By KT Reporter
The UBC management are furious that the new leadership at parliament isn’t treating them well with the prominence they deserve being the national broadcaster. Theirs is the only TV channel the president watches.
They feel they are now being treated the way the old regime at parliament used to treat nation media group.
They feel unwanted at the 12th parliament under Oboth Oboth because of the restrictions that are being put on them.
Timothy Tibatsi who is one of the editors at UBC has made it clear UBC is considering boycotting parliament coverage if the ongoing stigma doesn’t stop.
Tibatsi on Thursday protested the decision by parliament to restrict UBC coverage for the new MPs’ three days induction training at Munyonyo.
He was unhappy when private media stations like NBS and NTV were allowed to send two representatives each to cover the training yet UBC and BBS were each restricted to one representative.
Tibatsi said this was unacceptable familiarity and questioned the criterion that had been used to undermine the national and Buganda kingdom establishment’s Terefayina in such a manner.
He asked to know what the two media houses had done to deserve such restrictions.
In radios, only radio one was allowed and journalists are concerned that these restrictions are beginning to become the norm under Oboth Oboth and no reason has been given. They were restricted from covering the state of the nation and budget reading at Kololo.
On being told to stay away, they thought this was because of the president’s security because he fears Ebola but the Munyonyo induction, to which fewer journalists have been allowed, won’t have sensitive guests like the president.
These restrictions are becoming the new normal and the accredited journalists are concerned the new restrictions are putting them at a disadvantage.
In his communication, Tibatsi made it clear that UBC was protesting by declaring a total indefinite blackout of coverage on all parliament activities starting with the MPs induction training at Munyonyo.
He prayed that BBS also reacts in the same way and then wait to see what the new leadership at parliament will do about it.
Tibatsi stated that the only condition for them to call off their boycott and not stop deploying reporters to cover Oboth Oboth’s parliament is by parliament rectifying the injustice, by allowing them to send the correct number of reporters to cover important events the way its being done for NBS and NTV. One person can’t be cameraman and reporter to conduct the interviews at the same time.
He said their planned boycott was non-negotiable. Parliament was yet to respond beyond stating that the media access restrictions had been imposed by the firm selected to conduct the induction and not of their own choosing.
Journalists have questioned why there are many such blanket access restrictions to public functions of parliament under Oboth Oboth’s leadership, even on media representatives who were accredited in January.
The new speaker may have to directly intervene himself to avoid his regime being described as anti-journalists as was the case of Anita Among. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com.
