By KT Reporter
Saying they are tired of kiwaani story and deliberate fake news being aired on NBS TV about their homeland, a group of Lira city residents have petitioned the NBS boss Dr. Kin Kariisa. They say the reporting being done by Next Media bureau chief Isaac Otwii is skewed and biased to favor politicians who have means to wet the beak of the reporter.
Some residents are wondering how Isaac Otwii can supervise and deliver balanced reporting when he is already a media consultant for some of the protagonists campaigning for certain elective positions.
“He is the man who gets facilitated to organize media events for some politicians and he is the one who even pays out money for transport refund. How can that same person be expected to report accurate news on behalf of his employer NBS when he is already on retainer for political candidates? How can he allow those competing with his clients to get any fair reporting on NBS whose reporting of the entire Lango sub region he says he controls 100% in his capacity as the bureau chief?” ranted one of the Lira city residents.
There are growing concerns existence of a special relationship has pushed Mr. Otwii to consistently taken sides in the growing political divide between Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, the Woman Member of Parliament for Lira City and Minister of Health, and Hon. Betty Amongi Akena, the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development who wants to oust her.
It’s now common knowledge in Lira city that Otwii has repeatedly failed to provide coverage for key functions organized or attended by Dr. Aceng. Examples include the recent belated International Women’s Day celebrations at the Mayor’s Garden in Lira City and the official launch and handover of a road grader by the Lira City Council which was graced by both Dr. Aceng and the Minister of Local Government Raphael Magezi.
Despite receiving formal invitations from the City Council to cover these significant national events, Isaac Otwii curiously stayed away and instead went to cover a less significant event where his close ally Betty Amongi was giving out hand hoes. This has resulted into increase in public outrage, as the two city events were viewed as critical to local governance and area’s development.
Some of the enraged residents are considering boycotting NBS and instead switch to NTV and UBC which are equally popular and big platforms. Indeed in recent IPSOS rankings, NBS wasn’t rated favorably as NTV and vision group platforms dwarfed it in several cities of Uganda upcountry.
In some upcountry towns, NBS wasn’t even ranked and didn’t feature on the charts of the 10 most watched TV channels upcountry. It’s partly because of abusive conduct by the likes of Isaac Otwii that things might end up wprsening for Kariisa’s media platform which the president hates to watch. Museveni these days watches only UBC and sometimes NTV. For unknown reasons, he never watches NBS.
The truth of the matter is that news is local and about proximity whereby people watch stories and news reports about people they know and they like, which is why Mr. Otwii is unknowingly alienating many viewers in Lango sub region by subjecting some political leaders to total blackout on a channel like NBS which is renowned for its political reporting. It personally might work for him, pecuniary, but in the long term it will hurt his employer, the NBS TV.
“It’s unfortunate that a reporter from a respected national television station can be overtly partisan in service of personal political interests. The people of Lango deserve fair and balanced media coverage on NBS and other national media platforms,” one resident remarked.
Several sources further allege that Mr. Otwii has been incentivized as a person even at the expense of his employer whose primary objective ought to be that of growing audiences in Lango sub region and more so Lira city.
It is further claimed that Mr. Otwii often finds it’s personally very beneficial when covering Amongi’s activities as opposed to serving the broader public interest and that of his employer. He is always reluctant to cover stuff of any other political camp that is antagonistic to UPC. If he covers the others at all, he will deliberately seek out the most negative of all story angles.
“These actions are undermining the credibility of NBS Television in the region,” another resident expressed. “We have no problem with him covering Hon. Amongi, but let him also give fair coverage to the rival camp of Dr. Aceng and all the other political actors as minimum professionalism would require of him.”
Some residents suspect that Otwii’s alleged partiality may be linked to internal influences, citing that Hon. Amongi’s daughter who is employed at NBS. This raises questions about Naguru media park’s ability to make independent editorial decisions.
In response, a growing number of viewers have demanded immediate action from NBS management, including the possible transfer of Otwii from the Lira region to preserve the station’s reputation.
“If this trend continues, we will boycott NBS and tune in to stations that are neutral and serve public interest,” warned one community leader.
It remains to be seen how NBS Television will be responding to resident’s growing concerns about a news channel they have trusted for all these years. The good news is that Kin Kariisa is a business-minded actor who won’t hesitate cracking the whip on an employee whose anomalous conduct hurts his brand reputation.
Lango sub region’s online media platforms, like Lira City’s public eye, have lately been very outspoken against Mr. Otwii’s very alienating and revolting reporting approach. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
