From time immemorial, the control of information, access to it and the role this information plays by either providing or denying alternative views has an impact on the political philosophy of the public.
The media is the body mandated with the duty of providing objective information to the public in an ethical and professional manner.
Information plays a key role in providing justification, criticism and analysis on social and political issues.
However, the era of the objective journalism is extinct. There has been an advent of propaganda-ism that has overtaken objective journalism.
Today, we have propagandists masquerading as journalists, who are partisan and biased, ignoring the needs of the naive and uninformed audience and at times exploiting this naivety for the benefit of the highest bidder. Pens have been exchanged for the cheque book.
This article is going to explain the relationship between propaganda campaigns and the abuse of free speech by the media in Uganda.
Propaganda is information that is not objective and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information that is.
This information is especially of a biased or misleading nature and used to promote a political cause or point of view. Propaganda campaigns are being orchestrated directly and indirectly by certain media houses and personalities as further explained in the following analysis.
The Next Media Group with television stations such as NBS and online publications such as the Nile Post has made a habit of broadcasting live political demonstrations and riots.
This is a deliberate propaganda campaign against the institution of the Uganda Police Force.
Video editors selectively edit News bulletins focusing on the crackdown on protestors, they often broadcast only pictures showing arrests and ignore images showing the circumstances that led to these arrests such as indiscriminate acts of hooligans that are dangerous to the lives and property of neighboring communities in the vicinity of the riot.
They hardly broadcast images of hooligans looting shops and disrupting business given the fact that most of these demonstrations are carried out near markets and trading centers, nothing is broadcast of burning tires in the middle of the roads.
The objective is to promote the narrative of a failed institution and undermining efforts of the police to serve and protect. This propaganda campaign benefits the opposition who stage manage these riots and attract media coverage with an aim of gaining sympathy and funding from western governments.
Live broadcasts of riots also leads to escalation of minor issues into major ones by wrongly feeding on sensationalism and enchantment of the viewers and audience breeding sectarianism and tribal sentiments for instance the broadcast of the Buganda riots, the Arua debacle among others.
The evolution of social media as source of information has seen a surge in propaganda campaigns on online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp among others.
A propagandist will with ease start up a WhatsApp group with over 200 members, set the agenda for discussion, exit the group and go on and create another group.
The discussions in these groups are not moderated nor censored thus leave a vast majority of subscribers vulnerable to misinformation, propaganda and fake news.
Facebook discussions and groups also involve multiple number of people who use these groups as source of information.
For instance fake news purporting the alleged abduction of a one Ashburg Kato by intelligence operatives made rounds on various social media platforms, an image of an African slave tortured in Libya was alleged to be that of Kato, only for the schemer to appear days later unharmed.
The Uganda Police dismissed the story as propaganda and fake news illustrating the current propaganda campaigns and abuse of free speech.
Additionally social media has provided a platform for expression of disgruntlement for individuals who suffer from the legacy of indoctrination in the nanny state ideology, they go on social media and hurl obscenities at leaders, government and even the president.
Free speech has been abused by the public and fake news used to promote hate.
Opinion polls have not been spared by propagandists. Opinion polls are meant to provide an assessment of public opinion by questioning a representative sample and used as basis of forecasting the results of an election.
The recent poll carried out by Research World International under the stewardship of Dr.Wakida was a pure propaganda campaign as it was biased putting in mind the view that the Doctor is part of the faction that disagree with Dr.Kizza Besigye.
Opinion polls by biased pollsters usually aim at promoting particular candidates for instance the polling that saw the incumbent president Mr.Museveni at 32% (lowest ever ranking), musician cum politician Hon.Kyagulanyi at 20%.
This was a concocted poll and numbers do not reflect reality on ground. It was aimed at undermining the political weight of Dr. Kizza and promoting the narrative of Hon. Kyagulanyi as the suitable candidate for the single opposition card.
Opinion polls are often the byproduct theory of news consumption demonstrating the relationship between propaganda campaigns and the abuse of free speech in Uganda.
Talk shows on our local radio stations often in vernacular and targeting the illiterate and less educated sections of the public have become avenues for propaganda.
Talk show hosts often front their opinions and impose them on their listeners who use them as main source of information on all matters social and political.
These discussions commonly known as “bimeezas” often base on inaccurate hypothesis that is most likely to breed sectarianism and hate for instance during the infamous Buganda riots, the Central Broadcasting Station was found to have broadcasted discussions that were bigot in nature.
The speakers on these talk shows also often only tell their listeners only what they want to hear for instance that it is Mr. Museveni and his corrupt confederates that are responsible for poverty in Uganda rather than telling their listeners what they need to hear.
The unprofessionalism exhibited by many a journalist in vernacular on local radio stations provides a grape vine for propaganda campaigns and consequent abuse of free speech and media freedoms.
The Uganda Communications Commission directive on media houses to cut down on unprofessionalism has come sooner rather than later.
The continued spread of misinformation in the name of propaganda has catastrophic effects on nation building as was the case during the events that led to the genocide in Rwanda and the post-election violence in Kenya.
Social media needs regulations and laws need to be enacted against fake news and harmful propaganda that sows the seeds of bigotry, hate and sectarianism.
