Journalists get tips on sensitive stories

PIC: Participants during the training at Arch Hotel in Kampala. (Credit: Francis Emorut)

JOURNALISTS | MEDIA

KAMPALA - Journalists should not fear to report on sensitive issues, especially if they are of public interest.

"Journalism is a calling and you are supposed to expose the rot in society and to step where others have not stepped," Martin Ssenoga, the programme manager disability disaster risk reduction at National Union of Disabled Persons in Uganda, said.

He made the remarks during the training of journalists on disaster reporting and interventions made on affected persons with disabilities at Arch Hotel in Kampala recently.

"The journalist should not fear to dig more because his life has been threatened by the authorities," Ssenoga told media practitioners.

Worldwide, journalists have been persecuted and killed for reporting issues of high magnitude and when at frontlines covering wars.

Recently, New Vision journalist Charles Etukuri was kidnapped by state operatives for reporting on the death of foreigners in Kampala Hotels, while another veteran journalist Rev. Isaac Bakka, is languishing in Luzira Prisons on treason charges.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 74 journalists were killed last year.

Ssenoga said the media is so powerful and sets agenda of topical issues the public debates on daily basis.

He encouraged journalists to highlight the impact of disaster on PWDs the same way when reporting on political issues which generate a lot of debate.

Ssenoga encouraged the media to be objective and balanced when reporting and not only dwelling on the negative aspect of the story.

The executive director of NUDIPU, Edson Ngirabakuuzi, appealed to the media not to neglect PWDs whenever they are caught in disaster occurrences, but magnify the impact of disaster on their lives.

The Kampala PWD councilor, Morrison Buwembo, urged the media not to be biased when reporting on issues affecting persons with disabilities but be objective.