maina, ARTICLE 19 Director for Kenya and East Africa. “We see no possibility of improving the current law other than doing away with it entirely and initiating mechanisms of self-regulation as opposed to continued state control of the media.”



ARTICLE 19 Kenya/Eastern Africa, ACS Plaza, 3rd Floor, Lenana Road, P.O Box 2653-00100
Tel: +254 20 3862230/2 Web: www.article19.org / Email: info@article19.org
ARTICLE 19 notes however that the Amendment’s provision on protection and
confidentiality of sources is a positive inclusion and should be retained as part of a different law.



NOTES TO EDITORS:
• For more information please contact: Henry Maina, Director, ARTICLE 19
Kenya/Eastern Africa, henry@article19.org, +254 20 3862230/2.
• To read the analysis follow this: www.article19.org/pdfs/analysis/ugandamemorandum-on-the-press-and-journalist-act-and-the-press-and-journali.pdf
• ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works around the world to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees free speech.

Click here to read the memorandum