Sixteen Vision Group journalists were Wednesday recognised at the National Journalism Awards 2022 for exceptional, in-depth and enterprising journalism. 

Out of the 59 journalists shortlisted from a pull of 196 participants, 16 entries were taken up by Vision Group.

According to The African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), the organizers of the awards, journalists competed in 19 categories, including Agriculture reporting, Arts journalism, business, economy and financial reporting, educational reporting, and health, among other categories.

Winners pose for a photo during the awards ceremony. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

ACME Board Chair Susan Nsibirwa said during the award ceremony at Mestil Hotel in Kampala that recognition and reward are proven ways of motivating professionals in the journalism space to maintain good standards and to raise their performance.”

The awards, launched in 2014, she said celebrate and promote exceptional, in-depth, and enterprising journalism that informs public debate and holds power to account.

“Good journalism is good for a stable country, and a stable country is good for business.” I encourage us to support this cause because good stories come with training, and quality journalism serves us all,” she said.

All the winners in each category received a cash prize of sh2 million, a certificate of participation, and an accolade.

The first runners-up in each category walked away with a cash prize of sh1m and a certificate, while the Second runners-up only got a certificate of participation.

Vision Group winners

In the Political Reporting Category, New Vision’s Umaru Kashaka was the winner and Joshua Kata was the agriculture reporting category winner.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, hands over a certificate to Umar Kashaka during the awards ceremony. ( Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

Other vision Groups Journalists that were awarded include, Gerald Tenywa, John Masaba, George Bita, Nelson Mandela Muhoozi, and Agness Kyotalengerire, among others.

“Quality journalism can no longer be taken for granted,” Nsibirwa said, adding that. “It needs to be celebrated and we’re grateful to every journalist who participated in the competition and all the sponsors who responded to our call for support.”

While giving his remarks, the guest of honour at the awards, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, asked journalists to challenge politicians to give them a good environment for Journalism.

Tayebwa, said, “when you're a leader at my level and you resent criticism then you are on your way to your downfall”

However, he said Journalists need to respect legislators. “We have all been tortured by social media. We want responsible use of social media,” he added.

“Challenge us to give you a very good environment for journalism, but stop hiding the main story in your online articles. You are mean with your online content,” said Tayebwa.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, speaks during the awards ceremony. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

He added, “The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022, criminalizes some internet activities despite concerns that the law could curtail online freedom of expression, but if the decision of parliament is challenged by the court, we have no issue with that.”

According to Tayebwa, major media houses have been accused of concealing the vital facts of their news stories in newspapers and online by deliberately choosing to share the light side of the news on their websites.

Tayebwa noted that media can sometimes be irresponsible. For instance, he said that in Rwanda, the media was used to propagate genocide that led to bloodshed and loss of many lives.

He added that although you can't stop laws from being made you can influence the legislators to make good laws.

Tayebwa pledged to contribute sh20 million towards the next editions of the Uganda National Journalism Awards.

Challenging times for Journalism

Keynote Speaker, Rachael Akidi Okwir, BBC World Service head of East Africa, said Africa is faced with a rapidly changing digital landscape as far as journalism and Media is concerned.

Akidi said it’s a very trying time for journalists and the journalism space in general because social media and other digital platforms have overtaken and infiltrated it with disinformation.

According to Akidi, misinformation and disinformation remain key challenges to journalism today and said the future and existence of journalism will depend on how the media practitioners can capture the audience as and when information flows.

“As journalists, we must continue to play the role of fact-checking so that in the future our audiences may be willing to pay for premium content. We need to speed up because what you would call big news on TV stations at 9 pm is old news for the young audience whose news source is social media platforms. This is the new trend in journalism,” she adds.

Gerald Tenywa (right), was second overall winner in the categories of Environment reporting. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)

Invest in research

According to Akidi, social media has democratized journalism. “Now citizen journalism is the new trend. So, we need to invest in research on how to keep our audiences.”

Akidi said, “At the BBC, we've created award-winning content that was based on content that was already online but value added to it to make it more useful to the audience.”

“With diminishing audiences, revenues and diminishing credibility, we can survive this uncertainty through continuous research and data journalism,” Akidi said.

In addition, Akidi said not every well-done story is outstanding. “Journalists have to learn to answer questions in few but well-packaged words that are palatable to their audiences.”

“Our journalists need to upscale and try to catch up with the trends in the space, or else they risk being obsolete. As journalists, we must continue to play the role of fact-checking, in the future, our audiences may be willing to pay for premium content,” she said.